2 Effective Brainstorming Questions Sets | Free Download

Questions Drive a Brainstorming Session Towards Success

Brainstorming can help a group discover innovative, creative, and out-of-the-box ideas or solutions to address a problem, and the questions asked during brainstorming sessions (check this complete Guide to Brainstorming Tools and Techniques) are the wheels that will steer the discussion in the right direction.

A good brainstorming question will guide the participant into thinking from a different perspective. What you need is a fresher and more creative approach, so that your team members or the session participants discard their usual way of looking at things that would produce standard results which you do not really need at this point.

The question should set some parameters and limits within which the participants will explore ideas but not to the point that it is too restrictive and narrows down their creative space.

There are four types of questions which are often used in a brainstorming session:

1. Observational questions

2. Reflective questions

3. Interpretive questions

4. Decisional questions

 

• Effective Brainstorming Questions Part 1
• 2 Brainstorming Questions Sets: Free Download Part 2
• Additional Sources Part 3

part 1

Thee key to their effectiveness lies in the order in which the questions are asked; from the most basic to the most complex. This is done to ensure that participants are primed to be fully engaged in the discussion.

1. Observational questions home in on the members’ experiences. These questions are asked first because the answers are usually known to the members, or they may not be aware that they already knew the answers.
   Questions such as”Who are our primary customers?” or
   “What do you usually notice when a client is satisfied with our services?”fall under this type.When this kind of question is asked, ensure that all participants take turns to answer. Since these are relatively easy questions to answer, participants will warm up, loosen up and be comfortable to answer the following questions.
2. Reflective questions, on the other hand, delve into the emotions of the participants and on what they feel about individual experiences. This type of question allows them to express themselves on a deeper level than they can share when answering observational questions. Based on their answers, facilitators will get a glimpse of a person’s personality and even a brief background about him or her.
   Reflective questions such as“What does this remind you of?”, or
   “Which processes do you feel you can handle well?”may be answered verbally, or participants may be given a quiet time to think about their answers.
3. Interpretive questions are thought-provoking ones which, if not handled well, could spark a debate. These questions reflect what the participants’ hold to be necessary. It allows them to consider the implications of their choices on certain aspects of the business.
   Questions such as:“What product should the company stop producing?” or
   “What do you think we need to have in order to achieve our goals?”are examples of this kind of question.
4. Lastly, decisional questions will now let the group think about their course of action, based on their answers to the previous questions.
   These action-oriented questions such as“What should we do now?” and
   “When do we need to start doing that?”will directly contribute to the planning process and will have a significant impact on the actual work that they do.Check more brainstorming questions by downloading the sheets below:

part 2

Brainstorming Questions: Free Download

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part 3

Additional Sources

4 Organized Brainstorming Templates, Charts, and Worksheets + Free Download