The key to productive brainstorming: Prepare, with pre-pairing.

It used to drive me insane. I set up a session to brainstorm around an objective and provide all the background materials ahead of time so that people can come prepared and jump right in to finding a solution together. Then they turn up having not opened the documents or given the subject a minute’s thought. It’s the turning up that counts, right? And all the magic happens in the meeting? Wrong.

Getting the most out of an eclectic group of people, all with their own neuroses, has intrigued me for as long as I can remember. Over time, I’ve come to realise just how much of an art and indeed a science, good brainstorming is. If you read books or search for articles on effective brainstorming, you’ll find a wealth of content explaining the myriad measures required to ensure brainstorming delivers the best possible result. However, I’d like to make the bold proposal that there is actually just one thing that’s more important than all the others; a key to ensuring you get the best possible outcome from a brainstorming session, whether strategic or creative, or indeed both.

You'd be forgiven for expecting me to extol the virtues of choosing the right facilitator or coach for an effective brainstorm, and that is of course valuable. Equally, a clear objective, the right people, agreed behaviours, avoiding criticism, diverse thinking; they’re all really important. However, over the years, working with a multitude of different groups on a host of different objectives, I remain convinced that there is one overriding reason why most brainstorming sessions fail; lack of preparation.

"I remain convinced that there is one overriding reason why most brainstorming sessions fail; lack of preparation."

Preparation prevents piss poor performance, so the saying goes. Preparation is at the heart of almost any successful endeavour, so there’s no great revelation here. But the revelation is not in the preparation itself, but the style of preparation. The most effective way to ensure an productive brainstorm is to prepare in pairs. That there’s some beautiful alliteration in there is serendipitous.

Preparing in pairs resolves so many of the fundamental shortfalls of brainstorming, including:

1. Reducing the number of people who turn up unprepared.
   

2. Reducing the likelihood that the first 30 minutes are unproductively consumed with simple ideas that will never set the world on fire.
   

3. Significantly reducing the chance that the group anchor on to one of these simplistic ideas, and then fail to take it further
   

4. Creating a clear opportunity to ensure clarity on the objective before coming together.
   

5. Providing an early platform to practice some agreed brainstorming behaviours, and
   

6. Reducing the time pressure of a single event, placing extra energy up front.

But how to pick the right pairs?

Sadly, I don’t believe there’s a reliable formula. Even if you know the personality profiles of each individual, don’t fool yourself into thinking you can play psychologist at work and partner up perfect collaborators. More importantly though, don’t leave it to the individuals to decide either. Though there probably isn’t a formula, there certainly are some guiding rules which, left to their own devices, your team almost certainly won’t follow.

Firstly, if you don’t know the team you’re working with, then create a fun environment so you can view them working in multiple different pairs. Short, fun games that in themselves break the ice and promote collaboration, but in so doing, also provide the perfect platform to witness social behaviours first hand. This is of course, pre-pre-work, but it’s worth it. Indeed, that’s a guiding rule for preparation in general; if you consider the potential value of a robust outcome from your session, or indeed the potential costs of a weak one, it doesn’t take long to quickly justify within yourself, or to the powers that be, a few hours of prior group work.

So, what are you looking for during these games, or from a team you already know well? Ultimately you’re looking for balance. Can you see an opportunity where two individuals’ strengths and weaknesses counterbalance each other, such that together they become more than the sum of their parts? The laid-back with the more highly strung; the flitting creative mind united with the logical thinker. Equally though, they should have some common ground to fall back on. Too much common ground and of course you lose the benefit of diversity. Look out for opportunities to pair individuals with different perspectives. As I said, it’s all about balance.

"Too much common ground and of course you lose the benefit of diversity"

From a Myers Briggs perspective, assuming you have the benefit of being aware of people’s profiles, you can apply some objective science to the process and trial pairing individuals where two out of the four pillars are shared and two different. ENFJs with INFPs for example. Don’t however be fooled that this will guarantee a result - we’re still human beings, unique and, in our own special way, a little mad - but it’s a useful starting block.

Next, you need behaviour rules for the pre-pair work as much as you do for the group work, but don’t worry. You’re not doubling up. For the most part, they’re the same behaviours and ones you can agree during a group pre-pre-session together, then reiterate in the pairs during your quick pair reviews which I’ll come to shortly. The right behaviours for constructive group work should of course be defined by the group themselves, but there is one overarching principle; mutual respect. Don’t tolerate a lack of respect in any of the group members, and be prepared to remove anyone that doesn’t seem capable of delivering on this. In addition to the behaviour setting, and ahead of assigning pairs, ensure the group understands the overarching objective and are provided with background materials to get them all equally in the zone.

Finally, assuming you’ve recognised the value in preparation, and afforded yourself the time, it is fine to break a pair and trial an alternative. Ask permission first and make sure they appreciate that it’s not a reflection on the quality of their work, but rather just a pursuit of the most complementary pairs to achieve the group’s desired outcome. Book in some time for a short review with each pair, a short time into the preparation period. The goal is not to see what they’ve achieved thus far, but rather to see how the dynamics are unfolding. That said, it is also a great opportunity to remind them of the agreed behaviours for the brainstorm, which equally apply in the pre-pair work. More often than not, you can nudge behaviours in the right direction (help the alpha to listen more, or the introvert to boldly speak out), without having to trial a new pair, which is absolutely preferable. You’ll also find that the session will help ensure that the preparation work happens in the first place.

With the right pairs, and a good amount of time, your group will come together having given the objective some serious thought. They’ll have got past the obvious and already started to think laterally. They’ll hopefully be primed for group thinking, with boundless enthusiasm to share their considered thoughts more widely.

Brainstorming isn’t easy to get right, and there isn’t really a single tool that ensures success, but prepare in pairs and you’ll have laid the best possible groundwork for a phenomenal brainstorming session together.