Beyond Thought Spaghetti: Making Nonprofit Brainstorming Actually Work
We’ve all been there. A bunch of us sitting in a room attempting to solve a tough problem your nonprofit is struggling with by throwing “thought spaghetti” everywhere, hoping that some noodles will collide and the idea equivalent of the iPhone will magically appear. Rarely does that happen.
On paper, brainstorming sessions should work. The more brains we have in the room focused on a particular problem like a nonprofit programming or funding challenge, the greater the chance something magical could happen, right? Sadly, I cannot think of a session like this that I have been a part of that has ever turned out anything meaningful. 100% of the time, I’ve only left those sessions with more questions, less clarity, and an hour I can’t get back.
Why We Think It Should Work
Well-meaning nonprofit leaders will usually gather people from different roles, departments, and levels in the organization with the belief that the diversity of perspectives will bring in “outside thinking” to unlock a challenge or creative barrier. Those same well-meaning leaders will typically not give a lot of detail to the attendees about the challenge they’re going to be working on, in an effort to keep the room thinking freely, and not get blocked by pre-conceived ideas.
That team leader then thinks, “This is going to be awesome. We’ll come up with something brilliant, and I’ll look like a rock star.”
But, when the brainstorming session happens, 99 times out of 100 the results are less than awesome.
(*Side note*: I will happily concede that occasionally something great WILL come out of a meeting like that, or at least enough of a “something” that later becomes a great solution. When that happens, I think it is in spite of the session design, rather than because of the session design.)
Why Most Brainstorming Sessions Fall Flat
Here’s why most of the time brainstorming sessions don’t work.
The wrong people are in the room.
In most nonprofits, bringing outside thinking in to tackle a complex problem means that well-meaning individuals are all giving ideas and insight on something they don’t know anything about. At the same time, all the people who DO know the challenge intimately (after all, it’s their job), end up easily frustrated or slowed down by not being able to speak freely, or by spending a lot of time telling the outside thinkers why their idea won’t work and is something they’ve already thought of.
Two Keys To Productive Problem-Solving
This doesn’t mean that all brainstorming is a waste of time. Next time you want some “groupthink” to help crack open a nonprofit barrier you can’t seem to get past or a tough problem you need to solve, try 2 things first.
Hand pick the people you want in the room carefully. Find individuals in your nonprofit or on your board that are more familiar with the work and can think and speak with knowledge to the problem you are trying to solve. If possible, invite a parallel colleague from a different nonprofit to sit in the meeting. Get only the people in the room that understand the actual problem and the barriers to a solution, and who can speak from a place of knowledge and experience.
Brief them ahead of time. Tell them what you’re trying to accomplish, the challenges you are having, and the solutions you have already thought through and discarded. Come meeting time, the attendees will have been thinking for a bit about the problem and will already be narrowing in on the ideas that will actually be great. Most of us cannot walk into a brainstorming session completely unaware, assess the situation, think through ideas, and come up with anything meaningful in an hour.
Moving forward, recognize that the effectiveness of your group problem-solving hinges less on random diversity and more on relevant expertise and preparation. Resist the urge to simply gather bodies; instead, implement these 2 strategic steps. By doing so, you set the stage for a truly collaborative and productive brainstorming session, transforming your meeting time from a frustrating exercise into a valuable opportunity to find real solutions that move your nonprofit's work forward.
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