In a post from the archive, Kellogg business school professor Ben Jones challenges the traditional idea that brainstorming is the best way to generate new ideas.
Many teams operate under the false assumption that the traditional tenants of brainstorming (encouraging a plethora of free-flowing ideas absent any criticism or judgement) is the best way to stimulate creative thought.
Research from Yale dating back to the late ‘50’s questioned the value of brainstorming, but most organizations continued to use it for decades thereafter despite its lack of efficacy.
So, what should you and your team do instead of brainstorm?
Based on his research, Dr. Jones made these two suggestions:
Continue to talk about new ideas in a group setting. It’s clear that creativity occurs within community. There is something about developing a community of people around a central goal that cultivates and initiates creativity.
Take off the kid gloves. The ineffectiveness of brainstorming stems from ideas that should be shared in a judgement free environment. Debate and criticism do not inhibit ideas but, rather, stimulate them relative to what others are sharing.
It takes a good leader to pull this off, and it’s the reason most organizations default to traditional brainstorming.