Brainstorming is fabulous. Everyone knows how to do it. It generates terrific ideas that everybody loves and implements without a hitch. Right? I bet you’re shaking your head right now because you probably already know that brainstorming is one of the most persistent and least effective management tools of our century.
“Decades of research have consistently shown that brainstorming groups think of far fewer ideas than the same number of people who work alone, and later pool their ideas.”
- Keith Sawyer, Psychologist at Washington University
How to Know You've Got the Brainstorming Blues
Instead of working as advertised brainstorming often produces compromised solutions. Perhaps louder members of the team drown out the introverts. Some participants free ride or refuse to offer ideas to avoid criticism. Others feel they are too junior to participate meaningfully. Perhaps the team leader already knows exactly what she wants to do and so steers the team towards her idea. I bet you can add your own brainstorming blues here.
Introducing Brainstorming 2.0
Neuroscience knows that there are better ways to induce creativity than traditional brainstorming. Trying only one of the following will yield noticeable results. Ready?
Preparing for the Right Brainstorming Session
If someone has ever demanded creativity from you on the spot, you will know how hard it can be. This is usually what’s required of us in a brainstorming session, isn’t it?
Participants are seldom expected to prepare for a brainstorming session. But imagine if they did? Asking each participant to think of, or investigate, their own best suggestion before coming to the session will vastly improve the quality of the ideas presented. Now nobody can eat the free pizza without offering a good idea in return. Better still, unfeasible ideas will not make it through the door. Each participant should share their own idea before the free flow of ideas begins, so no idea or person is drowned out.
1. Warm up mental muscles
Are you looking for creative solutions, innovative thinking or inspired problem solving? Pulling someone away from their desk and then expecting genius ideas on the spot defies the laws our brains are subject to. In order to make new mental connections, the frequency that the brain operates at has to be lowered. Some relaxation or interesting stimuli should do the trick here. So, to coax the brain into a creative frame of mind, try some of the following;
- Disruptive thinking: Prepare a list of products, services or practices that the company or group already offers. Ask participants how they would improve upon it if they had a generous budget.
- Eliminate frames and biases: Ask individuals to identify a piece of conventional wisdom that is used in the office, city, country, society etc, and then how it could be challenged. Look at the brief or problem you face from different points of view: as a supplier, customer, member of the sales, marketing or finance departments as well as how competitors will view your product. Not only does this throw up creative angles on design and marketing but also potential pitfalls in many areas.
2. Keep the group as small as possible
3. Put everyone on the same page
Assume nothing. Ask for ideas about what caused the problem or led to the need to brainstorm. This will set the scene and make sure that everybody knows exactly what he or she is there to do. Write up different suggestions and notice how many you receive. Clarify and correct wayward ideas and faulty thinking. Note any ideas that are new and sensible.
4. Provoke
Look for loose associations that can contribute lateral thoughts. Naming a new trendy shoe? How about exploring the names of hip or upcoming neighbourhoods in your target market. An energy drink? How about popular trends in action movies? My dad is an undertaker who is forever looking to improve the quality and range of services that he offers. He visits biker clubs and extreme sports groups along with medical associations and frail care centres to gather information on how to improve his offerings and best meet the needs of his clients in unique ways. Yea, he’s very cool, for an undertaker.
5. Kick conventional wisdom
a) Challenge comfort zone thinking with some provocative questions:
- Are we solving the right problem?
- How do I/we feel about this?
- What do I/we believe but cannot prove?
- What conventional wisdom are we using
- What is the current status quo?
- What would shatter this status quo?
- Are we asking the right questions?
- What if our success was guaranteed?
- Shy team members or overpowering personalities?
b) Play card games:
Ask for ideas and solutions that would ordinarily be spoken, to be written on cards instead, anonymously. Group the cards into similar themes.
Of course, you can get straight down to brainstorming business as you usually do. But the 5 to 10 minutes you invest in physical and mental preparation will vastly improve the quality of your session.
Remember that brainstorming is a process to generate ideas that lead to solutions. It’s not meant to generate the final solution. For that you need a more structured and analytical process.
