Effective School Management

Brainstorming
In normal meetings the process of gathering ideas, prior to discussing them,
will be relatively calm and rational. Sometimes, however, we may want a
completely uninhibited generation of ideas and comments. Brainstorms, as

---

6 4
EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
we call such sessions, are particularly appropriate when we want to unleash
creativity or frankness. The aim is to get as many ideas in as short a time as
possible. Guidelines given to the group are as follows:
Suspend judgement. Never evaluate the ideas being produced in a
brainstorming session, whether they are yours or other people’s. Never use
the phrases ‘That won’t work’ or ‘That’s silly’ or ‘We’ve had that before’.
Laugh with the wild ideas, not at them. No one likes being laughed at, but
laughing with the wild ideas encourages further ideas.
Let yourself go and freewheel. This means drifting or dreaming, and brings
into play the subconscious levels of the mind. Don’t be worried about putting
forward wild or silly ideas. In fact, the wilder the better.
Quantity. Quality implies evaluation. Suspend judgement. Go for quantity,
the more the merrier. All ideas are good.
Cross-fertilize. This is where the group comes in. Always be prepared to pick
up somebody else’s idea and suggest others leading from it. Don’t leave it to
Charlie to develop his own – after all, he’s going to pick up yours!
Use verbal shorthand. Don’t hold things up by explaining your idea at length.
Just shout out the one or two words that will convey your thinking. (You can
explain later!)
Brainstorming is both fun and highly productive. Used with a group of
school heads of department to answer the question ‘How does the staff judge
a timetable?’, a list of over sixty criteria was produced within 15 minutes,
reflecting interests which ranged from educational to purely personal. Some
examples of the output were
(1) good mix of subjects for children;
(2) double periods;
(3) no double periods;
(4) free periods Friday afternoon;
(5) free periods Monday morning;
(6) one free period per day;
(7) children move as little as possible;
(8) staff move as little as possible; and
(9) specific criteria, such as no French after PE.
In a half-hour discussion which followed the brainstorm, the member of staff
responsible for timetabling was quickly able to come to grips with her
colleagues’ preferences, some of which they might have hesitated to admit in
a more inhibited discussion. Some guidelines on mix of subjects for the
children also emerged, not to mention a review of period length and daily
structure.

---

MANAGING MEETINGS
6 5
PERSONAL APPLICATION
With two or three colleagues ‘brainstorm’ possible uses for a paper clip or an
elastic band.