Tuesday, May 14, 2013
How many times have you been in a meeting where you wish the extrovert loudmouth who is saying inane things would shut up, so that the brilliant introvert in the corner who hasn't said anything yet would get a chance to speak? Here is a way to get around the introvert/extrovert problem in Brainstorming: Brainwriting!
Brainwriting is a kind of written idea volleyball exercise. It's simple to learn and facilitate. Here's how:
1. After the creative challenge is presented and agreed to, each participant writes down an idea on a blank sheet of paper.
2. Then he/she passes the paper to a neighbor, and the neighbor then either builds on the idea already on the sheet… or uses it as a stimulus to trigger a whole new idea.
3. Papers are usually passed four to five times.
4. After all the passes, the sheets are returned to their original owner, who then circles one or two favorite ideas on the sheet to discuss and further build on with the group as a whole.
Imagine that you have twelve participants in a room, five rounds of passes, and before you know it, you have, yes, sixty ideas!
In Brainwriting, everyone gets equal time to "speak" in a non-threatening way, with their pen. It's a pure and a fairly concise form of creative democracy. It even gives a large stage for the introvert to add and build powerful ideas. Don't let the simplicity of the technique fool you. It's a profound and powerful technique with important psychological and group dynamic ramifications.
How can you successfully employ ideation techniques to provide powerful answers to creative challenges? Read Bryan Mattimore's IDEA STORMERS: How to Lead and Inspire Creative Breakthroughs (published by Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley) or contact The Growth Engine at (203) 857-4494. You can also find us on the web at
http://www.growth-engine.com/