How to Brainstorm Virtually
There has been a belief by many that I have seen over the recent post-pandemic years that idea generation though brainstorming needs to be done in person. I have held that belief myself in the past as well. One thing that the pandemic has taught us is that there are different ways of working and different ways to be effective at work. Everyone has a preference, but we need to be careful not to think that the way we have done things in the past is the "right way" when it may actually be a preference that just has not been challenged. As a society we are learning that there are better ways to be inclusive, as well as to ensure everyone can contribute equally, even if at times it may not feel like learning.
A recent article in Scientific American talked about the many surveys that have shown an increasing preference to work remotely or in hybrid manner. I think we all feel that. They also linked to surveys that showed that there is also an increased comfort or ability to participate for those with social challenges, different abilities, different personalities or other areas that have traditionally been a left out in the work place. Virtual brainstorming has shown to provide "the optimal experience for the largest number of group members, balancing the preferences of introverts and extroverts, optimists and pessimists, lower-status and higher-status members."
How to hold a virtual brainstorming or idea generation session:
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Initial Idea Generation
Allow the team some time to generate ideas. By adding them to a online tool or in a virtual collaboration location evens out the preference for the loudest or fasting speaking to overwhelm the process.
Have a deadline and a time limit, but you may give this step more time than you have in the past. Allowing those that need time to process more time to come up with ideas will give you a higher number of ideas, more diversity in those ideas, and an level playing field for all ideas.
Cleanup the Ideas
The facilitator or someone assigned categorizes all the ideas and sends them out to the team
Evaluation
All team members can comment on ideas.
This could be done anonymously if needed to allow for honesty and worry-free critiquing.
More ideas may be added during this phase as well. Many times this process will spark new ideas.
Meet in person or virtually to discuss ideas
Now that everyone has been able to get their ideas out and make comments on others with out great pressure the discuss should be smother
You may find that you have more ideas then you expected.
