An ideation session is a structured process for generating, developing, and refining ideas through cycles of divergent thinking (generating many possibilities) and convergent thinking (narrowing to the best options). Unlike casual brainstorming, an effective ideation session requires deliberate preparation, clear ground rules, psychological safety, and facilitation techniques that move a group from scattered ideas to actionable outcomes. Research from Harvard’s Amy Edmondson and Google’s Project Aristotle confirms that psychological safety—the belief that you won’t be punished for speaking up—is the single most important factor in creative team performance.
Key Takeaways:
- An ideation session is not the same as brainstorming. Brainstorming is one technique within ideation. A real ideation session includes problem framing, structured generation, evaluation, and follow-through.
- Psychological safety matters more than technique. Google’s Project Aristotle found it was the most important factor for creative team performance. If people fear judgment, no technique will save your session.
- Structure enables creativity (not the other way around). Ground rules, time constraints, and facilitation give people permission to take creative risks they wouldn’t take in an open-ended meeting.
- Aim for quantity first, quality second. The best ideas typically emerge after the obvious ones are exhausted.
Contents:
- What Is an Ideation Session?
- Why Ideation Sessions Matter
- When to Use an Ideation Session
- How to Prepare
- Ground Rules That Work
- Ideation Techniques
- How to Narrow Down Ideas
- Common Pitfalls
- FAQ
What Is an Ideation Session (And How Is It Different from Brainstorming)?
An ideation session is a structured creative process that moves through distinct phases—from problem framing to idea generation to evaluation—using specific techniques and ground rules. Brainstorming is just one technique within the broader ideation process.
You’ve probably been in that meeting. Someone says “let’s brainstorm” and then everyone stares at each other for forty-five minutes while one person dominates the conversation. That’s not ideation. That’s an unstructured conversation with a hopeful label slapped on it.
Most meetings called “brainstorming” are actually just unstructured conversations.
The real difference comes down to scope and structure. In 1956, psychologist J.P. Guilford identified two types of thinking that form the cognitive backbone of all creative work—divergent thinking generates many ideas, and convergent thinking narrows to the best ones. Effective ideation cycles between both. The Interaction Design Foundation positions ideation as the third phase of the design thinking process, following empathy and problem definition.
Here’s how they compare:
| Brainstorming | Ideation Session | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | One technique for generating ideas | Full process including framing, generation, evaluation, and follow-through |
| Structure | Often informal, no clear phases | Defined phases with transitions between divergent and convergent thinking |
| Techniques | Free-form group discussion | Multiple methods (SCAMPER, brainwriting, How Might We, dot voting) |
| Output | A list of ideas (often unfiltered) | Prioritized, actionable ideas with next steps assigned |
As SessionLab puts it, an ideation workshop is a “structured process for brainstorming innovative ideas and refining them into effective solutions.” The key word is structured.
Why Ideation Sessions Matter (And What Blocks Them)
The biggest obstacle to great ideas isn’t a lack of creativity—it’s the fear of looking stupid. Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson found that psychological safety—”the belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking”—is the single most important factor in creative team performance.
Think about the last time you had an idea in a meeting but didn’t say it. Maybe it felt too weird. Too half-baked. Maybe you thought someone would shoot it down.
You’re not alone. And that silence is where most good ideas go to die.
Google’s Project Aristotle studied hundreds of teams and found that psychological safety was “by far the most important” dynamic in their highest-performing groups. Not expertise. Not talent. Safety.
According to an HBR article on creative confidence by IDEO founders David and Tom Kelley, four big fears hold people back from creative work:
- Fear of the messy unknown—not knowing where the process will lead
- Fear of judgment—worrying what others will think of your ideas
- Fear of the first step—paralysis at the starting line
- Fear of losing control—discomfort with open-ended exploration
Here’s what most articles about ideation won’t tell you. When people feel unsafe, their capacity for creative thinking diminishes. If people don’t feel safe, no technique in the world will save your session.
But here’s the good news. As David and Tom Kelley argue, creativity isn’t a mysterious talent you’re born with—it’s something you practice. And structured ideation is how you develop it. It’s a practice for overcoming your fear of failure and discovering possibilities you’ve been afraid to name.
When to Use an Ideation Session
Use an ideation session when you’re stuck, facing a genuine problem, or need fresh perspectives before committing to a direction.
Not every problem calls for one. But these situations do:
- You’re launching a new creative project and need to explore directions before committing
- You’ve hit a creative block—you’ve exhausted your existing ideas and need fresh perspectives
- Something isn’t working and you need to pivot or rethink your approach
- You’re exploring possibilities before committing time, money, or energy
- Your team needs alignment—everyone has different ideas and you need a shared direction
An ideation session works best when you have a real problem worth solving—not when you need to rubber-stamp a decision already made.
Don’t use ideation to validate what you’ve already decided. As Collective Campus notes, the best ideation starts with a genuine problem surfaced from real conversations—not a predetermined solution looking for justification.
How to Prepare for an Ideation Session
Preparation is what separates productive ideation from aimless brainstorming. The most important step is framing the right problem before you ever start generating ideas.
Most ideation sessions fail because of bad preparation, not bad ideas. Andy Eklund, a facilitation expert, lists vague objectives and shallow research as common brainstorming mistakes. Here’s your checklist:
1. Frame the problem clearly.
Use “How Might We” questions—a technique from the Interaction Design Foundation’s design thinking framework. They reframe problems as opportunities.
Example: Instead of “We’re not getting enough clients,” try “How might we help people discover work they find meaningful—and find us in the process?”
The quality of your ideation depends on the quality of your problem statement.
2. Select your participants.
Collective Campus recommends 4-8 people for group sessions, which brings enough diversity without making people reluctant to speak up. But here’s the thing—ideation works with as few as 2-3 people. Two friends at a coffee shop with a clear problem and a timer counts as an ideation session. Don’t overcomplicate this.
3. Set a time limit.
IDEO U recommends 30-60 minutes as the sweet spot. Constraint drives creativity. An open-ended meeting gives you open-ended (read: unfocused) results.
4. Prepare the environment.
Whiteboards, sticky notes, markers for in-person sessions. Miro or Mural for remote ones. The point is to make ideas visible—not just verbal.
5. Choose your techniques in advance (more on these in the next section).
6. Communicate ground rules before the session starts.
Don’t spring the rules on people in the moment. Let them arrive knowing what to expect.
The Ground Rules That Make Ideation Work
The most important rule of ideation is to defer judgment. When people feel free to share half-formed, imperfect ideas without fear of criticism, the quality and quantity of ideas increases dramatically.
Defer judgment doesn’t mean every idea is good. It means every idea gets to exist before it gets evaluated.
Alex Osborn introduced the core rules of brainstorming in 1953—quantity over quality, welcome wild ideas, withhold criticism, and build on others’ ideas. They still hold up. IDEO U expanded them to seven. Here’s the full set:
- Defer judgment. This is the foundation. The moment someone says “that won’t work because…” in the generation phase, you’ve lost the room. What “defer judgment” actually sounds like in practice: “Interesting—what else?” not “That won’t work because…”
- Go for quantity. Aim for volume. The best ideas typically emerge after the obvious ones are exhausted.
- Welcome wild ideas. The “stupid” idea often leads to the breakthrough. Give it room.
- Build on others’ ideas. “Yes, and…” not “No, but…” This is stepping outside your comfort zone in real time.
- One conversation at a time. Respect the process and each other.
- Use visuals. Write it down. Draw it. Sticky notes, sketches, whiteboard scribbles. If it only lives in someone’s head, it can’t spark someone else’s thinking.
- Mix solo and group work. IDEO U recommends this to prevent groupthink and give introverts space. Start with individual ideation before group sharing.
The urge to evaluate is the enemy of ideation. You’ll get to judge later. Edmondson’s research confirms that psychological safety—the foundation underneath all these rules—enables the creative risk-taking that produces breakthrough ideas.
Ideation Techniques That Work
You don’t need dozens of techniques. A few well-chosen methods—matched to your problem and group size—will produce better results than trying to use every tool in the box.
You don’t need all of these. Pick one or two and master them.
How Might We Questions
The Interaction Design Foundation calls these the best way to open an ideation session. They reframe problems as opportunities and open the space for creative solutions.
Brainwriting
This one levels the playing field. Everyone writes ideas silently for a set period before sharing, which means the loudest voice no longer dominates. According to ITONICS Innovation, brainwriting is especially powerful for introverts and for preventing groupthink. It’s also the most solo-friendly technique—you can do it alone.
SCAMPER
SCAMPER works by forcing your brain to approach a problem from seven different angles: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, re-Purpose, Eliminate, and Reverse.
Say you’re a maker trying to rethink how you sell your work. SCAMPER might ask: What if you eliminated the online store entirely and only sold at markets? What if you combined your product with a teaching workshop? What if you reversed the process and let customers design the product? Each prompt forces a different kind of thinking.
Crazy Eights
A rapid sketching exercise where you draw eight ideas in eight minutes. Speed kills perfectionism. You don’t have time to second-guess—you just create.
Six Thinking Hats (brief mention)
Edward de Bono’s method assigns different thinking perspectives (facts, emotions, creativity, caution, benefits, process) to examine a problem from multiple angles. Best for more complex problems that need thorough analysis.
| Technique | Best For | Group Size | Time Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| How Might We | Opening a session; reframing problems | Any | 10-15 min |
| Brainwriting | Introverts; preventing groupthink | 2-10+ | 15-20 min |
| SCAMPER | Systematic exploration of existing ideas | 1-8 | 20-30 min |
| Crazy Eights | Rapid generation; killing perfectionism | 1-10 | 8 min |
| Six Thinking Hats | Complex problems needing multiple perspectives | 4-10 | 30-45 min |
How to Narrow Down Ideas After Generating Them
After generating ideas, shift from divergent to convergent thinking. The goal is to move from many possibilities to a few actionable ones through clustering, voting, and impact analysis.
Convergent thinking isn’t about killing ideas. It’s about finding the ones worth pursuing first.
Here’s a simple process, drawn from SessionLab’s facilitation guidance:
- Affinity mapping—Group similar ideas into clusters. Patterns will emerge that you didn’t see when ideas were scattered.
- Dot voting—Give each person 3-5 votes (sticker dots or markers) to place on their favorites. It’s democratic and quick.
- Impact/effort matrix—Plot your top ideas on a 2×2 grid: high impact/low effort (do first), high impact/high effort (plan for), low impact/low effort (maybe), low impact/high effort (drop).
- Discuss top candidates as a group. Don’t just vote and leave. Talk through why certain ideas rose to the top.
- Assign owners and next steps.
An idea without a next step is just a thought. Assign an owner before you leave the room.
Research from the National Institutes of Health found that teams that focus on both generation and evaluation tend to retain more novel ideas and encourage building and elaboration. The evaluation phase isn’t where creativity ends—it’s where it gets focused.
Common Pitfalls (And How to Avoid Them)
Most ideation sessions fail not because of bad ideas, but because of bad facilitation. Here are the mistakes that kill creative sessions—and how to avoid them.
You’ve been in this meeting. Someone says “that won’t work” in the first five minutes, and the energy dies. Everyone retreats to safe, obvious suggestions. The session limps along for another hour and produces nothing anyone cares about.
That’s not a creativity problem. That’s a facilitation problem.
Here’s what people get wrong:
- No clear problem statement. Telling people to “come up with ideas” without clear guidance is like saying “be creative” and expecting results. It doesn’t work. Andy Eklund calls this one of the most common brainstorming mistakes.
- Skipping ground rules. Without them, people default to judgment mode. And judgment mode kills ideation.
- Poor time management. More time doesn’t mean better results. Constraint drives creativity. Set a timer.
- The loudest voice wins. If you’re not using techniques that give everyone equal voice (like brainwriting), you’re only hearing from the most confident people in the room.
- No follow-up. Generating ideas and then doing nothing with them is worse than not generating ideas at all. It teaches people that ideation is pointless.
- Trying to be perfect. Ideation is supposed to be messy. If it feels polished and comfortable, you’re probably not pushing far enough.
- Not engaging people early. SessionLab notes that if participants sit passive too long, they check out. Get people creating within the first five minutes.
The biggest pitfall? Thinking you can skip preparation because you’re creative enough to wing it. You can’t. Nobody can. That’s why we have creativity and emotional breakdowns—the creative process is harder than it looks, and pretending otherwise sets everyone up for frustration.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions About Ideation Sessions
How long should an ideation session last?
30-60 minutes is the sweet spot for focused idea generation. If you’re running longer, take 5-10 minute breaks every hour. More time doesn’t always mean better ideas—constraint forces creative thinking.
How many people should be in an ideation session?
Collective Campus recommends 4-8 participants for optimal diversity without making people reluctant to share. But ideation works with as few as 2-3 people for small teams and entrepreneurs. Don’t let group size be the reason you don’t try.
What is the difference between ideation and brainstorming?
Brainstorming is one technique within the broader ideation process. Ideation includes problem framing, multiple generation techniques (not just brainstorming), structured evaluation, and follow-through—typically as a phase within design thinking.
Can ideation sessions work remotely?
Yes, with adaptation. Use virtual whiteboards like Miro or Mural, mix synchronous and asynchronous work, use structured turn-taking, and be more deliberate about engagement since it’s harder to read the room.
What do I do when one person dominates the session?
Use techniques that give everyone equal voice, like brainwriting (silent written ideation before sharing) or round-robin sharing. Set explicit ground rules about one conversation at a time and consider starting with individual ideation before group discussion.
How do I handle ideas that seem bad or off-topic?
During the generation phase, capture every idea without judgment. Some “bad” ideas spark connections that lead to breakthroughs. During the evaluation phase, let the group filter through voting and discussion—that’s the convergent thinking doing its job.
Conclusion
Ideation is a practice, not a one-time event. The more you do it, the easier it gets to push past the fear and access your best thinking.
Creative confidence—a concept developed by IDEO founders David and Tom Kelley—isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build. One awkward, imperfect ideation session at a time.
Your first session won’t be smooth. It might feel forced. People might resist. That’s normal. The fear of not knowing where things will lead is real—but it’s also what makes the process worth doing.
You don’t need to be a trained facilitator. You just need a clear problem, a few ground rules, and the willingness to start.
Try running one this week. Even if it’s just you and one other person at a coffee shop with a timer and a question. That counts.
I believe in you.
