If you've ever looked for brainstorming techniques on Google, you'll know there are a LOT of different brainstorming techniques out there, and it's really tricky to work out which ones are the most effective and trying to remember them all.
So I've spent a stack of time checking with my clients from the last 20 years to find out which ones I've taught them are the most effective and most used, all to help you start brainstorming ideas to generate brilliant business results.
And make sure you stick around to the end because I'm also going to share with your my top brainstorming facilitation tips to help you generate better ideas faster using any brainstorming technique.
Okay, onto the top 3 proven brainstorming techniques so you can create profitable business ideas faster, easier and with less stress:
The core thinking you want to have for this technique is to ask yourself, "What could I substitute to reinvent my business product, process, or service results?"
¡ "What material could I substitute when building my product?"
¡ "What process could be substituted with another step?"
¡ "What could I substitute in how I distribute components?"
¡ "What could I substitute in what I sell or how I go about selling?"
The substitution technique is not complex, yet can be applied to each area in a broad or a particular niche. For example, materials is a relatively abstract term, yet you can make it more concrete and specific by narrowing it as a category with several specific practical terms underneath.
Could you substitute a key person in the project team? Could you substitute a key ingredient or accelerant? Could you substitute the onboarding process with another, could you substitute the location, the tone of voice, and color? Could you substitute the enticement or reward?
If you can keep your substitution question close to a pain point you have identified. It will help you stay focused on creating ideas faster without heading off on a time-consuming tangent.
Brainstorming Technique number 2. Combination: What Could You Combine?
Combining elements never connected before is one of the classic ways to innovate and reinvent your results. Genrich Altshuller, a famous Russian patent assessor, realized that the most commercially successful patents combined components or processes from different industries to create a new, superior invention.
A combination mindset is to ask yourself: "What could you combine that has never been combined before that will allow you to address your insights and reinvent?"
You can use this combination technique in many ways:
¡ "Could you combine the existing, separate application forms into one simple application form?"
¡ "Could you blend one material with another?"
¡ "What if you combined your service offerings with a similar business in a different territory?"
¡ "What products could be bundled together to sell that you haven't considered before?"
Here's an excellent innovation example using the combination brainstorming technique. The furniture store IKEA discovered the customer insight that "The furniture you buy from the store might not fit when you get it home. It may be too big, or it just doesn't look good in the room." A clear, valuable customer insight.
"Could we combine a catalog with some augmented reality (AR) so that a customer could see what a piece of furniture would look like in their own space at home?" "What if we could also combine a measuring tape with the actual dimensions of the IKEA product so that it will appear to the exact scale in the room?"
The result was an app called IKEA Place that works on IOS devices. The app measures the chosen space using the device's technology. It then places a selected product to scale in the chosen space image. Meaning a customer can quickly assess what a product will look like and how it will fit in the room with its actual dimensions. The customer can also immediately see what other products will fit the space as well.
Now you should have an idea of all the possible combinations you could be looking for. Physical with digital, a product with a service. Remember to keep focused on any pain points you have identified.
A combination mindset is to ask yourself: "What could you combine that has never been combined before that will allow you to address your insights and reinvent?"
You can use this combination technique in many ways:
¡ "Could you combine the existing, separate application forms into one simple application form?"
¡ "Could you blend one material with another?"
¡ "What if you combined your service offerings with a similar business in a different territory?"
¡ "What products could be bundled together to sell that you haven't considered before?"
Here's an excellent innovation example using the combination brainstorming technique. The furniture store IKEA discovered the customer insight that "The furniture you buy from the store might not fit when you get it home. It may be too big, or it just doesn't look good in the room." A clear, valuable customer insight.
"Could we combine a catalog with some augmented reality (AR) so that a customer could see what a piece of furniture would look like in their own space at home?" "What if we could also combine a measuring tape with the actual dimensions of the IKEA product so that it will appear to the exact scale in the room?"
The result was an app called IKEA Place that works on IOS devices. The app measures the chosen space using the device's technology. It then places a selected product to scale in the chosen space image. Meaning a customer can quickly assess what a product will look like and how it will fit in the room with its actual dimensions. The customer can also immediately see what other products will fit the space as well.
Now you should have an idea of all the possible combinations you could be looking for. Physical with digital, a product with a service. Remember to keep focused on any pain points you have identified.
Revisit any pain points in your business. What could you eliminate? Is there a long-standing process that's never changed that you could get rid of? Is there a long-held belief of how a business has to be run that could be improved? For example, "We can no longer do face-to-face business."
Eliminating something that may not be useful anymore is relatively simple yet challenging yourself to eliminate a critical step forces the brain to work. You may not like this feeling, that's okay, it's what's called change. If your brain feels uncomfortable, tell yourself, "It's okay to feel this way. It's just that my brain is changing."
Take a moment to think of the untouchable tasks or thinking you could dare to eliminate:
¡ A lawyer who can no longer charge by the hour
¡ A restaurant that can no longer have diners
¡ A butcher who can't cut meat
¡ A beautician who can't touch a customer
Yes. I know these seem far-fetched, yet when taken seriously, the elimination method will force you to make new neural connections. You have to imagine if you had to do business this new way, what would you do differently?
Okay so let's start to sum this up.
Here's what you've learned:
¡ A mind is an association machine.
¡ Being flexible with your thinking is key to generating those innovative ideas.
¡ Everyone can get more creative.
¡ Keep thinking of what you might substitute.
¡ Think of what you haven't combined before.
¡ What if you had to eliminate a critical part? How would you make it work?
Earlier in the post, I said I'm going to share with you my top Brainstorming facilitation tips to help you generate better ideas faster using any brainstorming technique.
Tip 1. So tip number one is set a goal for the number of ideas you want to generate. You need quantity in order to get quality ideas. Write down the goal, for example, 50 ideas and go for it.
Tip 2. Set a time limit - setting time constraints force people to focus, and you will generate more ideas if you set a shorter time limit than you think is comfortable.
Tip 3. One golden rule you must have is - no slanging of ideas. Be very strict on this. Nothing shuts a brainstorming session down faster than someone slanging or laughing at someone else's ideas.
Tip 4. Review and evaluate your ideas at a later session. The mind needs time to change its thinking approach, and it will allow you to be more objective when assessing the merit of the ideas.
Tip 5. Give everyone bright coloured PostIt notes to write their ideas down. Colour excites the mind, and having the ideas on post-it notes means you can stick them up on a wall or on posters.
Tip 6. Finally - make it fun- add music (not too loud), get people to stand up and share with the person next to them before sharing with the group (as most people are scared of public speaking and sharing ideas is a form of public speaking)
So that's almost it from me...
One more thing that I want to share that I know can really help to accelerate your innovative business growth results is to work out what type of innovator you are.
I've got a FREE 3-minute quiz that will work out your innovation code and create a customised Innovation Playbook full of proven innovation hacks for your stage of innovation. You can do the quiz at innovationquiz.com. And the link is in the notes.
Thanks so much for reading and go and make your next brainstorming session prolific!
Cheers,
Nils
Founder, Innovation Keynote Speaker, Author
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PS: Whether youâre looking for an innovation agency to improve your product with innovation, create an innovation disruption, or hack your business growth, weâre here to help.
Nils Vesk is a Four-Time Author and International Keynote Speaker. Nils has worked globally with over 200 bluechip companies including 3M, American Express, Canon, Caltex, Microsoft, Nestle´, IBM, Fuji Xerox, PWC, HP and Pfizer.
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