Brainstorming combines a relaxed, informal approach to problem solving with lateral thinking. It encourages people to come up with thoughts and ideas that can, at first, seem a bit crazy. Some of these ideas can be crafted into original, creative solutions to a problem, while others can spark even more ideas. This helps to get people unstuck by “jolting” them out of their normal ways of thinking. This tool can be an extremely powerful and effective tool in the Six Sigma toolbox. It allows things to be stirred up and the layers of complex issues peeled back to expose the truths!

4 Keys to Effective Brainstorming

The ideal situation when things just click is exactly the place brainstorming gets you to. It allows ideas and situations to come together and create the perfect storm for creativity. Some industries are much better at the practice than others. Businesses that are more of a creative environment tend to understand and use the concept more comfortably. Businesses who are more technical ‘rules followers’ are less likely to be comfortable with a brainstorm session. The fact is, using a brainstorm session can be equally successful in any business environment, regardless of the creative structure. To take advantage of this powerful tool, you simply need to set some basic ground rules. The importance of these rules are more focused on respect for others vs. following secured rules. Here are the four basic rules to establish a proper brainstorm:

1. No Such Thing As A Dumb Idea – All cards are on the table. The group must be able to feel comfortable that their ideas are plausible. Open yourself up to the possibilities.
2. No Criticism – It’s not a debate about the technical merits. It is about what is possible!
3. Build on Other’s Ideas – When an idea is put on the table, open your mind and imagine how to build on that. Avoid the technical and see how you can layer a path for improvement.
4. Avoid Quality vs. Quantity – This presents a challenge for a more structured business. The tool isn’t about the technical aspects, but about the idea. Go for the quantity every time to be successful. The more ideas that are on the table, the more you will be open to possibilities.

The brainstorm tool keeps the wheels of collaboration turning. It can unfreeze the curiosity of many and encourage their ideas to flow. Keep the rules of the tool to basic respect and you will find a goldmine that will flow into your business! There is no such thing as a bad idea.

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Setting the Stage

Getting the best results from a group can be tricky. Preconceived notions and beliefs coupled with departmental silos create a stalemate for creativity. The purpose of an affinity diagram is to organize a large number of ideas into their natural relationships. This method taps a team’s creativity and intuition. Created in the 1960s by Japanese anthropologist Jiro Kawakita, it can be used very effectively to organize the ideas extracted from a brainstorming exercise where people from diverse and unrelated departments come together to solve a complex problem. To ensure the best results, you must create an atmosphere of trust and safety, where opinions are free to flow without any constraints.

Innovation from an Affinity Diagram

To achieve the best results,  the affinitizing process is best performed by bringing all the team members or stakeholders involved into a room and allowing them to post sticky notes with single ideas on a board or flipchart. There is no attempt to organize the ideas at this point, until all ideas are up on the board and are visible to all. It is very important that no one talk during this step. Not being allowed to talk discourages arguments and justifications. The idea is to go for the gut feeling rather than rational pontification, and speed rather than deliberation is the order of the day. Look for ideas that seem to be related in some way. Place them side by side. Repeat until all notes are grouped. It’s okay to have loners that don’t seem to fit a group. It’s all right to move a note someone else has already moved. If a note seems to belong in two groups, make a second note. Once you have completed this process, you can now talk. Allow the participants to discuss the shape of the chart, any surprising patterns, and especially reasons for moving controversial notes. A few more changes may be made. When ideas are grouped, select a heading for each group. Look for a note in each grouping that captures the meaning of the group. Place it at the top of the group. If there is no such note, write one. Often it is useful to write or highlight this note in a different color.

Focus Leads to Success

The goal of the Affinity Diagram group is to meld the perspectives, opinions, and insights of a group of people who are knowledgeable about the issues. The process works best when there are no more than five or six participants. The most valuable results from an Affinity diagram is that it forces the team members to move beyond preconceived notions and patterns of thinking towards more intuitive and unconventional solutions.

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Here are several effective tools to monitor your work process and help locate the root cause of a problem:

Brainstorming and Fishbone Diagrams: These two are separate tools, but even more powerful when used in succession. 

• Brainstorming: Here you would bring in your team or those you’ve chosen for this task, inform them of the issue at hand, and designate someone who will write down possible reasons and solutions that are brought up. Everyone involved is given the opportunity and participates. 
• Fishbone Diagrams: This is also referred to as a cause and effect diagram, and it is a great way to identify the root causes of an issue and sort them out into categories. After your brainstorming session, you can put the possible solutions in with the appropriate category on the diagram. You will be able to sort out and keep only the strong possibilities.

The 5 Whys: Another simple tool that is powerful in its results. Just keep asking why; don’t worry, the answer will change as you keep progressing. Eventually, you will have the answer in front of you. This uses our own capabilities as a resource. It is genius in its concept and so simple to use.

Process Flow Charts: This is a visual of your entire work process. It lets you visualize the steps of your work process and what it consists of. You can even see what would change the outcome and at what point. The Process Flow Chart allows you to understand how a process works, which helps everyone stay on the same page when discussing a possible restructuring of a work process.

Interested in learning more about Root Cause Analysis? Learn more about our RCA classes!

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The reason that conducting a root cause analysis is so important is that it is the only way you can identify exactly what is the root cause of the problem. This will result in the best possible solution that will be both effective and efficient.

The Best RCA Tools to Play the Blame Game

1. The 5 Whys: This Lean Six Sigma tool is so easy that kids already play it. Just keep asking why until a meaningful conclusion has been established. Many times it could take as long as it has taken to answer one of your kid’s most challenging questions.
2. Flowcharts: Everyone can visually see what is being impacted with flowcharts; these make things clear to kids as well. Make sure you keep the flowcharts simple.
3. Fishbone Diagram: This is also known as the cause and effect diagram. Used in conjunction with the 5 Whys when the 5 Whys are too general. The Fishbone diagram will put causes into specific categories, indicating how that cause impacts the outcome.
4. Brainstorming: This will bring the entire family together so everyone can have their say or input. Everyone’s input counts and is added, so this is a great Lean Six Sigma tool for family participation. The result in the brainstorming session should identify the root cause of the problem (why the garage always gets messy) and try to come up with possible solutions.
5. Affinity Diagram: This can be used with the information gathered from the brainstorming session, by organizing and possibly consolidating that information to further relate to the issue at hand.

This is yet another creative way to use the magic of Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma tools in our daily lives to deal with common, everyday organization issues.

Interested in learning more about root cause analysis? Learn about our RCA training!

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If you are working in a creative industry, you can literally brainstorm on brainstorming methods. However, if you work in a technical industry, a more structured approach might be necessary.

Tools to Keep Your Brainstorming Structured

Here are a few Six Sigma tools that will help keep your brainstorming structured and following a plan:

Affinity Diagram: Created in a session where team members get together, ideas are written on sticky notes, then those notes are placed on a wall. After everyone has done this, a team member puts those sticky notes in categories based on similarity.

This can not only determine if similar solutions are at work, but can also be very revealing as to how the team thinks as a collaborative unit. The Affinity Diagram is definitely a tool that could reveal and spark ideas.

Fishbone Diagram: Here you can visually lay out the cause and effect of a problem. Laying it out automatically starts the creative juices flowing. Inventing your own template for a diagram is always important; this in itself requires brainstorming on the fly.

When using the DMAIC cycle, the Improve phase (the 4th phase) would be the time to brainstorm. With brainstorming, you think up solutions and the different scenarios those solutions would produce. From there, you select the best one that would make the improvement.

Brainstorming can be used with any Six Sigma tool, any time — it’s in the definition:

Brainstorming: a technique of solving specific problems, assessing information, stimulating creative thinking and developing new ideas by unrestrained and spontaneous participation in discussion.

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