ABSTRACT
The right way to introduce brainstorming to a group of new participants is to go through two preliminary stages before a live problem is tackled. The first stage identifies the barriers to creative thinking and knocks them down. The second stage defines brainstorming and illustrates a session using a neutral example. Five of the six stages of a brainstorming session - discussion of a problem, restatement and selection, brainstorm and wildest ideas - are then run with tricks of the trade being discussed as they appear in the session. The philosophy behind this two-stage introduction of brainstorming is that the barriers to creative thinking have to be knocked down, the method of brainstorming has to be demonstrated and accepted, before it can be applied to a live problem. Problems can arise if subsequent brainstorming sessions involve newcomers to the technique amongst the already trained participants.
