Your Team Is Brainstorming All Wrong

When your team is given the task to generate ideas to solve a problem, it’s a natural reaction to suggest a brainstorming session. But research shows that groups that use traditional brainstorming approaches come up with fewer ideas (and fewer good ideas) than the individuals would have developed had they worked alone. Instead of getting people in a room to toss around ideas, try to get people to brainstorm on their own first. For example, you can use a technique called 6-3-5, where you have six people sit around a table and write down three ideas. Then, they pass their stack of ideas to the person on the right to build on them. This passing is done five times until everyone has had the chance to build on each of the ideas. Afterward, the group can get together to evaluate the ideas generated. Techniques like this one slow the creative process down and they alert everyone in the group up front that evaluation isn’t going to happen until everyone has generated ideas and has had a chance to build on them. As a result, even people who are anxious to get to an answer are forced to wait until the ideas are developed.