I read an article suggesting brainstorming doesn’t work.
Excerpt: “The brainstorming method [came along] over half a century ago. Psychologists wondered: Does brainstorming actually work? Studies found that people who use this technique produce fewer good ideas than those who ideate alone. Brainstorming has many downsides. Only a single person can talk at a time, which means that one or two people can dominate the conversation. It also means that while someone is sharing his idea, others might forget their own ideas, or the group may become fixated on the ideas people already shared. Brainstorming is a complex process where people are trying to listen, think, add, collaborate, build. It’s cumbersome, it’s difficult psychologically, and people don’t do it very well. Brainstorming does the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to do.”
That one line should be modified to state, “It’s cumbersome, it’s difficult psychologically, and untrained people don’t do it very well.” Find any improviser and ask them if brainstorming achieves its goal of coming up with good ideas. The answer is yes, without hesitation. Why would improvisers see value in brainstorming and not others? One word – training. The reason brainstorming is doomed to failure in a typical workplace is because in an untrained, undisciplined group, egos rule. In a group not prepared for brainstorming, it’s natural that one or two people can dominate the conversation. But a group that has been conditioned to foster ideas from everyone at the table wouldn’t typically let that happen. The ego is suppressed. Improvisers learn to make their partners look good. In a brainstorming session, that would include helping others along and making sure that everyone has a voice.
“While someone is sharing his idea, others might forget their own ideas, or the group may become fixated on the ideas people already shared”. This is a side-effect of ego. Brainstorming isn’t just to fight for your idea, you come to establish a foundation and add to it collaboratively. The reason researchers didn’t find positive results is that people were too fixated on success, and whether their own ideas were accepted.
You’re probably wondering if I think improvisation exercises and games are good preparatory tools for brainstorming. My answer is wholeheartedly – yes. Not only are improv games good preparatory tools, but they are great tools for continuing development. Convincing the group that failure is inevitable, so be ready to share any and all ideas that build on the existing idea, no matter how unlikely they might germinate, is key. Motivating the group to make each other look good fosters trust, confidence, and the freedom to make mistakes. In such an environment, many of the issues alluded to by the other article are mitigated, if not eliminated altogether. That allows brainstorming to be the idea factory its inventors imagined it could be.
I was asked to conduct improv sessions at a local university for students in a business program that were experiencing a creative block. I chose games and exercises that would promote creativity. I also presented a game called ‘new show’. This was a brainstorming session where team members were encouraged, one at a time, to offer a slice of an idea for the next big movie or TV show. Let’s collaboratively build the next Breaking Bad or Kill Bill. The key to the game was the explicit instruction that blocking, the act of deflecting, delaying or denying any of the ideas offered was forbidden. It produced some pretty far out and amazing ideas because they were given permission to build, to add without consequence, without fear, without judgment.
Once the improv session was over, I was invited to join the students for the next phase of their current project. The class had been divided into teams and each team was working on a separate project. They concluded that my improv game ‘new show’ was the perfect contender to be adapted into a brainstorming activity to get past their blocks. The groups took turns explaining what they had come up with so far, then at the block, asked members of other teams to offer ideas on what should come next. It was a beautiful and rewarding example of how brainstorming can work.
Karl Plesz
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