Brainstorm Better: Improving a Critical Skill

May 29, 2020

Brainstorming is a method that can help generate ideas. People often brainstorm during the ideation phase of human-centered design—when the focus is to dream up many potential solutions—and in conference rooms to solve business problems or to identify new opportunities. 

Facilitating and participating in brainstorming is a critical exploratory method that is often unused, rarely practiced, and not intentionally applied in business contexts. To explore this topic, the HCD Community of Practice welcomed guest speaker Natalie Nixon, PhD.

Natalie facilitated an engaging session via Zoom that included:

• A definition of brainstorming and its value in business contexts, 
• An introduction to three brainstorming techniques: quiet-storming, question-storming, and the acronym SCAMPER, and
• A series of virtual brainstorming exercises throughout the program.

Presenter

Natalie Nixon, PhD – creativity strategist and president of Figure 8 Thinking, LLC.

She advises leaders on achieving business results by applying wonder and rigor. Natalie is a global speaker and the author of  The Creativity Leap: Unleash Curiosity, Improvisation, and Intuition at Work , the editor of Strategic Design Thinking: Innovation in Products, Services, Experiences, and Beyond, and a regular contributor to Inc. magazine. Education: BA (honors) in Anthropology and Africana Studies from Vassar College; an MS in Global Textile Marketing from Jefferson University; and a PhD in Design Management from the University of Westminster in London.

You can find out more about Natalie at figure8thinking.com and follow her on social media @natwnixon.