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BRAINSTORMING REVISITED

Brainstorming as a term has been around since the 1940s, when it was coined by Alex Osborn. It was later formulated into creative problem solving (CPS), which I wrote about here a few months ago (see http://www.jpb.com/creative/cps.php). Over the years, brainstorming has come to mean any kind of group idea generation activity. It has also become controversial, with some experts swearing by it – and others swearing at it!

In truth, brainstorming can be effective if performed properly. Let’s take a look at it. But, if you are not familiar with CPS, do read the article cited above before continuing.

What Is Brainstorming?

Brainstorming is the traditional way to generate lots of ideas on a specific issue and then determine which idea – or ideas – is the best solution. Brainstorming is most effective with diverse groups of 8-12 people and should be performed in a relaxed environment. If participants feel free to relax and joke around, they'll stretch their minds further and therefore produce more creative ideas.

A brainstorming session requires a facilitator, a brainstorming space and something on which to write ideas, such as a white-board a flip chart or software tool. The facilitator's responsibilities include guiding the session, encouraging participation and writing ideas down.

Brainstorming works best with a diverse group of people. Participants should come from various departments across the organisation and have different backgrounds. Even in specialist areas, outsiders can bring fresh ideas that can inspire the experts.

Assuming you are familiar with CPS (see article cited above), you will have a well defined creative challenge ready and waiting for ideas. You should announce the challenge to the participants in advance so they have time to think and research the issue.

Creativity exercises, relaxation exercises or other fun activities before the session can help participants relax their minds so that they will be more creative during the brainstorming session.

Traditional Approach

In a traditional brainstorming session, the facilitator writes the challenge on a whiteboard and then invites all participants shout out solutions while the facilitator writes them down on the whiteboard. There must be absolutely no criticizing of ideas. No matter how daft, how impossible or how silly an idea is, it must be written down. Laughing is to be encouraged. Criticism is not.

Typically, the aim should be to generate as many ideas as possible within a set time frame such as 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can set a target number of ideas, such as 100.

The Problem with the Traditional Approach

The traditional approach to brainstorming has been around since the 1950s and is still used frequently today. However, there is a slight problem with this approach. It has been proven again and again not to work for a number of reasons:

Poor facilitation. Even trained facilitators who do not understand creative problem solving (CPS) are often unable to manage properly a brainstorming event.
Waiting. When one person shouts out an idea and the facilitator writes it down, other participants have to stop and listen before sharing their own ideas. At best this slows things down. At worst, people forget their ideas while waiting or are afraid to share their ideas which they feel are overly different to the idea they just listened to.
Squelching. Criticising ideas during the idea generation phase of brainstorming demotivates everyone. It tells participants that wacky ideas will get you in trouble. The thing is: the wackiest ideas are the most creative. So, any squelching basically communicates to participants that creative ideas are not wanted. And participants oblige by suggesting uninspiring and predictable ideas.
Dominating personalities. If one person dominates the brainstorming session, her ideas inevitably become the focus and other participants' ideas are pushed to the side. Unfortunately, this means that only one person is really doing any brainstorming - and that makes nonsense of bringing a brainstorming group together. Worse, dominating people are usually more interested in power than in discovering the best ideas.
Topic fixation. When someone suggests an obviously good idea in a brainstorming event, other people tend to focus on similar ideas. The result is that other avenues of possibility are ignored.
Too much noise. In a good brainstorming event, a lot of people are sharing ideas loudly. That means everyone has to listen to other ideas before sharing their own. The result is more time and energy is spent on listening and interpreting than ideas than on generating ideas. Worse, quiet or shy people tend to keep to themselves when brainstorming gets noisy - so you lose their ideas.

My Approach

One way to avoid these problems is to have participants spend 10 to 15 minutes generating ideas on their own. Then put them in pairs, have them compare ideas and add any more that come to mind. Then combine the pairs into bigger groups in order, again, to share ideas and add more. Continue in this way until you have one group that comprises the entire brainstorming team. At this time, put all existing ideas on the whiteboard. Combine similar ideas and avoid repeating ideas. Then finish off with a 15-20 minute traditional brainstorming shouting match to catch any ideas inspired by the collection.

Throughout this process, ensure that there is no criticism and no squelching. As facilitator, be sure to compliment every idea equally.

Non-Verbal Brainstorming

Another approach to brainstorming is to avoid verbalising ideas and focus on creating them, through images, construction toys (such as wooden building bricks or Lego) or other non-verbal means. For instance, rather than asking a group of people to shout out new product ideas, you give them a huge box of Lego and ask them to build their ideas in collaboration.

I have had some success with this approach. You can read more about it here: http://www.jpb.com/creative/visual_brainstorming.php

Other Approaches

There are a variety of other approaches to brainstorming, such as the Post-It method. Here, participants write ideas on Post-its and stick them to a wall. Then the facilitator leads a discussion in which similar ideas are combined. This is typically followed by a second round of idea submission, where participants are inspired by ideas from the first round. This avoids some of the flaws with traditional brainstorming. However, it also sometimes lacks the energy and collaboration of traditional brainstorming as people are generally working alone.

Other facilitators have created variations on these approaches. Inevitably, such approaches follow CPS methodology.

Brainstorm No-Nos

There are a handful of issues to avoid in a brainstorming session.

Bosses. No matter how cool you are as a boss, you almost certainly intimidate your subordinates on some level. As a result, if you sit in on a brainstorming session, your subordinates are likely to restrain themselves for fear of sounding foolish. If you absolutely must participate, be sure to emphasise that the company is at this time specifically looking for outrageous ideas – the wackier the better and then do not even hint at criticising anything!
Interruptions. Ensure that mobile telephones are switched off and that office assistants understand that the brainstorming meeting is not to be disturbed for anything less than nuclear war. Actually, situating the event outside the office and confiscating communications devices beforehand can be an excellent approach.
Squelching. We’ve covered this already, but I cannot stress enough that squelching can destroy an idea generation session. If you are facilitating a brainstorm, you must be willing to stamp down on squelching, even if it is coming from a superior (as it often is!).

For the best results in a brainstorming session, invest in a professional facilitator. Her fees will probably be less than the costs of staff time invested in the activity and, if she is good, will show an impressive return in terms of idea quality. However, before you come to an agreement, ask her how she overcomes the brainstorming problems we’ve covered here.

If you really must do your own brainstorm facilitation, at least practice on a trail group or two before running a real event. This will help you hone your technique and build confidence.

Summary

Brainstorming can be an effective and enjoyable means of generating creative ideas through collaboration. However, it is important to bear in mind the inherent weaknesses of traditional brainstorming techniques and find an approach that overcomes these problems.

STRENGTHS, FATAL FLAWS AND ALLOWABLE WEAKNESSES – A WHOLE BRAIN STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS
By Wayne Morris

If you want to be successful then build on what you do well. Stop doing things that will ‘kill you’ and make your allowable weaknesses irrelevant. Easy said!

The top and the bottom

Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman wanted to know what separated the top performers from the bottom performers. They discovered in their research for their book, ‘The Extraordinary Leader’, that we should focus most of our energy on developing strengths that fall within five competency clusters.
The differences clustered into five areas:

Character: " . . . integrity, honesty, doing what you say you are going to do, and predictability."
Personal competence: " . . . includes things like problem solving skills, technical proficiency, and being receptive to new ideas."
Driving for results: " . . . includes setting lofty goals, having a clear view of what needs to be accomplished, being very focused on that and taking responsibility to achieve those goals."
Interpersonal competency: " . . . inspiring and motivating other people; being perceived as a good team player; being a prolific and powerful communicator."
Leading change: ". . . having a vision of the future, having your antenna out to look at what is going on in the outside world."

What Zenger and Folkman found was that the presence of just a small number (3) of strengths could make the difference between an average and a great leader.

Allowable Weaknesses

One conclusion they came to from their research is that "...getting a little bit better at things that you are average at or bad at isn't going to do anything." There isn't much leverage associated with working on our average or below average skills. These we might call allowable weaknesses. We need to find ways of making these irrelevant – give them to someone else who does them
better than you, ignore them and see if they go away – it’s surprising the number that do - or do them as quickly and as easily as you can. Spending time on these isn't going to change our performance enough to push us up to the level where we will be considered "exceptional or strong" in the eyes of others. The better tactic is to focus on the things that we are somewhat good at and passionate about. We are more likely to get better at those competencies and raising those up will really make a big difference.

Focus on Strengths

Marcus Buckingham, author of the two best selling books First, Break all the Rules and Discover your Strengths, supports this focus on strengths. His research suggestS that successful leaders follow the same basic set of principles: People don’t change that much, so don’t waste your time trying to rewire them or put in what was left out. Instead spend your time trying to draw out the best of what is in them. When it comes to getting the best from people the most efficient way is to encourage their strengths, not to focus on their weaknesses. Without a solid relationship with a manager who sets clear expectations, knows us, trusts us and invests in us, we are less likely to stay and perform.

That’s all fine but how do I identify my strengths, potential fatal flaws and our allowable weaknesses?

Use Your Brain

Sometimes its just obvious, just ask your manager, your workmates, your partner or your kids – but when its not consider doing a brain profile. As painful and invasive as it sounds it’s not. 20 minutes on-line will give you a good handle on your thinking preference. It is in your thinking preference that we will identify our strengths, potential fatal flaws and those weaknesses we need to make irrelevant!

Everything you do starts with our brain - the way we react to others, make decisions, communicate, learn, choose careers, manage people, and bring up our families - they all depend on how we think! We all have preferred ways of thinking. Some people focus on facts, others look for relationships. Some like detail, others prefer the bigger picture.

Whilst our personal 'thinking preferences' can sometimes help us in certain situations, they can also inhibit our ability to function fully and effectively. So to improve our effectiveness - both personally and organisationally – we need to more fully understand our thinking preferences.

Which part of your brain do you like best and why it matters?

Brian is very precise and exact. He loves his work – especially the ‘geekie’ stuff. He is always right and comes across as a little arrogant. He is impatient with his colleagues and appears to be somewhat aloof. John, his manager really likes him because he is reliable and gives him the detailed reports that he likes. They have very similar ways. Both can be quite intimidating. Interaction in team meetings is quite limited and often negative. Tom gets frustrated by Brian, and John for that matter. He regards John as ‘anal and nit-picky’. Tom regularly gets into strife for not completing jobs on time and submitting, in the eyes of John, sub-standard reports. His frustration boils over every now and then. He has grown to really dislike Brian and John and his performance is under review. The team has taken sides and its morale continues to decline.
Lets look at what is going on here. Take a look at he quadrants below.

L1 [Blue]

Likes working with facts
Deals with facts / issues in a precise way
Looks at problems in a logical and rational way
Likes working with numbers
Interested in technical aspects
Performance is important
Prefers to analyse facts

R1 [Yellow]

Sees the whole picture, not detail
Likes change and trying new things
Enjoys being busy with several things at the same time
Looks for alternative answers
Enjoys challenge and risk
Does not always do things the same way

L2 [Green]

Prefers traditional thinking
Likes to be organised and orderly
Likes to work with detail
Prefers a stable and reliable work environment
Feels comfortable with procedure
The task at hand is important – will complete it on time
Prefers security and safety to risk taking

R2 [Red]

Facts experienced in an emotional way
Sympathetic and intuitive towards people
Likes interaction
Problem solving is often and emotional, not logical, process
Shows enthusiasm when they like an idea
Talks to process learning

As you can see Brian’s and John’s thinking preferences are in the top left quadrant whereas Tom’s are in the bottom right quadrant. Each is not going out of their way to upset the other – they just think and do differently and neither understands that. Or if they do neither knows what to do about it.

But what about fatal flaws?

We don't want to forget that Zenger’s and Folkman’s research also uncovered five "fatal flaws" or career de-railers. These are behaviours that we should change or stop doing. The fatal flaws include:

Inability to learn from mistakes
Lack of core interpersonal skills and competencies.
Lack of openness to new or different ideas.
Lack of accountability.
Lack of initiative

What is interesting about the five fatal flaws, according to Zenger, is that these traits reflect a "pattern of inactivity." "It is not the pattern of someone who is doing too much of something, but the pattern of someone doing way too little."

Using Your Whole Brain for a Change.

Go back and have a look at the four quadrants. In which one would you place yourself? This is a quick guide to your thinking preference and should not be taken as a complete indication of your preferences but it gives you an indication of:

which areas of the brain your strengths are in
where your deficiencies or allowable weaknesses live, and
identifies where you should seek help for your fatal flaws

So how do you use your whole brain? Work to your strengths. Find people who are strong in the areas where you display weakness. Enlist their help in those areas. Delegate those tasks and activities that suit their strengths.

References:

Buckingham, M. & Coffman, C. (1999) First break all the rules: What the worlds greatest managers do differently. Simon and Schuster.

Buckingham, M and Clifton, D. (2001) Now, discover your strengths. Free Press.

Folkman, J. & Zenger, J. (2002). The Extraordinary Leader: Turning good managers into great leaders. The McGraw Hill Companies.

About the Author

Wayne Morris is the director of Future Edge Ltd. He specialises in whole brain thinking applied to leading, learning and creating. He is the New Zealand Agent for The Whole Brain Thinking Network, the distributors of the Neethling Brain Instruments [NBI], the worlds most comprehensive suite of brain profiling instruments. For more information or to contact Wayne, please visit http://www.future-edge.co.nz

STEVEN JOHNSON: 'EUREKA MOMENTS ARE VERY, VERY RARE'

Steven Johnson has just published a book entitled Where Good Ideas Come From, which looks at the collaborative nature of creativity and the evolution of ideas. You can read a fascinating interview with him in the Guardian Newspaper at http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/oct/19/steven-johnson-good-ideas

JENNI INNOVATION PROCESS MANAGEMENT (IPM) SOFTWARE

Jenni innovation process management software is probably the best idea management software on the planet.

Jenni enables your managers to launch ideas campaigns to generate, develop and evaluate ideas that solve their business problems and enable them to achieve goals through innovation.

Unlike other idea management software products which capture a lot of ideas, but do little else, Jenni provides you with a structured process for idea generation, evaluation and implementation according to your strategic business needs.

For more information, see http://www.jpb.com/jenni/ or reply to this newsletter.

JEFFREY'S PERSONAL AND UNGODLY CREATIVE ACTIVITY SPACE

If you have been reading Report 103 for a while and have begun to wonder what sort of chap I am in real life, you can visit my newly created personal web site at http://www.ungodly.com. It contains some artwork I have created recently (I am hoping to digitise older work soon) and a rather unusual blog.

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Jeffrey's Book: The Way of the Innovation Master

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Archived Stuff (some of which may be out of date): Creativity & Innovation Archives • Dr Ecommerce Archives

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