Brainstorming (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what brainstorming is and what its benefits are. In addition, we tell you how to do it and with what tools.

What is the brainstorming?

He brainstorming (from English brain“brain”, and storm“storm”), known in Spanish as brainstorming or brainstorming, It is a group work technique with which we seek to obtain novel ideas and original points of view.through the free and massive generation of ideas around a topic of interest. The objective of this technique is that, adding the ideas of the group membersyou can reach a critical mass of thought and then select the best ideas obtained.

The method of brainstorming was formally proposed by the American publicist Alex Faickney Osborn (1888-1966), based on a series of experiences with a group of advertising creatives, who together could obtain more and better proposals than any of them separately. The foundations of his experience were collected in his book The Principles and Procedures of Creative Thinking (“The principles and procedures of creative thinking”), 1953.

He brainstorming It is used today in different situations in which you want to obtain a massive set of ideas or points of view and then choose the most convenient of them. It is a very popular method of producing ideas and often used without knowledge of it, whose basic principles are the postponement of critical judgment and the free association of thought.

Benefits of brainstorming

The idea behind the brainstorming is that many heads believe better than one, and therefore, By freely adding the group's ideas, we can move towards selecting the best ones.. This is a highly debated notion, which is questioned by various psychological approaches, defenders of individuality as a source of creativity; However, the application of brainstorming in the processes of group exploration of an idea, a topic or a perspective is extremely popular today.

In fact, brainstorming It is a very common method in the advertising industry and graphic design.especially when you need to create an advertising campaign from scratch.

He brainstorming It has the virtue of allowing group integration and free exploration of ideas, which encourages creativity with a sense of shared adventure. In fact, in his notes Osborn found the best possible results when the exchange of ideas occurred free of hierarchies and evaluations, that is, on an entirely horizontal plane.

In summary, the brainstorming It has the virtues of:

Allow group creativity to flow freelyexploring any idea without restriction.
Allows you to overcome traditional barriers in the proposal of new content, such as the judgment of superiors or the opinion of colleagues.
Promote innovation and daring among creatives, and also optimizes communication between group members.
Helps keep the team motivatedfeeling that their ideas are taken into account no matter how daring they are.
Maximize the production of novel ideasby prioritizing quantity over quality.

How to do a session brainstorming?

To organize a session brainstorming We must put the participants together in the same group and ask them to bring a pencil and paper. The meeting place should have a blackboard or some support on which to write down and display the ideas that arise, on which the topic to be freely thought about for a certain time (usually one hour) should be clearly written.

The session of brainstorming It is guided by four main rules, which are:

Adjourn the trial during the session. All ideas that arise are noted down, without distinction, without issuing critical judgments or evaluations of any nature, nor making any comments that hinder the flow of ideas and proposals. Judgments and opinions will take place after the ideas have emerged and the selection phase must be moved on.
think freely. The session should encourage the free boiling of ideas, no matter how crazy they may be. The goal is to remove obstacles to creativity and record ideas with more energy, since it is easier to perfect an existing idea than to find one that is perfect from the beginning.
More is more. It is important that there are many ideas, since this way there will be a greater variety to choose from later. Furthermore, the best ideas will emerge as you go, inspired by the first 20 to 25, which are usually not very original or powerful. A session of brainstorming You can perfectly contemplate about 50 to 100 ideas, depending on the context.
Get away from purity. Participants in the session will be able to totally or partially rework other people's ideas, making connections, introducing alternatives and, in general, being as little attached to the original as desired. The important thing is not to respect the other's idea, but to find the most innovative, creative or adapted proposal to the context that is needed.

Tools to make a brainstorming on-line

There are numerous online platforms to conduct sessions. brainstormingboth group and individual. These are mostly work software with the capacity for virtual meetings, in which people in different locations are brought into contact. Some of the best known are: