Interview for the Volkskrant on Brainstorming

How to make a brainstorm work - an interview with dr. Kiki de Jonge in the Volkskrant.

Brainstorming sessions, who doesn't know them? Getting creative together. What not everyone knows is that a group brainstorm often kills creativity. Fortunately, with a few adjustments, you can still come up with meaningful ideas.

'During a brainstorm, you spend most of the time listening to others. That interrupts your own thought process. Or causes you to forget your own ideas again. Often a few dominant people take the lead and the whole group goes along with them. As a result, many ideas never reach the drawing table. And that's a shame, because we miss out on a lot of creative ideas.

Fortunately, with a few adjustments, you can still come up with creative ideas. Here are a few tips💡:

- Brainstorm individually first

- Make your ideas visual (by writing them down or drawing them)

- Make input anonymous

- Take advantage of working from home: online brainstorming works well!

Visualise your ideas

Don't just express an idea, make it visual. De Jonge: "You can do that by writing it down or drawing it. But in any case make sure you have something tangible. Not only does this prevent you from forgetting your ideas, but you can also combine them, explains De Jonge. 'When you have all those ideas in front of you on paper, you can make connections you didn't see before and thus come to new insights.'

Want to read more about how to make brainstorming effective (in Dutch)? See here.