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35 BRAINSTORMING QUESTIONS TO JUMPSTART CREATIVITY

Reading time: about 6 min

When we brainstorm as a team effectively, magic can happen. 

But activating group creativity and gathering collective solutions can often
prove to be an elusive and difficult process. There are a lot of challenges that
come with group problem-solving. After all, everyone tackles obstacles in their
own unique way. 

Without an effective framework and approach in place before diving into the
brainstorming process, you may end your session with even more problems to solve
than you started with. Ideas can clash and time can be wasted without practical
brainstorming techniques. 

That’s why it’s so important to be prepared to challenge your team with good
brainstorming questions to get the creative juices flowing. 


WHY QUESTIONS BOOST CREATIVITY DURING BRAINSTORMING SESSIONS

A compelling, well-timed question can activate lively discussions and unexpected
solutions. A poor question meant as a shortcut to a solution can often get you
blank stares and an awkward silence. We’ve all been there!

That’s why it’s important that team leaders utilize and prepare creative
brainstorming questions that encourage free thinking, creativity, and, yes, even
more questions from your team. At face value, facilitating a conversation that
creates even more questions might seem like it could lead to wasted time, but
it’s actually an effective way to help your team invest in solving the problem
at hand and engage in dynamic solutions as a group. 

Below we cover a wide range of brainstorming questions team leaders can use.


CREATIVE BRAINSTORMING QUESTIONS

To begin, it’s important to create an environment where your team feels open to
contributing and solving problems as a group. This is a space where the team is
encouraged to keep an open mind, check their egos at the door, and not pass
judgment on any idea proposed. 

At such an early stage, brainstorming is about quality but also quantity. Good
brainstorming is a means to gather as many ideas as possible and expand on them
at a later time. It should be clear that the immediate goal is tossing as many
ideas at the wall as possible and seeing what sticks. A team set up for success
knows that, at the beginning stages, there are no bad ideas. 


INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS

 * What are the goals we hope to achieve today?
 * What are the facts about this project / obstacle?
 * What insights do we have in terms of information, figures, or data that will
   be helpful?
 * What additional data or resources do we need to solve this challenge? 
 * What about this project is exciting?
 * What are the areas of this project we perceive to present the biggest
   possible challenge?


INFORMATION-GATHERING QUESTIONS

 * How will our lines of communication function?
 * What will our methods of reporting be?
 * What skills are required to reach our goal?
 * What financial obstacles might we come across during this project?
 * How will we raise these funds?
 * How will we track our progress?
 * How and when will we ensure delivery of our finished product?


QUESTIONS MEANT TO ENCOURAGE DISCUSSION 

 * What are your initial impressions of this project?
 * How would you briefly outline or pitch this project?
 * Can you explain these obstacles as simply as possible?
 * What makes our organization / team uniquely equipped to tackle this project?
 * What does our organization / team lack in order to see this project succeed? 
 * How can we be prepared to account for our weaknesses?
 * How would a different organization approach this project?
 * What makes this product / project desirable to a customer?
 * What is the root of our problem here?
 * What is the best possible outcome for our project?


PROBLEM-SOLVING QUESTIONS

 * Do we have ideas that we’re able to combine?
 * How can we implement our ideas in a different way?
 * Are there solutions you’ve used in other projects that would be helpful here?
 * What are three other ways of looking at this challenge?
 * What are other examples of projects / products similar to ours that have been
   successful?
 * How have similar projects / products failed?
 * If there were no limitations, how would we approach this project?


REFLECTION QUESTIONS

 * What are our next steps?
 * What have we learned about our project?
 * Are there other team members or unique skill sets required for us to achieve
   these goals?
 * What might affect the timing of completing this project?
 * What factor or idea deserves the most focus at this time?


LUCIDSPARK BRAINSTORMING RESOURCES

Of course, asking creative brainstorming questions and facilitating a
conversation to jumpstart creativity is only one way to generate new ideas and
solutions. Lucidspark has a number of resources to facilitate brainstorming in
new and innovative ways. 


BRAINWRITING TEMPLATE

Lucidspark’s brainwriting template is a technique used to generate a number of
ideas in a short period of time. After a long session of sharing ideas aloud in
a roundtable discussion, team members might be ready to take a breather and
engage in a more introspective exercise. 

Team members are asked to each write down three ideas in five minutes on sticky
notes. The sticky notes are then passed around and more ideas are added to each.
This process repeats for 10-15 minutes before all ideas are collected and
discussed as a group. This technique allows team members a more structured
format to share ideas with the group and gives a voice to each individual so all
ideas are heard.

Brainwriting example (click on image to modify online)


MIND MAP TEMPLATE

Lucidspark’s mind map template is another great tool for visualizing and
organizing your team’s creative solutions. Highlight an idea or goal in the
center of a diagram and use lines to link related themes.

Mind maps are a useful way to assemble the ideas and results from brainstorming
sessions all in one place, while also providing access to dynamic formatting,
colors, and visuals. Mind maps allow you to modify and manage diverse sets of
ideas quickly and in a single document.

mind map example (click on image to modify online)


REVERSE BRAINSTORMING TEMPLATE

Reverse brainstorming is a technique that asks team members to identify gaps and
possible roadblocks in a project’s future. Lucidspark’s reverse brainstorming
template prompts a group to outline all the ways in which a plan or project
might fail in order to more easily foresee solutions to headaches and
complications before they arise.

example (click on image to modify online)

Brainstorming is a valuable tool, but only when the process has been set up to
succeed. By preparing creative brainstorming questions you’ll improve your
leadership performance and also encourage your team to think freely to solve the
problem at hand. 

 

Level up your brainstorming sessions even more with these 7 additional
brainstorming tips.

 



Learn more


LEVEL UP YOUR BRAINSTORMING SESSIONS EVEN MORE WITH THESE 7 ADDITIONAL
BRAINSTORMING TIPS.

Learn more


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ABOUT LUCIDSPARK

Lucidspark is a virtual whiteboard that helps you and your team collaborate to
bring the best ideas to light. It comes packed with all of the sticky notes,
freehand drawing tools, and infinite canvas space you need to capture that next
big idea. And it’s built for collaboration. Think of it like a sandbox where
your team can bounce ideas around and innovate together in real time.

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