There has been major shift to how we live today especially after the pandemic. During the crisis, we are forced to make necessary measure to ensure the safety of everyone. As business leaders, instructing your team members or employees to work from home is a big decision because it comes with many consequences. Working remotely has various logistical challenges. Brainstorming process can be more challenging if you don’t know how to optimize it.
Efficient virtual brainstorm
Virtual brainstorm is not a new practice or approach for some businesses. It has been conducted with various purposes. If you just experienced it now, you may get overwhelmed with how the way it works. You might be wondering if it is how face-to-face brainstorm works. Here are some tips for effective and efficient virtual brainstorm with your team members:
Plan your virtual white-boarding
Through your white-boarding, you plan everything out from the big topic to the details you want to discuss during the brainstorming. The plan is like a guide for you to carry the entire process. This can help you to stay in the lane. Therefore, you can always get back in track whenever you are distracted during the brainstorm. Make sure that you plan everything to the final things.
Always come with one original idea or more
It is essential to include specific session goal for every virtual brainstorm you conduct. Then, make sure to link them to relevant research or imagery. Also, make sure that everyone in the brainstorm event feel engaged. Encourage them to participate and speak up about the generated solution or ideas. Participation from each participant in the meeting can lead to more ideas to born.
Feel the difference
Like it or not, you must feel the difference between direct and virtual brainstorm even you can still see their faces. The usual structures have changed as well and you have to get used to it as well as your team members. To make it easier for everyone, it is important to build comfortable environment. Thus, warming up with icebreakers to start the meeting. It can be in any forms of icebreakers you choose. It doesn’t have to be something deep. You can choose something simple yet meaningful and fun.
See what tools you can use
Try to incorporate virtual tools to support the brainstorming process and make it more efficient. Many tools are useful to gather information provided by every participant in real time without disturbing the process itself. The use of virtual tools also make it easier for every participant to engage directly throughout the entire process.
Try to be more accommodating to your team members
Encourage your team members to speak up more and provide their ideas. Even if you don’t seem to agree with their ideas, listen to them first instead of interrupting. Find some important from their ideas such as the potentials, concerns, pluses, as well as overcome. Those elements are important to find out the an idea can be used or not. Quickly dismissing your team members’ idea might do more harm than good.