You'll occasionally see an article or blog post questioning the value of brainstorming as a tool to generate and improve the quality of innovative business ideas. One criticism about the value of brainstorming usually stems from the "poor" efficiency of brainstorming techniques, since many ideas are generated which never get developed.
This misperception is fostered by "rules" shared at the start of most group brainstorming exercises stating "every idea is a good idea." This guideline creates a false expectation that every idea shared in the brainstorming session is ultimately good or even implementable.
More accurately, this brainstorming rule sets up a period of divergent thinking. That's when strong facilitators ensure a focus on generating the maximum number of ideas with minimal explanation and judging.
Ultimately though, judgment isn't thrown out in brainstorming or innovation processes. It's only suspended during a good divergent thinking session. The switch has to then be made to convergent thinking where ideas most certainly need to be judged. In practice, maybe 10% of the ideas survive for further consideration, and still fewer for implementation.
Sure the process can seem unruly and unproductive, but for anyone who's tried to sit at a desk by themselves and think up innovative ideas, the value of brainstorming is clear, and it's a tremendously beneficial processto use. – Mike Brown
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