Not all brainstorming sessions need to start with a clean slate. If your team already has an idea or two, you can use the “catchball” approach at your next meeting. Here’s how it works: Someone on the team “tosses” the idea to someone else. Whoever “catches” it must understand it, reflect on it, and improve on it in some way. That person tosses the modified idea back to the group, where it’s caught by someone else and improved further. As each person participates, they’ll have the opportunity to tinker with the idea and enrich the conversation. This gives each team member a sense of shared responsibility and commitment to the idea. Ideally, that feeling of group ownership will remain once it’s time to implement the idea, no matter who came up with the initial concept in the first place.
Adapted from Innovative Teams (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)
