Every team needs a good brainstorming session to come up with potential solutions to their

most pressing business issues. In most cases, that issue is how to tackle a project, but what
happens when you need to completely overhaul an existing business process?

A panel of 10 Forbes Agency Council members were asked to share their best tips for
brainstorming new approaches to these standard practices. Here's what they had to say.

1. Ask Questions And Don't Rush Your Solutions

 As we age and establish routines, we rarely stop to ask if those are still the right things to
be doing. Start by asking questions about why a meeting is needed or if a process is still
relevant. Challenge the team to clarify the business problem or opportunity you are trying
to address. Then push the team to identify all the questions that need to be asked in
order to find the best solution. - Lisa Gearhart, St. John & Partners (SJ&P)

2. Break Things Down To A Granular Level

 Before you even approach a new process, you should do the following: State the
problem, give the problem some supporting evidence (when did it last happen, which
client complained about it, etc.), list as many potential solutions to each case, look over
the solutions with your team to see if they are rational and turn them into actionable
items. - Omar Jenblat, BusySeed

3. Get All Hands On Deck

 From time to time, I like to call an "all hands on deck" meeting. With the help of a
whiteboard, I ask team members from different disciplines to weigh in on something that
may or may not be their field of expertise. No answer is wrong and no comment goes
unnoted. This method allows us to have different perspectives. - Ricardo Casas,
Fahrenheit Marketing

4. Find A Fresh Set Of Eyes

 Over time, businesses change. People, products and services come and go. Yet the
processes more often than not stay the same. Often, it can take a fresh set of eyes to
recognize whether the existing processes are still adequate or improvement is needed.
Utilize the newer people in your organization to look at your processes on a regular basis
to determine what, if anything, can be improved. - Cash Miller, Titan Web Marketing
Solutions

5. Accommodate For Different Styles Of Brainstorming

 A typical "brainstorming" involves gathering everyone in a room to throw ideas around
and conclude the session with some that stick. Done, resolved, right? Nope. I learned
from reading the book Quiet by Susan Cain that only extroverts participate. Introverts
need some quiet time to process before they contribute. I allow people to add notes or
send in an email with their ideas after the session. - Beth Noymer Levine, SmartMouth
Communications
6. Apply Structure
 Brainstorms without structure can turn into interesting discussions, but can also leave
participants without any clear direction at the end. Schedule a meeting with measurable
outcomes. Identify the topics that need to be discussed, what is needed for the
discussion, and then apply a time limit. Structured brainstorms breed more creativity and
avoid the pitfalls of sidebars and diversions. - Stefan Pollack, The Pollack PR Marketing
Group

7. Identify Your 'North Star'

 Have an end goal and keep a time cap. Brainstorming new approaches is great but can
easily get derailed by personal anecdotes. By establishing the end goal at the forefront
(“We are here to solve X”), this North Star can always be pointed to if the conversation is
getting off track. Keeping a time cap — say, 30 minutes — also increases the urgency to
help you stay focused on your end goal. - Bernard May, National Positions

8. Get Out Of The Office

 Do it away from the office. Being in the same environment with the same people so often
can exacerbate the status quo and breed complacency. Hold an off-site company-wide
happy hour, group lunch or anything that will keep your staff energized and thinking in
new, creative ways. - Kathleen Lucente, Red Fan Communications

9. Get Anonymous Feedback

 Examine how things are being done and how you can improve. Are there processes that
could be done more efficiently? Avoid groupthink by asking for anonymous feedback from
your team. Listen to what each one of your employees thinks about a particular business
practice. After picking the best ideas, talk in a group setting to see which ideas are most
efficient and realistic to start implementing. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS

10. Find A Tool That Helps You Become Process-Driven

 Brainstorming sessions often get stuck in the 'cloud' that they form, hardly ever being
utilized to its best ability following a meeting. In an industry driven by fast-paced
deadlines and task-oriented business practices, find a process-driven platform, such as
Salesforce, that can establish and organize your data. - Jennifer Wentzo, coded{PR}