The exercise
Think of a challenge you or your team are currently facing.
Read the descriptions below, and use the 'Brainstorming - the right way' process to generate some creative solutions. The more you use the techniques, the easier they become to use.
Brainstorming - the wrong way
Every team uses brainstorming, right? A process where a team generates as many ideas as possible by shouting ideas out while someone types them on a screen or notes them on a flipchart? No-one is allowed to be critical at the idea-generation stage, but when the idea-generation stage is finished they are grouped into similar sets and then discussed, and perhaps prioritized for future action. What could be wrong with that?
Well, it doesn't work; that's what's wrong with it. There have now been thirty years of evidence1 showing that for idea generation you'd generally be better asking your team members to write their ideas on pieces of paper and then leave the room without any discussion. You get more creative ideas that way because team dynamics tend to restrict, rather than increase, the quality and quantity of creative ideas. The larger the group, the more the restriction bites.
The wrong way
Process
- Clarify the question / challenge for the team and ask for ideas
- The team shout out ideas - someone writes them on a screen or a flipchart
Team discussion rules
Make no judgements, Be as imaginative as possible,
Go for quantity, Use others' ideas as inspiration
This is less effective than just asking people to write their ideas down and then leave the room without discussion
Brainstorming - the right way
But there are ways of making brainstorming work, and making it work well. Adding just two things to your standard brainstorming rules will make all the difference:
- Ask individuals to work alone for five minutes first, noting their ideas on sticky note pads. Put the ideas anonymously on a wall and then discuss them as a team. This overcomes the dominance of the loudest people in the team.
- Set a specific and challenging target for the number of ideas you want from each individual (eg 20 ideas in the five minutes). This overcomes 'social loafing' - the fact that individuals can tend to leave the effort to someone else when they work in a group setting.
The right way
Process
- Clarify the question / challenge for the team and ask for ideas
- Working independently, each team member is asked to come up with 20 ideas on cards
- The ideas are stuck, anonymously, on a board
- The team discusses them and new ideas are added if required
Team discussion rules
Make no judgements, Be as imaginative as possible,
Go for quantity, Use others' ideas as inspiration
Work independently first, before team discussion, and set specific, challenging targets for ideas generation
You can adapt these ideas, for example by asking people to think of their 20 ideas before the meeting starts, but the basic principles are to work individually first to help everyone to contribute, and to set a challenging target.
When the idea-generation stage is finished they are grouped into similar sets and then discussed, and prioritised for future action.
What is noticeable about both Brainstorming and Brainwriting is that they both work best by mixing team discussion with independent individual thinking time.
Alternating team and individual creativity
"True collaboration often calls for periods of focused independent work interspersed with periods of intense, structured team interaction"2
For brainstorming, the most effective process is:
Step 1 is alone, Step 2 is team-as-a-whole
For brainwriting, the reverse is most effective:
Step 1 is team-based, Step 2 is continuing alone
1. See for example Productivity Loss in Brainstorming groups: A meta-analytic integration Mullen,B Johnson,C Salas,E Basic and Applied Psychology, 1991,12(1) 3-23
2. See Thompson 2013 Creative Conspiracy: the new rules of breakthrough collaboration Harvard Business Review Press