Solve that Problem - idea generation

Idea Generation

GENERATE - How to Find Fresher more novel ideas

"if you always do what you've always done you'll always get what you've always got"

You have been called to a meeting to look for ideas to improve teamwork. There are six of you and the manager, Jane, stands with pen near the flipchart. "OK, let's have an idea then".

"We need to do each others jobs" says Laura. "Good idea" says Jane as she scrawls it up.

"Fill in team member profiles", says David. "That means extra work for me", says Jane as she hesitates, but still writes it up.

"How about bowling", throws in Jo. "I've got a bad back "pipes up Matthew. "OK let's skip that one" says Jane.

"I'd like to bring in my cat - she could be our team cat" adds Jo. Everyone laughs and Jo blushes.

Stuart sits quietly. Last time he came up with ideas they got lost somehow.

So the meeting goes on. Does it produce anything that we haven't heard before? The idea generating element is interspersed with evaluation - some obvious, some more subtle. The manager acts as a bottle neck filtering and slowing the flow of ideas. Some team-members hardly contribute while others like to take over.

Better Brainstorming

Think in terms of what you want not what you don't want

Jane wants to make her idea meetings more effective. She starts by asking everyone to write down the answers to a question she has prepared on a flip.

Imagine you were part of a fantastic team, where everyone really pulled together. What do you think would be the major drivers behind this team? Write down up to 6 top level ones. Then rank them

Jane goes around the group collecting the drivers on a flip - things like team spirit, internal communication and development. They chat briefly to confirm that they know what the headings mean and decide on the overall ranking.

Then Jane writes the first driver as a heading on a sheet of flip. She gets another coloured pen and gets Stuart up. "OK", she says to the group, "we want to be this fantastic team". We going to start with this key factor. In the next four minutes I want you to give me and Stuart 50 ideas". Let's go for it".

Mexican BrainWave

Standing Up gets more oxygen to the brain

Our brains consume 20 percent of our body's energy. How do we get that energy? It comes through a highly oxygenated blood supply.

Now, most idea generation is conducted sitting around a table. Our blood tends to pool in the bottom half of our bodies away from the brain. Simply by standing up, 15% more blood circulates through the brain (Sousa,1998, p. 22). More blood in the brain means more oxygen. More oxygen in the brain means more brain power. Getting physical simply creates more ideas.

Reverse Brainstorm

Thinking Negatively comes natural

We are all experts in thinking negatively. In 1982 Jack Canfield, an expert on self esteem reported the results of a study in which 100 children assigned to a researcher for 1 day. In terms of comments made during the day: 460 were negative comments and only 75 were positive comments.

Over several years we become expert negative thinkers and find it much easier to find faults with something than positive things. We can put this skill to good use by reverse brainstorming.

Start in a new place

When we think, brain cells (neurons) communicate using electrochemistry. They literally fire along neural pathways. If you were miniaturised and injected into a brain you would see a wonderful firework display as millions of neuron networks communicated. Donald Olding Hebb (1904-1985) was, during his lifetime, an extraordinarily influential figure in psychology. Hebb showed that

When neurons fire together they wire together.

What Hebb meant was that we form valleys of thought that get deeper. The same stimulus, creates a deeper and deeper thought valley. In practise that means when we have a particular challenge that is similar to past ones, we follow the same neural pathway. So we try to solve it in the same way. But that leads us to the same old solutions. How can we break out of the trap?

Create New Patterns

Spotting a sequence is great until you need to be creative

Think of a number between 1 and 9

Multiply it by 9

Add the digits of the resulting number

Take away 5

Convert the number to a letter, A=1, B=2 etc

Think of a Country starting with that letter

Take the second letter in that country's name

Think of an animal which begins with that letter

Think of the colour for that animal

Different World Views

Dentistry and Golf

Name a sport starting with a 'T'. Golf of course. And that describes where the ball goes when it leaves the tee.

According to Willy Johnson, Britain’s most prolific inventor, every time you hit a ball using a conventional golf tee, the tee flies off in a different direction A flying tee causes random interference to the proper spin of the golf ball, and therefore to its direction and flight. Willy wanted the tee to stay in the ground and a visit to the dentist helped him expand his mental box

Prompt Lists

We use check lists to help us survive. They act as an aide mnemoire prompting us to remember things. In the same way a set of prompt questions can help generate ideas.

Come to Your Senses

Visual

Auditory

Kinaesthetic

Do you say "that rings a bell" or "I see what you mean" or "He's a pain in the neck" ? We all use sensory specific language and it gives us a clue to our sense preference. BOS uses a simple exercise to find your preference. Our sense preference determines how we tend to solve challenges. For example, if you prefer the visual mode you will most likely prefer techniques which involve pictures.

But, that preference can hinder your idea generation - "If you only have a hammer, every problem seems like a nail" To expand your mental box use as many senses as possible and be aware that it may not seem comfortable:

Telling a story of your challenge - Auditory

Create a drama or play - Kinaethetic

Making a collage - Visual

Build a 3D - model

Environments

Create a place for idea generation

Our thinking can get 'anchored' to particular environments, settings and formats. We can go along to a 'brainstorming' session, in the same magnolia painted room, with the same leader and know that nothing new will come up and it'll be largely a waste of time. These anchors can trigger the same pessemistic reactions in us. So we need to change something to break the cycle.

Doing something different in the process can reap dividends. Using networked creative thinking software, a 4 hour workshop with 8 people generated 448 ideas made 1784 individual decisions and the entire proceeding was captured at the end of the meeting?

It really murdered current practice.