Tip of the month, Inside Track, May 2010
Five minutes to better brainstorming
Many brainstorm meetings produce the same old ideas simply because they are facilitated to produce exactly what it says on the tin: a storm of several brains that – unwittingly or not – produce competing thoughts prone to the creeping “yes, but…” disease.
Instead, I encourage you to try out the “yes, and…” technique where you listen to someone’s thought, and then build on it, expand it and bring it to life until it is a ‘shop-ready’ idea, ready for implementation. This five minute energiser is a great way to practice productive creativity at the beginning of your ideas building session.
1. Split a group of any size into pairs and ask one person to pitch a ridiculous idea for a flamboyant party they are fictitiously planning e.g. a black tie dinner on Mount Everest…
2. In the first round (lasting 30-60 seconds) the partner is supposed to kill the idea with any reason they can think of as to why this wouldn’t work. In the second round ask people to respond with a diffusing “yes, but…” while in the last round they have to build on the ideas by saying “yes, and…”
3. Ask how people felt after each round (it is best not to swap roles within the pairs). You are likely to observe that the energy only relights in the “yes, and…” moments. That’s where the most inventive ideas are born, as the same people who will implement them have also had a chance to nurture them. Now have your ideas generation on your business issue.
Regular “yes, and…” practice will also make a “not invented here syndrome” go away.
