The article “Breakthrough Thinking from Inside the Box”, suggests that brainstorming destroys the ability for people to think and work together. In situations where there are about 20 people, the leader intimidates them, and they are afraid to state ideas that may seem silly. Also, just a few of the “ring-leaders” tend to take control of the entire session. Since no one is forced to answer, participants often produce no insight. Why then, did brainstorming work in our class the day we came up with new dimensions for a cell phone? Here is why:
The professor represents the boss/leader of the organization. He proposed the question to the class and asked us all to collaborate in small groups to come up with as many ideas as possible. He made it clear that any and all answers are acceptable no matter how silly they may seem. Since we were able to discuss in small groups at first, our ideas to be presented were stimulated in less formal conversations with our peers which made it less intimidating to present rather than throwing our answers out in front of everyone right off the bat. When it was time to share our ideas individually, our professor relieved the tension by allowing us to pass if we needed to continue thinking since our ideas may flourish from other ideas. Since everyone in the class was encouraged to speak, it was not capable for only a few people to dominate the session. Also, it always helps when there is that one person in the group who throws an “off the wall” suggestion (i.e. pepper spray). This gives everyone more ease at mentioning their ideas. After the entire group shared their “outside of the box” ideas, we were each asked to follow up on the ideas and suggest which ones seemed most impossible or unrealistic in order to narrow out our options.
The article also states that specific questions should be asked in order to set boundaries that correspond to the goals and constraints of the session. This technique was tried in class but was not carried out in the same manner as the previous session so the results were not as great. Therefore, companies should design specific questions and then allow their employees to brainstorm the way that we did in class. First, have the leader ask the specific question, and give the employees time to discuss ideas in small groups to stimulate thinking. Then highly encourage each person to state their personal idea no matter how crazy they may think it is. It would also help the company if there is at least one person who isn’t afraid to throw something wild out so that others feel more relaxed with their ideas. After everyone answers the specific question, the group then reviews the ideas by asking each person to state which answers were highly unlikely or needed to be touched upon. If it was carried out in this way, company's should not neglect brainstorming because it was proved highly effective in our class.
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A well-written and insightful post. Its interesting that you think the way the class brainstorming session was conducted introduced enough structure that it became what the Breakthrough Thinking paper was advocating rather than a traditional brainstorming free-for-all. You may indeed be right. I also found it interesting that you observed that the presence of an uninhibited person in the room, made others feel bolder in expressing their thoughts.
Going forward, challenge yourself with a variety of blog posts (e.g., comparing readings and analyzing product designs).
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