Now, if I had put “Skin Trade” on my player 10 years ago, it
would have sounded lovely but surely old fashioned. But if I did it now, it
would be just amazing (actually I did it few days ago, and confirm it is
amazing!). Opinions and impressions do change over time.
Pretty much the same with Brainstorming, then, although with
a different timeline.
Brainstorming. Literally is “a group or individual
creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a
specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its
member(s)” (from Wikipedia). Born in 1953 for marketing and advertising campaigns,
Brainstorming has been used for many years across diverse practices, areas,
topics. It has been declared effective as many times as it has been criticized
as being just another name of “putting ideas together” or “let’s think about it
the four of us”. And at a certain point of its history, around mid-2000s, the latter
opinions started to overcome the former ones. Why? I have some thoughts around
it:
First thought, challenges that can make brainstorming less
effective are many and strong, here a few:
·
Blocking: since only one may give an idea at any
one time, other participants might forget what they were going to say or not
share it because they see it as no longer important or relevant
·
Collaborative fixation: Exchanging ideas in a
group may reduce creativity, hence novelty or variety of ideas
·
Evaluation apprehension: fear to be somehow
evaluated by the team if the idea is too disruptive or apparently meaningless
·
Free-riding: some members within the group
choose not to keep an active participation, actually affecting the team
performance negatively
·
Personality characteristics: introverts may give
a lower contribute due to their intrinsic personality when brainstorming is
done in person
·
Social matching: participants may unconsciously tend
to lower their rate of creativity to match others in the group, especially when
leaders and followers work together
Second thought, other decision making tools has arisen,
especially those tech savvy (I leave this to you IT guys who read, it’s not my
business…).
Third thought, real effectiveness could be proven better
that it has been so far: what comes out of a typical Italian messy noisy
meeting is actually less creative and fruitful than a typical American
structured brainstorming session? Just kidding…
Fourth thought, Brainstorming has taken new, different, more
intriguing shapes such as (but not limited to):
·
Nominal group technique: Team members write
their ideas anonymously, then a facilitator collects the ideas and the group
votes on each idea
·
Team idea mapping method: Each participant
brainstorms individually, then all the ideas are merged onto a large idea map
to be shared among participants and make new ideas emerge by the association, and
then to be added to the map as well
·
Question brainstorming: This involves
brainstorming the questions, instead of coming up with answers and immediate solutions.
The answers are then used as a framework for future action plans
Fifth thought (just listening to some folks here and there),
“What the hell is brainstorming? We have been doing that forever every time we
had to decide where to go dining!”: Starving – Food – Meat – No please I ate a
steak for lunch – Then fish – I know a great place but it’s far – Taxi – Too
expensive – Subway – No sandwich! Fish! – Car – Ok, let’s go
It is just few months that Brainstorming has regained its
popularity, basically because now teams apply few improvements without bringing
out the main lesson of brainstorming: working as a unique brain while bringing
own ideas on the table. Just the essence of it.
Now criticism is accepted among team members, since it is
proven enhancing creativity and productivity. As well as break-through
associations during the flow of ideas, which are traditionally seen by
Brainstorming orthodoxy as capable of interrupting the legitimate process. As a
matter of fact, unpredictable associations (if I say “blue”, then “green” is
predictable, “jazz” is little predictable, “shield” or “NYPD” are highly unpredictable)
foster originality and imagination and increase speed of thought and outcomes.
Briefly, brainstorming has passed from a streamlined process
to a lateral one. From continuity to dissent. From order to surprise. From rain
to storm.
You know what? Actually I have always thought about the word
“brainstorming” as something lateral, surprising, dissenting, breaking-through,
and storming. Since I was barely 15. That’s why I have been, I am and will
always be a sincere Brainstorming fan.
Your friendly brainstormed and Duran Duran lover,
Federico
PS by the way, and please apologize me if I tend to repeat
myself but, coaching is the best way to ignite brainstorming… ;-)
