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9780814417928

Quick Brainstorming Activities for Busy Managers

by
  • ISBN13:

    9780814417928

  • ISBN10:

    0814417922

  • Format: Paperback
  • Copyright: 2012-01-18
  • Publisher: Amacom Books

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Supplemental Materials

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Summary

Contrary to popular opinion, brainstorming isn't magic. Truly productive brainstorming sessions are dependent on the ability of the leader to create the right environment and let his or her people's ideas flow. Filled with clear, concise guidance and quick, easily implemented techniques, this book provides supervisors, managers, and team leaders the fun, proven activities they need to get idea-packed brainstorming sessions started, and keep them going. Readers will discover how to:* Ask questions that provoke responses and inspire creativity * React to and record ideas in a way that encourages participants and prompts more input * Sort and categorize lengthy lists * Evaluate ideas * Prioritize the most useful concepts and expand on themContaining sample dialogues, as well as resources for virtual team brainstorming, this indispensible book gives readers the activities they need to generate great ideas, fast.

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Excerpts

<html><head></head><body><p style="margin-top: 0">Introduction </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">This book is for the busy manager who uses brainstorming as a tool </p><p style="margin-top: 0">to gather input and ideas from his or her staff. Here’s what you can </p><p style="margin-top: 0">expect: </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Each activity takes less than 15 minutes. Brainstorming is a </p><p style="margin-top: 0">quick process. Part of the success comes from the tight time limits you </p><p style="margin-top: 0">will impose on the session. You can get great results in minimal time. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">There’s no need to linger on a topic until you’ve squeezed every last </p><p style="margin-top: 0">idea out of the group. Use these activities and the best ideas will flow </p><p style="margin-top: 0">quickly. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Each activity can be done with only a few basic materials. Most </p><p style="margin-top: 0">of these are things that your organization already has on hand: flip </p><p style="margin-top: 0">charts, markers, index cards, pens, and paper. You will need a stopwatch, </p><p style="margin-top: 0">but you can probably use the one on your cell phone. Other </p><p style="margin-top: 0">than that, the rest of the activities’ supply lists include things that are </p><p style="margin-top: 0">not difficult to obtain: large sticky pads, balloons, magazines, and so </p><p style="margin-top: 0">on. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Each activity has a specific, focused purpose. Some are better for </p><p style="margin-top: 0">large groups, some for small groups. Some draw out quieter participants. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">Some are competitive. Some are faster paced than others. You </p><p style="margin-top: 0">can pick and choose which activities you use based on the needs of </p><p style="margin-top: 0">your group. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Each activity can be run by you, the busy manager. They are </p><p style="margin-top: 0">simple to understand and easy to plan and prepare for. Some of them </p><p style="margin-top: 0">can even be done successfully just moments after you read them for </p><p style="margin-top: 0">the first time. You take this book to your meeting and use a brainstorming </p><p style="margin-top: 0">activity right then and there! </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">The outline of each activity is easy to follow. Each one is presented </p><p style="margin-top: 0">in the same easy-to-read bulleted format: </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">This is . . . explains very briefly what the activity is. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">What it does . . . tells the benefits of the activity and what it will </p><p style="margin-top: 0">help you accomplish, but it also includes a word of caution about </p><p style="margin-top: 0">a potential downside of using the activity. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">What you need . . . tells you everything you’ll need for the activity. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">Usually, it’s nothing more than a marker and some flip chart </p><p style="margin-top: 0">paper, or a stack of index cards! </p><p style="margin-top: 0">Here’s how . . . tells you, step-by-step, how to conduct the activity. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">For example . . . gives examples of things to use and/or shows how </p><p style="margin-top: 0">the activity may play out, so you get a good sense of what to </p><p style="margin-top: 0">expect. Often, there is an illustration at the end of the activity to </p><p style="margin-top: 0">show you how it will look on the chart or in the room when you </p><p style="margin-top: 0">are finished. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">Tips for success . . . includes pointers and cautions that will help </p><p style="margin-top: 0">you run the activity more effectively. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">Try these variations . . . offers variations on the activity that may </p><p style="margin-top: 0">slow it down, speed it up, expand or contract the scope, add a level </p><p style="margin-top: 0">of competition, or otherwise alter it for a slightly different brainstorming </p><p style="margin-top: 0">experience. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Relax, you won’t find any of these kinds of activities here: </p><p style="margin-top: 0">No “touchy-feely” activities in which participants have to touch </p><p style="margin-top: 0">each other a lot, or share personal thoughts or feelings with one </p><p style="margin-top: 0">another. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">No outdoor activities that require large areas, nice weather, and </p><p style="margin-top: 0">physically fit participants. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">No special handouts to prepare, copy, or distribute. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">No lengthy activities during which more time is spent explaining </p><p style="margin-top: 0">the rules or warming the group up. Each activity takes about 15 </p><p style="margin-top: 0">minutes or less! </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Before we get to the activities, though, there are three chapters </p><p style="margin-top: 0">that will help you be successful in any brainstorming session. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">The first chapter explains what brainstorming is. It gives a brief </p><p style="margin-top: 0">history of brainstorming and some of the most common reasons for </p><p style="margin-top: 0">using it. You’ll learn the four basic rules for brainstorming and why </p><p style="margin-top: 0">each is so important: focus on quantity not quality; don’t allow criticism; </p><p style="margin-top: 0">encourage wild, outlandish ideas; combine ideas for more </p><p style="margin-top: 0">ideas. Then we’ll look at the 10 steps of conducting a brainstorming </p><p style="margin-top: 0">session—from the planning and preparation, through implementation, </p><p style="margin-top: 0">and on to action planning for the future. Lastly, we’ll take a </p><p style="margin-top: 0">look at the most common problems that arise in brainstorming sessions. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">We will consider ways to prevent them from happening in the </p><p style="margin-top: 0">first place, but we will also discuss what to do if they happen in spite </p><p style="margin-top: 0">of your best efforts. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">In Chapter 2, we learn how to ask a great starting question to </p><p style="margin-top: 0">kick off the group’s brainstorming. This first question focuses the </p><p style="margin-top: 0">group’s energy and leads them to their own great responses. So it’s </p><p style="margin-top: 0">got to be good, and it will be if you use their language, make it personal </p><p style="margin-top: 0">for them, keep it within scope, and use imagery to evoke </p><p style="margin-top: 0">responses. Once they start contributing, there are three ways to keep </p><p style="margin-top: 0">the energy high and the ideas flowing: using prompts, playback, </p><p style="margin-top: 0">and helping if necessary. We explore each of these techniques in </p><p style="margin-top: 0">detail in Chapter 2. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Chapter 3 looks at how to record your participants’ responses. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">There is great power in the pen—you can make or break your brainstorming </p><p style="margin-top: 0">session just by what you record, or how you record your </p><p style="margin-top: 0">participants’ input. You’ll learn how to follow the four rules of </p><p style="margin-top: 0">recording: keep it moving, keep it theirs, keep it legible, and keep it </p><p style="margin-top: 0">organized. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Each of the first three chapters ends with a brief summary, and </p><p style="margin-top: 0">then a checklist that you can use to gauge how well you are applying </p><p style="margin-top: 0">the principles contained therein. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">With these basics, you’ll be ready for the brainstorming activities. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">There are four kinds of activities in this book, presented in four </p><p style="margin-top: 0">different chapters. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Chapter 4 includes a dozen activities for brainstorming, including </p><p style="margin-top: 0">the original, traditional method developed by Alex Osborn, the </p><p style="margin-top: 0">father of brainstorming. Each of the other activities has a slightly </p><p style="margin-top: 0">different focus or objective, so use them as your needs vary. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">Sometimes, the creativity of a group needs to be primed. For that, </p><p style="margin-top: 0">you can use the activities in Chapter 5 in tandem with the activities </p><p style="margin-top: 0">here. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Chapter 5 has almost 20 activities for encouraging more creativity </p><p style="margin-top: 0">from your participants during brainstorming. You may combine </p><p style="margin-top: 0">one of these exercises with an activity from Chapter 4. The </p><p style="margin-top: 0">activity from Chapter 4 gives the framework—the structure—to the </p><p style="margin-top: 0">brainstorming session, while the exercise from Chapter 5 will promote </p><p style="margin-top: 0">creativity from the participants as they use that structure. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Chapter 6 has several methods for categorizing or grouping the </p><p style="margin-top: 0">list of input your group will generate using the activities in Chapters </p><p style="margin-top: 0">4 and 5. Often the list is so long that the participants need to group </p><p style="margin-top: 0">the input before they can even try to use the data meaningfully. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">These activities will help you do just that. This is an interim step for </p><p style="margin-top: 0">the group—after the list is generated, and before the data is analyzed </p><p style="margin-top: 0">and put to use. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Finally, Chapter 7 presents several processes for prioritizing the </p><p style="margin-top: 0">list generated earlier. This may mean ranking the ideas, or deciding </p><p style="margin-top: 0">on the best one, or simply sorting them into a few layers of importance. </p><p style="margin-top: 0">Because of the nature of group decision making, plan on </p><p style="margin-top: 0">these activities taking longer. The more important the issue, and the </p><p style="margin-top: 0">more participants involved, the longer it will take for everyone to </p><p style="margin-top: 0">feel heard, validated, and committed to a final resolution. </p><p style="margin-top: 0"></p><p style="margin-top: 0">Brainstorming can be fun and productive! Enjoy using these </p><p style="margin-top: 0">activities to bring out the best from your team. </p></body></html>

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