Round Robin Brainstorming

Round Robin Brainstorming is a variation on the classic brainstorming technique. When brainstorming in turns, meetings become more organized and this ensures that each participant can present their ideas.

This method is structured around creativity and everyone involved participates. It’s about letting creative lateral ideas emerge and stimulate each other into creative solutions.

Classic brainstorming is characterised by a lot of talking and people speaking at the same time. As a result, some people get less chance to speak and the discussion is limited to the more dominant individuals and their ideas.

To counter this, the Round Robin method gives everyone an opportunity to contribute to the discussion. Everyone is involved in the activity.

Each member of the team has the opportunity to generate ideas, without being influenced by other people. The ideas of others are used by each team member to generate more ideas.

This gives each team member the same opportunity to pitch and present ideas.

The steps to carry out the activity

The method is very simple and can be done by following the steps outlined below.

To participate in this brainstorming technique, start by having everyone sit in a circle. Then a team leader or facilitator will ask a question or offer a request for ideas and have everyone in the circle contribute one by one.

This strategy is ideal for medium to large-sized teams that may have calmer team members, or for any team with a noticeable imbalance in creative contribution. The most important rule of thumb for this technique is to treat all ideas with equal weight: give each teammate the same time and attention they share, and avoid developing ideas until everyone has had a chance to contribute.See also  Ring the Bell

If a team member says “Person X already said my idea,” give him time to come up with a new idea as he completes the round robin.

The topics of this publication: creativity, imagination, brainstorming, collaboration, teamwork