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Introduction A quality management system can help your organisation to continually improve its performance in many key areas There are a number of tools and techniques that can help you achieve this objective In this presentation, we will look at one of them - brainstorming

What is it? The term "Brainstorming" conjures up visions of mad professors foaming at the mouth But what we are referring to is a technique to encourage participation, creative thinking and the generation of new ideas

When should it be used? Identify objectives Generate possible solutions Choose between different options Develop a plan of action Brainstorming may be thought of as a problem solving technique. It can be used when you need to:

What does it achieve? Brainstorming can achieve the following: Produce many alternative ideas in a short space of time Enable people to contribute their ideas

Enable participants to benefit from each other’s ideas Encourage the generation of original or "off the wall" ideas Enhance team-building Produce a positive-thinking environment

How does it work? There are 5 key steps These are described on the following screens...

Step 1 - Form a team A group of participants gets together - away from day-to-day distractions 1

Step 2 - Allocate roles One person is nominated as group leader Another is nominated to take notes This can be done on paper, or on a whiteboard where everyone can see what's written 2

Step 3 - Explain objectives The group leader states what you are trying to achieve e.g. “We need to reduce the amount of waste material” “We need to improve our response time” 3

Step 4 - Generate ideas Everyone is encouraged to put forward their suggestions Every idea should be noted You are looking to generate a quantity of ideas Their suitability can be discussed later 4

At this stage, it is important that the ideas are not debated or criticised - no matter how unlikely they may seem Eventually you should have a range of ideas to consider, and the group leader calls a halt

An ‘Affinity Diagram’ may be a useful tool for grouping ideas together People Equipment MethodsMaterials

Step 5 - Evaluate ideas Now the group debates the various ideas, and starts a process of elimination You should be able to narrow them down to the agreed solution, or 2-3 options which merit further consideration 5

Perhaps using a cost-benefit analysis The brainstorming session has done its job Why not give it a try yourself! These options can then be investigated further

Form a team Allocate roles Explain objectives Generate ideas Evaluate ideas Summary of steps Summary of steps