Advice nad Information on Grant Seeking and Proposal Writing
Brainstorming Principles and Procedures: A Community Management Training Technique
by Phil Bartle


The Purpose of Brainstorming
The purpose of a brainstorming session is to work as a group to define a problem, and find, through creative thinking, the best group decision for a plan of action to solve it. These basic guidelines will help you lead a group to making a decision by consensus. The technique can be used in a variety of settings and is essentially a way to facilitate creative group decision making.

While you need good leadership qualities to conduct the session, and must be very firm in ensuring that the format and ground rules of the session are followed (e.g., no criticism or cross talk is allowed), you will be ensuring that the decisions are seen to be that of the group, not imposed upon them by yourself.

Requirements:

The Ground Rules:

The Procedure:
1. Define the problem:

2. Generate the Goal: 3. Define the Objective: 4. Identify resources and constraints: 5. Identify a strategy: 6. Summarize on the board the group decisions:

Inform the group that they have produced a plan of action. If some one would write down what was decided in each of the above categories, they would have the essence of a standard planning document. Let them know that they have produced it as a team, and that they "own" the plan.

Conclusion: It is simple. That does not mean it is easy. It improves with practice. You can intersperse the different phases of it with role playing, group games and other techniques of group work. Experiment with it and try different styles.

Good luck and successful mobilizing!


Permission is granted to copy or forward some parts or all of this document, so long as the source is identified. Brainstorming Principles and Procedures: A Community Management Training Technique by Phil Bartle





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