2. Brainstorming! Click left mouse button or press space bar to advance presentation. Click right mouse button to go back. Press ‘Esc’ key to exit.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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:

6. 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

7. 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

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

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

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

15. 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

16. 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

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