Developed in 1992, this style of brainstorming encourages every member in the team to contribute individually before being influenced by everyone else. The session begins with the facilitator sharing the topic or question with the whole team. Once the topic is shared, everyone leaves the room except two members of the team. These two members will then discuss the topic and their ideas. Then, one additional member is added to the group. This new member will contribute their ideas BEFORE the other two discuss theirs. Repeat this cycle until everyone from the original group is in the room. This technique is particularly useful for teams who are easily influenced by only one or two members, leading to groupthink. This also helps encourage the shy folks in the group to share their ideas without feeling intimidated by a room full of people.

The stepladder technique is actually one of the more mature brainstorming strategies as it incorporates both an individual and a group participation aspect. This brainstorming technique is useful for medium-sized groups of anywhere from 5 to 15 people. Once the group gets larger however, it takes much longer and may become unwieldy.