Brainstorming is the most widely known and used method of group thinking. Thinking with others has a number of advantages over thinking alone. It increases the number of ideas we can have; it increases the quality of ideas; it allows us to scrutinize ideas more carefully; and it ensures that ideas that get supported have a better chance of successful implementation.
Brainstorming
The name“brainstorming” was originally used in the 1950’s by Alex Osborn, the founder of an advertising firm. The aim of brainstorming is to produce the largest quantity of ideas concerning a problem in the shortest possible time. Osborn proposed 5 rules in brainstorming:
1. No evaluation of ideas
2. Wild ideas to be encouraged
3. Quantity of ideas is important
4. Participants should build on each others’ ideas
5. Apart from the above four, there are no other rules.
A Brainstorming Session
A brainstorming session can be applied to both problems which have a single solution waiting to be discovered, eg a machine fault, as well as situations where there is no known solution, eg how to improve your customer relations. The following are the steps in a brainstorming session:
a) select a scribe to write down the ideas (speedily)
b) create a relaxed climate
c) start with a brainteaser to warm people up
d)use flip charts to record ideas that everyone can see
e) ensure nobody dominates
f) encourage a free flow of ideas
g) use a facilitator to guide and support
h) have a set time limit, say, of 10-15 minutes
i) only evaluate ideas once you have finished.
Sparking
The first stage in brainstorming is to spark as many different ideas as you can about the problem. For example, in response to the problem,“How can we improve the paperwork systems in the office?”, these ideas might be suggested:
• buy a concertina file
•color-code the paper files
• microfilm them
• burn them
• place them on computer
• code them according to the Cyrillic alphabet
• hang them on a line
• put them in pigeonholes
• spread them over the walls
• send them back to where they came from
• put them in colour-coded wastebins.
Paradoxical Intention
Paradoxical intention is a brainstorming technique for sparking more ideas by deliberately thinking of ways to make the problem worse. In the example of how to improve the paper working an office, you could add the following to the list:
• tell everyone to put things in writing
• mix the files up
• leave them in untidy piles
• remove the filing cabinets
• don’t have a clerk
• collect others’ bills as well.
and so on.
It is possible that one idea might paradoxically have the basis of a solution: in this case, the office could agree to collect others’ bills and turn itself into an archive-centre.
Seeding
Seeding is a brainstorming technique that takes a word that has nothing to do with the problem and seeing what connections you can make between it and the problem. For example, if we were looking at ideas to improve the way we organize office systems, we could at random propose the word “breakfast”.This could then seed the following ideas:
• keep all the paperwork files in empty cornflakes packets
• sort the papers out over breakfast
• stick the papers together with marmalade
• hold a breakfast meeting to discuss ideas
• devise a filing cabinet in the shape of a breakfast bar
• have a daily breakfast-time clear-out of files
• have a deadline on all incoming paperwork by breakfast time each day.
and so on.
Wording
Wording is a brainstorming technique that takes each word or group of words that spell out what the problem exactly is and seeing what ideas each word sparks. For example, in the case of ideas to improve the way we organize our office paperwork systems, the following might be suggested:
“How…”: are there different methods we could try out? How do others do it? How are we in this mess?
“can…”: are we capable? do we need expert help? what skills don’t we have that we need?
“we…”: is there someone else we can pass the problem to? do we need to change?
“organize…”: why do we need to organize the papers?
“the paperwork…”: why papers? can’t we computerize?
“in the office…”: why do they have to stay in the office? why do they have to come to this office?
An Example of Brainstorming: The Honey Pot
Pacific, Power and Light (PP and L) is the electric utility responsible for providing power to the NorthWest Cascade Mountain area of the United States. This area faces severe weather in spring and autumn each year resulting in heavy ice deposits on power transmission lines. Lines frequently come down under the weight of the ice.
The company’s method of removing the iced lines is to send linesmen through the snow and up the icy pylons and to physically shake the ice off the lines. It is a long, arduous, costly and unpleasant way of dealing with the problem.
A brainstorming session is held to look at what can be done.
The PP and L group spend a whole morning looking at the problem but get nowhere.Frustrated and running out of ideas, the group decide to take a coffee break.
During coffee, Bill, a linesman, has everyone in fits of laughter.
“Last week I was chased by a bear. It even climbed a pylon after me.”
As the laughter dies down, someone suggests,
“Why don’t we get the bears to climb for us?”
“How?”
“We could put honey pots on top of the pylons.”
“No, the raccoons would get there first.”
“Anyway we’d need helicopters to put the pots in place and they’d frighten the bears,” says one of the secretaries. “I remember the vibrations from helicopters in the Vietnam war when I was a nurse.”
There was silence as everyone realises they’ve struck gold.
Today it is standard practice in PP and L to use helicopters to remove ice from frozen cable lines.
Brainwriting
Brainstorming isn’t always the best way to produce lots of ideas nor lots of good ideas.That’s because group dynamics often affect how people contribute. A group with low trust is never going to do well using the standard approach to brainstorming. The way round this is to use the related technique of Brainwriting. In Brainwriting, the group don’t work as a group, they work individually by writing their ideas down on a sheet of paper and then take turns in passing these round to others to add to the list. This way, people can share ideas anonymously and quickly and still come up with a large quantity of solutions to choose from.
Brainstorming,and brainwriting, are recognized as two of the best ways to use groups to improve thinking and creativity. That’s because everyone has the potential to be creative and imaginative rather than just the so-called “clever”. Not only do you get more ideas and more options, you also get involvement and commitment to the final decisions.
Key Points
1. You are likely to get more ideas from working with a group than from working on your own.
2. The drawback to working with a group is that others may have different agendas from you.
3. For group work to succeed, there must first be agreement on how the group is to work and make decisions.
4. Brainstorming sessions should be held in a relaxed and non-judgmental climate.
5. Be willing to try out crazy ideas in a brainstorming session.
6. Brainwriting is an improvement on brainstorming when a group is not cohesive.
