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Brainstorming, the
familiar solution-generating technique, has come a long
way. It used to
be that you simply got a group of people together and everyone
threw out ideas, no matter how outrageous, until the group ran
out of steam.
Then you evaluated the ideas, dropped the ones that wouldn't
work or were too costly, and went with what was
left.
While this is still a
good procedure for coming up with potential solutions to a
problem that are not immediately obvious, there are 5 new and
improved variants on the old process of brainstorming. Before we look at the
5 new improvements, let's go over the basic
process.
The Basics Of
Brainstorming
1. Aim for two
brainstorming sessions, separated in time and with different
participants. The
first session is the creative one where the goal is to come up
with a number of possible solutions to the problem. In the second session,
each solution is analyzed critically for feasibility based on
cost in manpower, money, resources, potential return, and
possible difficulties and downsides.
2. For each brainstorming
session, limit the size of the group to 5 to 7 participants
because a larger group tends to bog down. It is best if
each of the participants has different expertise -- someone
from marketing, someone from sales, someone from accounting,
etc. This will
mean that each participant brings a different perspective to
the problem.
3. Distribute a brief
outline of the problem to the participants before the
meeting. This
gives each participant the time to put the problem on the
"back burner" and let it simmer over a low heat. Often new ideas about
how to approach a problem will emerge when the participants
are otherwise engaged, such as having lunch, standing in the
elevator, or working on some routine, but unrelated,
activity.
4. Hold the meeting in
the morning and make sure the caffeine-aholics have a cup of
coffee, tea, or soft drink. Caffeine stimulates
the ability to think clearly and well. Most people tend to be
morning people and, for the ones who aren't, that's where the
caffeine comes in. Afternoons,
particularly after 3:00 p.m., are the worst times for
brainstorming sessions because our metabolism slows down (and
our mental focus along with it) and hits bottom somewhere
between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. This period is not the
ideal time for optimal mental performance.
5. Each session should
last at least 30 minutes, but not much longer. Thirty minutes is long
enough to generate lots of ideas but somewhere around the end
of that period you will see the group beginning to slow
down. That is a
good time to stop and take a break before moving to the next
meeting that will focus on evaluating the
ideas.
Some Things
Haven't Changed
Criticizing ideas during
a brainstorming session has always been a big no-no and it
still is. It is
the killer of creative problem solving. Nothing will shut off
the flow of unusual and imaginative ideas so quickly as
criticism. So,
the ironclad rule is: NO CRITICISM! No negative comments
("Yeah, right.
Like that will work," or "Are you kidding?") are allowed in
these sessions.
In addition, no negative body language, no rolled eyeballs, no
deep sighs, or frowny faces. In short, no negative
responses - verbal or non-verbal - in the brainstorming
session.
The Five New
Brainstorming Techniques
So, with the basics in
mind, lets look at five new techniques to use during
brainstorming sessions. The first four
techniques are all ideas for the first session, where the
focus is on coming up with the largest possible number of
potential solutions for the problem at hand. The fifth technique
combines the creative session and the evaluative
session.
#1: Hide the
Problem
This strategy is based on
the observation that finding creative solutions to a problem
is often hindered if attention is focused too closely on the
specific problem itself. For example, if the
problem is how to package a new product, participants may
immediately focus on the obvious aspects of the problem, the
relatively small number of ways to package similar existing
products, and get discouraged. Instead, broaden the
question by beginning with a more general question like, "What
do people find attractive?" Start with general
questions and/or observations rather than focusing on the
specific problem, and you will allow unusual ideas to come
from associations with aspects of the
problem.
# 2:
Brain-Writing
In this approach, each
participant receives a blank piece of paper with three columns
and six rows; this creates 18 empty "boxes" on a page. Each column is labeled
for one aspect of the problem, maybe something like
"attractiveness," "novelty," and "complexity." Each person puts one
idea in the top row of boxes - that's one creative or
off-the-wall idea for each of the three aspects of the problem
- and then passes the paper to the person on the right. Next, each person uses
the second row of boxes to elaborate on, add to, or develop
the idea in the top box. If you have six
participants in a session, this process will result in 108
ideas, or six pages of 18 ideas each.
#3:
Brain-Walking
This strategy is a
variation on Brain-Writing. Use large flip charts
or big pages of paper that can be posted on a wall or
easel. Each page
represents one aspect of the problem. Two or three people
gather in front of each page and spontaneously write ideas on
the page. Then
each group moves to the next page and adds new associations,
elaborations, or improvements to the notes left by the
previous group.
Repeat until every group has visited every chart or page that
represents an aspect of the problem. An additional
advantage to the Brain-Walking strategy is that having people
physically moving around seems to stimulate their
thinking.
#4: Induce
Intuition
If the goal is to come up
with a new product or service, this strategy turns traditional
brainstorming on its head by first brainstorming names for a
new product or service, and then using the name to stimulate
thinking about a new product or service to go with the
name. No name is
too far out or crazy sounding. This one can be a lot
of fun.
After you have used one
of these four strategies to generate new approaches to solving
a problem, take a break to allow the participants to clear
their heads and then hold a second session to evaluate each
idea's usefulness and costs.
#5: Separate
Roles
This strategy combines
the two brainstorming sessions of the older process (in which
session 1 is devoted to generating ideas, and session 2 is
devoted to critiquing them) into one. It is thought to have
come from one of the most creative minds of the 20th century,
Walt Disney. The
strategy starts with physically separating the roles of
Dreamer, Realist, and Critic. For example, designate
each of three corners of a room as the Dreamer Corner, the
Realist Corner, or the Critic's Corner. Have participants
start in the Dreamer Corner and come up with ideas. They write the ideas
down on large sheets of paper in that corner. Then the participants
move to the Realist Corner and focus on ways to make them work
in the real world, writing their ideas on large sheets of
paper in that corner. Finally, the
participants move to the Critic's corner and work at finding
the flaws in the ideas and coming up with ways to work around
them.
The Final
Word
All business problems
have solutions.
The sticking point is that the solution is not always
obvious. Like the
man said, "If it were easy, then everyone would do it." To find new and novel
solutions, try the strategies discussed above. If one of these
strategies looks like it would work but doesn't quite fit your
situation, feel free to adapt or modify it to suit your
needs. As my old
Gunnery Sergeant used to say when we faced a problem we had
never seen before, "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome."
Remember,
the only Iron Rule in brainstorming is: NO CRITICISM in the
creative session.
The source
that inspired this article: “Fostering Group
Creativity” by Joerg Melhorn. Scientific American
Mind, August/September 2006, pp. 78-79. Web site: http://www.sciammind.com/
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Feature Article: Brainstorming
In The 21st Century: 5 New Techniques | 
FEATURE ARTICLE: Brainstorming In The
21st Century: 5 New Techniques
