How to Run Effective Brainstorming Meetings to Collaborate New Product Ideas

When run effectively, collaborative brainstorming meetings can produce incredible new product ideas. These meetings can propel new, creative concepts and business-changing solutions. Therefore, fostering collaboration can really lead to groundbreaking success.

Even a “non-technical” product manager can become the perfect team leader for a brainstorming session. All it takes is organization and inclusiveness.

As most entrepreneurs know, creativity can come from anywhere. And nothing inspires more creativity than sharing ideas with others

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Therefore, harnessing the power of collaborative meetings is a strategy that should be implemented immediately. But it’s not always clear what brainstorming meetings actually are and how they can help generate new product ideas. So, firstly, let’s take a look at the basics…

What is collaborative brainstorming?

At the heart of brainstorming is the power of communication in the workplace. Having employees bounce ideas off of each other inspires innovation, helping companies get to good ideas faster.

Usually, brainstorming meetings start with a problem or questions like “why do we need mlops?” when integrating a new data tool. Then ideas are improved in an environment that fosters team-building. This, in turn, encourages the generation of new solutions and product ideas. Here, high volume is key, as suggestions may not always be innovative, but they could still lead to better concepts being idealized.

Plus, if you show your employees that their ideas matter, you will offer them the recognition that research has found to improve employee wellbeing. This then increases employee satisfaction and productivity: a win-win situation for everybody involved.

Maybe you’re already conducting brainstorming meetings. But did you know there are several tips that you could be used to make your collaborative meetings as effective as possible? Take a look below at some of the approaches you could be employed to make the most of your brainstorming meetings.

Three tips for running an effective brainstorming meeting

1. Organize the meeting beforehand

There’s nothing worse than being called to a meeting that could have been an email. As valuable as efficient meetings are, ensure that you don’t waste your employees' time by filling up their calendars with dozens of unnecessary meetings.

For instance, if you were planning on brainstorming the question “What are your sales coaching techniques?”, you wouldn’t just spring that question onto your team the second they walk in the door. That would get you nowhere.

So, in advance of the brainstorming session, tell your employees what the meeting will be about. Set a coherent goal you want your team to achieve, and make sure you are clear on the objectives you will be collectively striving for. In this way, they can prepare accordingly. Allowing the members of your team to have a think about what will be discussed avoids putting them on the spot.

Ideas need time to develop, and throwing your team in at the deep end might make it harder for them to think of new product ideas. By giving your team time, you will prevent the meeting from being filled with awkward silences and hesitation. So, make sure you send out the discussion topic a handful of days before the meeting is due to take place.

Organize the meeting somewhere comfortable, quiet, and free from distractions to ensure your team has the space to dedicate their full attention to the task. And if you need to schedule a remote meeting, there are plenty of platforms like Zoom and use Dialpad's stand up meeting guide that you can use to create the perfect place to conjure new product ideas. If your brainstorming meetings are taking place online or with a hybrid approach, check out some useful tips for managing hybrid teams.

2. Involve everybody

Make sure that you ask for ideas from everybody. Here, the focus is quantity, not quality. Getting the whole team to think of, say ten, ideas will push your employees to think outside the box. This will then lead to unusual and exciting new product ideas.

On top of this, by making everyone feel included, you’ll create an environment where your team feels less afraid to suggest their thoughts. Removing that fear factor will make them more likely to put forward a winning idea. Set a timer and give your team a bit of time to brainstorm independently, then open the floor up to discussion and take notes using a whiteboard with Dialpad, remembering to involve everybody.

To improve your content marketing ROI, include a member of your content marketing team at these meetings. Their insights could be invaluable to the new product ideas being generated.

By making sure everyone gets a chance to speak, you’ll also ensure that no one person dominates the conversation. Therefore, a good product manager is key, as this person will make sure that meetings run smoothly.

A figurehead will facilitate discussion moving along if participants become fixated on an idea or confused about how to proceed. And if you’ve recently become a product manager, following product management blogs and newsletters can help you figure out how best to lead your team successfully.

Lastly, although everyone should feel included, maintain the focus on the ideas themselves. Avoid placing blame or credit on individual people for certain suggestions. Instead, focus on creating a safe, inclusive environment.

3. Don’t make sessions too long

Creative fatigue can be really damaging for a brainstorming meeting. As a result, it’s a good idea to keep your collaborative sessions short and effective rather than letting them drag out for too long. Agonizingly long sessions are of little benefit to you, your employees, and the generation of new product ideas.

Instead of one long meeting every month, you could potentially schedule three shorter ones in that space of time. Doing this would enable your team to have time to think things through and improve on previous ideas between meetings. This would encourage your team to form new connections and develop old concepts in their own time, improving creative output.

As any entrepreneur knows, scaling a business isn’t easy. Generating fresh product ideas on a frequent basis is one of the best ways you can make sure your team is constantly working to improve and succeed. So put your employees into the best possible position to facilitate those short bursts of creativity.

And lastly, take a look below at three useful techniques to use in your new, efficient brainstorming sessions.

Three game-changing techniques when collaborating on new product ideas

1. Rapid ideation technique

To avoid shooting down ideas before they have the chance to develop, this technique tells your team to write down as many ideas as possible in a given period of time. Make sure you stick to the timer because a sense of urgency is key to this technique working properly.

By asking everyone to jot as many ideas down as quickly as they can, you prevent your team from hesitating about whether or not an idea is actually good. Self-censoring is a huge preventer of good ideas being expressed, and rapid ideation is the perfect technique to combat this.

2. Step-ladder technique

This technique is particularly useful in preventing meetings from becoming too influenced by the loudest speakers in the room.

This is how it works: once the concept is introduced, everybody is asked to leave the room, except for two people who are told to begin brainstorming. After a few minutes, a new team member comes in. Before the pair express their ideas, the new arrival is asked to share their thoughts. Then, the group begins discussing together again. One by one, each team member should re-enter the room, speaking first before hearing the collective ideas of the group.

3. Starbursting technique

Write down an idea you want to work on within the middle of a piece of paper. Then draw a star around it, making sure it has six points. Label each of the points of the star with: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Then, as a team, focus on examining each question.

For instance, what’s the reason for getting this product? How to integrate with salesforce for trouble-free customer relationship management? And so on…

This technique helps teams consider every possible element of an idea at its ideation stage. It also helps foster teamwork as the group has to work together to answer and solve the questions on the page.

Keep in mind, though, that this technique is perfect for when your team has already chosen what point or idea they want to work with. If you’re yet to figure this out, one of the other techniques may be a better starting point.

Running effective brainstorming sessions - the takeaway

Tell your team beforehand about the topics that will be discussed in the meeting, and give them the time to think before the scheduled brainstorming session. Make sure you create the perfect environment to foster creativity and keep the meeting short and sweet to avoid mental fatigue. Never forget to take care of your product team’s wellbeing by making sure your employees feel included and valued in the idea-generation process.

Do this, and you’ll find that your brainstorming sessions have become considerably more fruitful, engaging, productive and that your team has come up with some wonderful new product ideas for your business.