Brainstorming was introduced to me in 1995 during esperanto sessions by my fellow esperanto collegues and I was instantly keen to use this technique among my friends back home to encourage creativity within team members and myself. Brainstorming is the act of defining a problem or idea and coming up anything related to the topic – no matter how remote a suggestion may sound and then determine which idea – or ideas – is the best solution. All of these ideas are first recorded and second evaluated. It is very important to divide session in two periods: recording and evaluating, because during former ideas flow, nothing is dismissed or judged, interruption and arguing isn’t welcome and during latter we do activities which are not welcome in recording period such as: some ideas are dismissed, grouped, condensed, refined… Brainstorming should be performed in a relaxed environment which helps to produce more creative ideas.

Procedure
In small or large group select leader and recorder (they may be the same person)
Role of leader is to be facilitator
Role of recorder is to record the ideas on white board, flip chart or software tool and preferably for all to see.

Individual Brainstorming
When you brainstorm on your own you will tend to produce a wider range of ideas than with group brainstorming - you do not have to worry about other people's egos or opinions, and can therefore be more freely creative. You may not, however, develop ideas as effectively as you do not have the experience of a group to help you.

Group Brainstorming
Brainstorming with a group of people is a powerful technique and can be very effective as it uses the experience and creativity of all members of the group. Brainstorming creates new ideas, solves problems, motivates and develops teams. When individual members reach their limit on an idea, another member's creativity and experience can take the idea to the next stage. Therefore, group brainstorming tends to develop ideas in more depth than individual brainstorming. Brainstorming in a group can be risky for individuals. Valuable but strange suggestions may appear stupid at first sight. Because of such, you need to chair sessions tightly so that uncreative people do not crush these ideas and leave group members feeling humiliated. Brainstorming places a significant burden on the facilitator to manage the process, people's involvement and sensitivities, and then to manage the follow up actions

Brainstorming steps
- Define idea, problem or business objective to be brainstormed, for example: “Launching new product”, “How to customize product for Christmas season?”, “Formulate a new job description for help desk clerk”. Make sure everyone is clear on the topic being explored. If the issue is very broad, it is probably better breaking it down into smaller issues which could be brainstormed independently.

- Set time limit for brainstorm session. Experience will show how much time is required.

- Once the brainstorming starts, participants shout out solutions to the problem while the recorder should write down all responses, if possible so everyone can see them. A good way of doing this is to use a flip chart, or to write ideas on sticky note and sticky it on the board. Facilitator should appoint one person to note down ideas that come out of the session or it can be same person (depends on how many members are in the group). Facilitator has to ensure that no one criticizes or evaluates ideas during the session, no one interrupt others. Criticism introduces an element of risk for group members when putting forward an idea. No matter how impossible or how silly an idea is, it must be written down. Laughing is to be encouraged, criticism is not. Encourage an enthusiastic, uncritical attitude among members of the group. Try to get everyone to contribute and develop ideas, including the quietest members of the group. Let people have fun brainstorming. Encourage them to come up with as many ideas as possible, from solidly practical ones to wildly impractical ones. Typically, the average person has been taught to think reproductively, that is, on the basis of similar problems encountered in the past. In contrast, creative people think productively, not reproductively. When confronted with a problem, they ask, "How many different ways can I look at it?" instead of "What have I been taught by someone else on how to solve this?" They tend to come up with many different responses, some of which are unconventional and possibly unique. Keep the session focused on the problem, have control. Welcome creativity; Encourage people to develop other people's ideas, or to use other ideas to create new ones. This should be studied and evaluated after the recording session.

- At the end of the time limit or when ideas have been exhausted, go through the results and begin evaluating the responses. Use different coloured pens to categorise, group, connect and link the random ideas and looking for any answers that are repeated or similar (or if sticky notes were used regroup them on the board). Condense and refine the ideas by making new headings or lists. You can diplomatically combine or include the weaker ideas within other themes to avoid dismissing or rejecting contributions (remember brainstorming is about team building and motivation too - you don't want it to have the reverse effect on some people) or eliminate responses that definitely do not fit but with caution (find pleasant approach to eliminate idea because it might offend person who proposed idea). With the group, assess, evaluate and analyse the effects and validity of the ideas or the list. Develop and prioritise the ideas into a more finished list or set of actions or options. Agree what the next actions will be. Agree a timescale, who is responsible. Control and monitor follow-up. It's crucial to develop a clear and positive outcome, so that people feel their effort and contribution was worthwhile. When people see that their efforts have resulted in action and change, they will be motivated and keen to help again.