When You Should Not Have a Brainstorm

I love a good brainstorm – properly conducted, of course – but at the same time, there are definitely times when you should not have a brainstorm.

Like any business practice, brainstorms are not the answer to every creativity problem situation. Some people think and work better creatively when alone. Other times, it’s useless to bring people together if it’s the wrong environment.

Here’s a good starting list.

Reasons When You Should Not Have Brainstorm

The group lacks key information.

If nothing else, the brainstorm needs these items: the specific goal, the problems or issues facing key stakeholders, a defined target audience, or exact criteria on how you’ll pick the best ideas

The facilitator shouldn’t be the facilitator.

The brainstorm is run by the boss, and they already believe they have the best idea, and all other ideas will be minimised. They aren’t a good listener. They only listen to their own ideas. Or at minimum, they have no idea how to conduct a brasinstorm.

No support from senior managers.

They see no value in brainstorming. They don’t trust their team. Perhaps they’re too busy. Maybe they already have the idea they want, even though no one – including the target audience – likes the idea.

One person in the group will dominate – or destroy – the discussion.

Sometimes it’s the boss. Sometimes it’s the loud-mouth who talks over everyone else. Never allow another else to talk, or if they do, they only respond with destructive feedback, sometimes personal feedback to boot.

The culture is wrong.

Maybe it’s the organisation, or the department, or the team … but whichever, the culture that surrounds the group isn’t condusive to creating new ideas. They’re often a fear of changing (or challenging) the status quo. The powers-that-be prefer only Big Ideas that are safe. Or, they ask the team to challenge the status quo, but they don’t really mean it.