Brainstorming doesn't work, do this instead

How to create an infinite idea machine in 5 steps

🏷️ Categories: Creativity, Decision making and biases

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A few days ago I was looked at like a freak in a meeting.

For a team project they proposed brainstorming.

I suggested that the right thing to do was not to throw ideas in the air and listen to others' ideas. In fact, there was a much more efficient alternative that we could implement to get more and better ideas with less effort.

Nobody understood anything and started throwing nonsense ideas in the air as usual.

The reality is that brainstorming is not effective at all, some people think that it produces creative ideas, but the reality is that, at best, you get to recycle the idea that someone brought from before and tweak it a little. No new and brilliant ideas.

That's a myth.

I'll tell you why traditional brainstorming doesn't work and what to do instead to generate tons of creative ideas when you meet with a group.

Why doesn't traditional brainstorming work?

1. Cognitive fixation

Ideas are magnets

Cognitive fixation is the process of fixing our attention on a stimulus, in this case an idea. When someone shares their idea, everyone hears it. From that moment on, your mental resources are focused on someone else's idea, not on you generating original ideas (Kohn & Smith, 2010; Dugosh & Paulus, 2004).

If someone comes up with an idea to improve a product, they are dragging the rest in that direction and preventing different ideas from emerging.

Like a black hole, but with your attention.

Also, if it is one of the first ideas launched, anchorage bias occurs.

There is a human tendency to feel that the first ideas are more valuable just because from that starting idea, we compare the others that come next, which makes it feel like the central idea. Also, because of the availability heuristic, the first idea is likely to be a highly repeated one.

That's why it was the first one that came to mind, because it's nothing new.

That's how we end up recycling past ideas.

No innovation.

2. Lack of participation

The larger the group, the less productive it is (Cowen, 2008; Diehl & Stroebe, 1987).

Many brainstorming sessions end in a dialogue of a few people while a majority listens without much to say. It costs to engage and involve people as the minutes go by, especially those who are less engaged, shy and insecure about their own ideas.

In the end, the ideas of people with the reputation and initiative to speak up are overvalued and the contributions of more inexperienced people are undervalued.

3. False sense of progress

Many people have the feeling that it works because brainstorming produces an effect on a social level: it makes everyone feel valuable and part of the process (Cain, 2012). However, we forget one crucial aspect.

Just because everyone comes up with ideas does not mean that they are new or good.

And what do I propose instead of brainstorming?

Brainwriting.

How to generate a ton of ideas with brainwriting

The idea is simple: instead of talking aimlessly, have each person write down their ideas silently and individually before sharing them. You can do this in several rounds or in one round. Firstly, it eliminates the problem of anchorage bias.

Here are the steps to follow according to M. Voß and his group of scientists:

1. Group formation: Make a group of no more than 6 participants and gather at a large table. That will get everyone involved and no one will be left out.

2. First round of ideas: Each person has a sheet of paper to divide into 6 rows and 3 columns. In the first round, each person has 5 minutes to come up with 3 ideas of their own and write them in the first row of the table. With little time, no one is going to overanalyze, so all of you will focus attention on generating ideas.

3. Rotation of sheets and next rounds: After 5 minutes, each person passes the sheet to the person next to him or her. Now, each person reads the ideas already written in the top row and has the option of developing them, modifying them or proposing 3 new ideas in the second row. The cycle is repeated until each person has filled all 6 rows with ideas. That is, 18 ideas per sheet.

4. Evaluation of ideas: If there are many ideas or they are very varied, classify the ideas by categories. There is no need to debate yet, just sort the result.

5. Discussion and selection: You can start by discarding the less valuable ideas and sift through them until you select a few ideas with a lot of potential. Now is the time to discuss and decide.

Look, 18 ideas per sheet, a group of 6 people generates 108 ideas in 30 minutes.

You have more than 100 ideas to work on, reflect on, combine and mix to come up with real creative solutions, making everyone part of the process.

That's how you go from empty brainstorming to a torrent of creativity.

Bring an umbrella at least.

✍️ Your turn: Have you used brainstorming? How did it work for you? For me, not that good...

💭 Quote of the day: «You'll come up with ideas if you brainstorm things.» John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.

See you next time! 👋

References 📚

1. Cain, S. (2012). Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.

2. Cowen, T. (2008). Discover your inner economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Den tist.

3. Diehl, M., & Stroebe, W. (1987). Productivity loss in brainstorming groups: Toward the solution of a riddle. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 53(3), 497-509. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.53.3.497

4. Dugosh, K. L., & Paulus, P. B. (2004). Cognitive and social comparison processes in brainstorming. Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology, 41(3), 313-320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2004.05.009

5. Kohn, N. W., & Smith, S. M. (2010). Collaborative fixation: Effects of others’ ideas on brainstorming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(3), 359-371. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1699