brainstorming

Brainstorming is a well-known technique, used to generate new ideas in many situations: product development, marketing, advertising, business development and many more.

We have just learned the results of Matti Bergstr m s brain research on creativity. The brain seems to work as an idea generator all the time, although we are not aware of it. New forms are created continuously and it is a matter of being in the right state of mind to pick up a few.

In brainstorming it is the flow of random ideas, coming from a group of people, stimulating each other, that is valuable . If you put any restrictions on that flow you risk missing ideas which could have turned out to be the best ones. You never know what you are going to use, that s why you should not make any limitations.

When do you get your best ideas? You get ideas all the time, but some situations are better than others. When asked about it most people say they get their best ideas when they are relaxed “ ˜just before I fall asleep , ˜when I sit in my favourite chair doing nothing , ˜when I am in the bath ; if they are doing something where they function automatically “ jogging, washing, cooking, doing the dishes, cleaning, knitting, cycling, ˜driving my car to work ; or in interaction with other people “ coffee/tea-breaks, evening classes, group work.

They very seldom mention situations such as: ˜meetings , ˜at school or ˜at work . In those situations they are very much occupied with routine work or, as in the case of meetings, there is a set formula for how things should be handled and you are not expected to put forward any new ideas!