Why Brainstorming Sucks
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This document discusses the limitations of traditional brainstorming techniques and proposes an alternative approach. It outlines that brainstorming often fails due to social loafing, evaluation apprehension, and production blocking. Members of brainstorming groups exert less effort due to social pressures and a fear of judgment from others. As a result, alternative techniques like the Nominal Group Technique are more effective by allowing ideas to be generated anonymously before discussion to reduce these social influences. The document promotes using techniques like NGT that incentivize contributions and focus discussion on problem-solving to cultivate ideas more efficiently.
Why Brainstorming Sucks
- 1. Why Brainstorming sucks… or finding better approach in group thinking Image Credit: Clix
- 2. Hi, I’ve got a problem x in my company. Could you suggest an idea or two Wait, give me some time to think about it… In a land far far away, called advertising agency.. common Creative Problems in 1938 (and until now probably)…. Client that Agency Guy BBDO
- 3. In a land far far away, called advertising agency.. common Creative Problems in 1938 (and until now probably)…. Client that Agency Guy BBDO 2 Weeks passed… I’ve got an Idea! Let’s build this solution for your problem! Sorry, I don’t like yours. Do you have another alternative?
- 4. In a land far far away, called advertising agency.. Client that Agency Guy BBDO Alex Osborn Guys, this is very ineffective!! Let’s bring some guys and discuss ideas together! And that’s how brainstorming was born
- 5. So what is Brainstorming? “a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members” - Wikipedia •No Criticism Don’t evaluate any ideas until you’ve finished generating them •Freewheeling is welcome The wilder the idea, the better •Quantity is the goal the more ideas you think up, the more likely you are to find the best ideas •Look for combinations of previous ideas and for improvements on previous ideas Source: “Your Creative Power” - Alex Osborn, 1938
- 6. And the results is… “At IDEO we have dedicated rooms for our brainstorming sessions, and the rules are literally written on the walls: Defer judgment. Encourage wild ideas. Stay focused on the topic. The most important of them, I would argue, is "Build on the ideas of others.” Tim Brown - CEO of IDEO Individual Brainstorming “Brainstorming enhance creative performance by almost 50%” Alex Osborn YourCreativePower
- 7. everything sounds good… so what’s wrong?
- 8. 12 Brainstorming Groups (each 4 People) 48 People think Individually then discuss in Groups (each 4 People) Solve 3 same problems Measure the ideas generated ? Separate into Methods 2 Method B Method A (Brainstorming) In 1958, three Yale Psychologists recount Osbourne’s number using these methods YALE
- 9. And the result is… Source: “Group Genius” - Keith Sawyer, 2007 NUMBERS OF IDEAS GENERATED ORIGINALITY OF IDEAS GENERATED MEASURE IDEAS BASED ON FEASIBILITY, EFFECTIVENESS, GENERALITY Method B wins! Method B wins! } Method B also wins! Brainstorming: 0 Method B: 3
- 10. Method B, also known as Nominal Group Technique (NGT), proven to be more powerful than Brainstorming (we’ll discuss about NGT later)
- 11. So where Brainstorming failed? Free Rider Theory Social Loafing is the phenomenon of people exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone. Social loafing can be explained by the "free-rider" theory and the resulting "sucker effect", which is an individual’s reduction in effort in order to avoid pulling the weight of a fellow group member. That “I don’t wanna be this sucker” - effect when working in group
- 12. Social Loafing - How did it happen? Maximillien Ringelmann, French Agricultural Engineer, discovered that as more and more people are added to a group, the group often becomes increasingly inefficient, ultimately violating the notion that group effort and team participation reliably leads to increased effort on behalf of the members.
- 14. So where Brainstorming failed? Evaluation Apprehension (or Fear of Judgement) Evaluation Apprehension predicts that when we work in the presence of others, our concern over what they will think can enhance or impair our performance.
- 15. So where Brainstorming failed? Audience Idea Presenter Dominant Mode Evaluating Mode • Reduce performance when still learning • Increase performance when expert •Give Judgement } Increase in psychological arousal Zajonc’s Theory } Extrovert will perform better Introvert will perform less
- 16. Who are the introverts?
- 17. To sum it up…
- 18. So what’s the solution?
- 19. Nominal Group Technique Facilitator explains the specific problem Write down the ideas anonymously (hide the identity of Idea contributor) 1 2 3 Vote to prioritise Ideas collected Idea contributor explain and discuss more detail on that specific topic Iterate to next Ideas or Problem
- 20. How NGT help? Incentivise People with good idea by providing a room for them to speak-up Facilitator will keep the discussion to focus on specific problems, so the discussion will stay efficient and effective 1 2 3 Remove Social Matching since the voting done anonymously Get direct feedback from Vote results on Idea Quality Remove Fear of Judgement since all ideas submitted anonymously Social Loafing will reduced since everyone need to contribute their ideas Remove Production Blocking since all members write their ideas on parallel
- 21. Rangga Wiseno, Solution Architect | rangga@icehousecorp.com | 021 573 6225 At Ice House, we implement best-practice on every aspects of our processes, including the cultivation of ideas, so we can innovate more. Got a problem to solve or another app ideas to build? Let’s talk.