Which has more value: an idea produced by a single individual or generated by a group of people brainstorming together? Does brainstorming only favours creativity?
Although brainstorming experts have been struggling with these questions since this technique was first invented by Alex Osborn back in 1948, the fact that they remain unresolved has not kept it from becoming one of the most widely used creativity method in the world. For many, brainstorming is seen as the living example of corporate inefficiency and viewed as an over-simplistic method responsible for producing both uncreative and unpractical ideas. As brainstorming became more and more popular, it lost the discipline it initially relied on, to such an extent that today’s criticism is mainly aimed at the way it is used in companies rather than at the method itself.
And indeed, brainstorming is too often used as a self-sufficient tool without being incorporated into an authentic innovation process like the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) detailed by Osborn and Parnes. Gary Hamel wittingly compares brainstorming to a car engine which, used without the drive belt or other car parts, loses most of its purpose. The suspension of judgement rule only makes sense if we divide the brainstorming into two distinctive steps of divergence and convergence. One must make sure, in a first place, that spontaneity and the ability to take risks are preserved and give room, afterwards, for critical thinking.
Many group bias (political influence, responsibility dilution, etc.) often keep brainstorming from producing ground-breaking creative ideas and could even, in some cases, have an inhibiting effect on shy people. Osborn himself, in a 1958 study, showed how individual ideas are more relevant than those generated collectively. Many believe that they would move forward more quickly if they were the only ones taking the decisions, regardless of their peers’ opinions or of the overall framework of the work session.
To counter such misleading views, we must insist on the collaborative aspect of brainstorming rather than on the creativity it supposedly favours. Having ideas is not a goal in itself, it is merely a means to collaborate on innovative projects. Unless you are some kind of superior lifeform, you will necessarily have to rely on your colleagues to enrich your ideas, put them in motion and implement them. We will see, step by step, how brainstorming can become the cornerstone of collaboration and creativity.
The aim of divergence is to gather everybody's ideas
In order to set up a good phase of divergence, one must build up the group carefully and be able to choose facilitation methods adapted to the situation.
As we become increasingly more specialized, problem-resolution will necessarily need to adopt an inter-disciplinary and global approach to benefit from various and sometimes conflicting sources of expertise and worldviews. CPS practitioner Ruth Noller illustrates this with a simple equation:
C=fa(K,I,E): Creativity is the combination of Knowledge (K), Imagination (I) and Evaluation (E).
Ideas fall into French chemist Antoine Lavoisier’s famous maxim “Nothing is created, everything is transformed”. Regardless of how innovative they seem to be at first hand, they always represent a mere combination of pre-existing ideas. That is why we must rely on highly diverse sources of knowledge and embrace opposing views and perceptions. A whole step of design thinking, inspiration or empathy, is dedicated to gather relevant field-related knowledge. The key to organize a successful brainstorming session is to invite participants who are directly involved and affected by the issue at hand and whose coming together will help shed new light on the topic.
Finding new combinations requires to embrace opposing worldviews and build new bridges. A 2010 study conducted by MIT’s Alex Pentland suggests that a team’s global worth depends much more on the ability to show empathy and awareness towards each other’s interests than on the average IQ. This is the only solution to reach an idea that everyone might feel compelled to support. Even though this can be hard and laborious work, it is critical to combine every participant’s individual aptitudes to implement a common and achievable project.
Since 1948, brainstorming has known many new developments as a number of variants have emerged to address the group bias that may obstruct the creative process.
Last summer, in its article Brainstorming is dumb, FactCoDesign talked about one of these variations, brainwriting as a solution to brainstorming bias. Writing has three benefits that speech lacks: anonymity (so that everyone can express their ideas freely without putting their ego on the line), asynchronicity (so that everyone can advance at their own pace) and the ability to keep a physical track of the ideas and improve them.
Echoing that thought, this Harvard Business Review article conjured similar arguments to promote online brainstorming. This technique enables us to extend a brainstorming’s life-span and incorporate it in a long-term process. No need to classify the post-it notes once the session is over, as its outcomes remain accessible at all times and may be used again for a new session or for individual work. A recent study showed that a creativity peak was reached right after a brainstorming session. It can therefore be extremely useful to ask participants to share new inputs just as they go back to their office.
However, both variations (writing and online) have their own bias, including the lack of spontaneity and additional distance to the whole process. Every solution has its own faults and advantages and should be used within a specific context.
The best solution is to be highly adaptable and be able to choose the method that best suits your needs. That is why the facilitator, its knowledge and experience, are key to ensure that the workshop goes smoothly. The facilitator is in charge of implementing the methodology, both in theory and in practice. He will also have to create an environment that favours creativity and everyone’s ability to generate relevant, original and achievable ideas.
The aim of the Convergence is to build a common project
The convergence phase requires care and commitment to select the most creative ideas and structure them into concrete projects.
Regardless of the intrinsic value of an idea, the most important factor is the level of commitment it produces among the participants. The idea may be absolutely brilliant, however, if no one is enthusiastic enough to follow through, it will be stacked away and quickly forgotten. Unlike individual ideas, brainstorming-generated ideas benefit from the added-value of all participants, therefore increasing its chances of being ultimately implemented.
Lewin’s 1945 housewives experiment shows how a highly interactive discussion reduces resistance to change and increases the level of commitment and the ability to take initiatives among participants. A decision will be more enthusiastically implemented when it is produced by a process seen as democratic enough to take everyone’s input into account.
Most high-altitude accidents occur after the ascending phase because of the misleading feeling of having already reached one’s goal. A similar effect plagues the brainstorming process, as accumulating a mass of original ideas regardless of the convergence phase dramatically increases the risks of leaving on the side the most valuable ones and fostering frustration within the group. It is therefore critical to know, before the start of the brainstorming session, how ideas will be selected: by vote, collaborative evaluation or via a jury.
Such a step cannot be improvised as it requires a strong methodological rigor to ensure that the decision faithfully reflects the intentions and motivations of your group. It is the facilitator’s responsibility to find out and practice new decision-making methods. For instance, sorting out your ideas with a COCD Box will enable you to choose the most promising ones, both for the short and long term.
Greenhousing, developed by the ?What If! team, aims to use the brainstorming-generated ideas to build operational ones. As Mark Payne would say, an idea is nothing more than an idea, the sketch of a work of art in progress. One or several ideas must be used to form a concrete and elaborate project. One of the first step to make ideas more operational may be to simply ask to detail who will be in charge of implementing it, with what means and according to what timetable.
Many methodologies may be used to enrich and structure a project, such as the scamper, which relies on a set of questioning to help you fiddle with your project, or Bono’s hats, which will encourage you to view your project from different point of views and personalities. And many more.
Other alternatives are available: you can use canvases like the business model canvas to structure your project or the customer empathy map to take into account your clients’ perception.
Collaborating with the help of a canvas enables you to agree on many different aspects of your project. It can therefore be regularly updated according to the feedback of your team members and the project’s progress. If you defined one or several personas for your project, it is important to go on the field to see whether your perceptions are correct so you can regularly improve them. Once again, the canvas, like brainstorming, should be viewed as a means to agree on a common reality based on individual experiences.
Brainstorming is only the beginning
At Stormz, we strongly believe that it is much more relevant to view brainstorming as a collaboration method rather than using it as a creativity process as it increases individual involvement, strengthens group cohesion and helps implement innovative projects.
Largely based on brainstorming dynamics, Stormz is generally used for change management, collaboration workshops and training events. It is therefore obvious how brainstorming techniques go well beyond the issue of corporate creativity. We also notice that the success of a creativity session heavily relies on the facilitator’s abilities to manage the session and choose the appropriate tools and methods.
That is why Stormz was created, first and foremost, as the facilitator’s own digital tool, so versatile and rigorous that it will enable him to organize collaborative events in a wide variety of settings (small or large groups, onsite or online, etc.). We have also shared many templates in our library for you to freely discover, test and use with your teams or clients.
Being a professional facilitator is a full-time job that requires extreme commitment to constantly learn new methods and tools to live up to the position’s responsibilities. If you wish to organize truly productive creativity sessions, it is therefore critical that you find the right person to fill that seat, either from the company’s own ranks for regular meetings or outside experts for exceptional events.
Whichever it is, we strongly advise you to get in touch with facilitators’ communities, such as the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) whose members will be glad to share their experiences with you. You can also have a look at our facilitators’ directory to work with certified-Stormz users trained at many methodologies. We have worked many times with every single one of them and know how much they can bring to your events.