Without divergence, brainstorm sessions are flat, boring, one-dimensional, and a roaring waste of time.

But if the only thing you do is "get out there," never coming back to home base, all you will have done is tease participants by temporarily stimulating their imagination.

That's why you need divergence's accountant-like cousin convergence -- the act of "coming together toward one point."

Divergence and convergence -- like day and night, hot and cold, peanut butter and jelly, are both necessary if you want your brainstorm sessions to really hum.

How to spark divergence?

Well, for starters, invite inspired people, define a compelling challenge, establish a sense of urgency, express humor, and give participants permission to take risks.

Convergence can be achieved in many ways, as well, including verbally summarizing session results, restating the most popular ideas, voting, identifying champions, action planning, and clarifying what will happen to new ideas, post-session.

For more on why most brainstorming sessions don't work (and what you can do about it), click here... or here if you don't want to click there.)

Excerpted from Conducting Genius.

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