Short Test

1. Which of the following personalities would you most have reservations about inviting to your brainstorming session?

	A loud, outspoken, charismatic, strong-willed person with loads of experience in the industry; someone who needs to be right and in control at all times. Someone who is usually charming but can turn around suddenly with a bite.
	Someone from infrastructure maintenance who is very process oriented, and who takes manages minute details meticulously. A quiet, committed achiever who doesn't really like being in the limelight.
	A flamboyant, creative, and bubbly personality who cannot sit still and is always on the go with a million new ideas. Sometimes you wonder how they keep track of all the projects they are on.
	The department head who has great authority and is held in high regard by both management and staff alike. Someone who is known to be fair, considerate and disciplined.

2. What is the first thing you must do before you send out invitations to the brainstorming session?

	Get top level management support for your brainstorming session.
	Organise a brilliantly fresh, comfortable and creative space.
	Understand the problem you are trying to solve as completely as you can.
	Do some research into how other organisations generate and use ideas.

3. Which of the following is not one of the rules?

	Unusual is good.
	Go with the flow.
	Quantity not quality.
	Clear analysis reveals answers.

4. Which of the following is false? Brainstorming (or ideation) is...

	... focused on generating blue sky ideas without worrying too much about immediate practicality.
	... only a part of a larger problem solving process involving distinct phases of different activity.
	... preceeded by an Understanding phase and followed by an Evaluation (or analysis) phase.
	... judged to be successful only when it delivers immediately implementable ideas upon its conclusion.

5. When you run a brainstorm session, you need to actively direct the flow. This means...

	... you make sure the pattern of the discussion does not deviate from the rules too much; while at the same time being involved in the discussion.
	... you watch the time carefully so every person gets a fair go at saying something. No interruptions!!!
	... you actively put each participant on the spot by asking for their input at random. This keeps them on their toes and ensures a continuous flow of ideas.
	... you make sure that the status quo is maintained by making sure that the discussion does not go against corporate policies.

6. To make sure everyone is on the same page, you really need to...

	... explain the problem you are trying to solve and the ideas already put forward by management up-front.
	... send everyone background information on creative thinking and innovation so they can bone-up before the day.
	... remind participants of the brainstorming rules and process because they can be so different from usual business behaviours.
	... circulate the most current policy documents, brand guidelines and other rules to really clarify the boundaries of the discussion.

7.Which is not a reason to follow-up a brainstorming session with a summary and a subsequent Evaluation session?

	Keep the overall project momentum going.
	Clearly separate the blue-sky ideation work from the down-to-earth analysis/evaluation work.
	You need to sieve through all the generated ideas to start working out which ones to pursue into reality.
	You need to demonstrate to management that something is happening.

8. The physical space (environment) for brainstorming is important because...

	The space will dictate the specific outcome we are aiming for.
	A different space is the primary way to engender different thinking.
	The space we are in affects how we feel. We need to feel safe and comfortable in order to be really creative.
	A nice spaces will indicate to the participants the importance of this session.