Brainstorming Workshop

Even the smartest people Think that their thoughts are like birds,

Like eagles or larks.I thought so too.We were wrong.

Our thoughts are like mice.We set them free, hoping they’ll fly,

But instead they hide down in deep dark holes called Experience, Common Sense,

Knowledge, Belief, Principles, Convention, Doubt, Fear, Complexes…

These holes are warm and comfortable,We spent so much time digging them, doggedly,

We call them Our Mind.I cannot teach your thoughts to fly.

It is a task for your own talent.But at least I can lure them out of their habitual

comfort,To a fickle and treacherous surface

Called Creativity,And, maybe take them on a little walk,

At first, on crutches...

How do we really Think?

•We tend to think by recognizing patterns.

•We react to these patterns based on past experience and extensions to that experience.

•Sometimes, though, we get stuck inside them. Within a particular pattern there may be no good solution to a particular sort of problem.

HOW THE BRAIN WORKS

RIGHTLEFT

Emotional• Rhythm• Spatial Awareness• Gestalt (whole picture)• Imagination• Daydreaming• Colour• Dimension

Rational• Words• Logic• Numbers• Sequence• Linearity• Analysis• Lists

For most people, one side will dominate, especiallywhen under pressure, which will affect thinking

BLOCKS TO THINKING

• Fear of being wrong

+ Looking an idiot

+ Standing out/being different

+ Failure

+ Being found out

• Environment+ Psychological; encouragement, permission to make mistakes

+ Comfort and open-mindedness

+ Physical environment

BLOCKS TO THINKING

•Habits/Traditions

+ Breaking them is difficult

+ Needs to be done consciously

•Specialisation

•Fear of Consequences

•Getting stuck in our thinking patterns

Thinking?

•There are 2 types of thinking programmed and lateral:

•Each type of approach has its strength. - Logical, disciplined thinking is enormously effective in

making products and services better. It can, however, only go so far before all practical improvements have been carried out.

- Lateral thinking can generate completely new concepts and ideas, and brilliant improvements to existing systems. In the wrong place, however, it can be sterile or unnecessarily disruptive.

Lateral Thinking?

•Recognizes that our brains are pattern recognition systems, and that they do not function like computers..

• The benefit of good pattern recognition is that we can recognize objects and situations very quickly.

•Unfortunately, we get stuck in our patterns. We tend to think within them. Solutions we develop are based on previous solutions to similar problems. Normally it does not occur to us to use solutions belonging to other patterns.

• We use lateral thinking techniques to break out of this patterned way of thinking.

Lateral Thinking?

Definition…

•Seeking to solve problems by unorthodox or apparently illogical methods.

•"A set of systematic techniques used for changing concepts and perceptions and generating new ones", "Exploring multiple possibilities and approaches instead of pursuing a single approach." (Edward de Bono, originator of the phrase)

Brainstorming Is…?

•Dictionary definitions of 'Brainstorm'  - A sudden inspiration  - A bright idea  - A severe outburst of excitement, often as a

result of a transitory disturbance of cerebral activity  

- A sudden mental aberration

• Brainstorming is a lateral thinking process. It is designed to help you break out of your thinking patterns into new ways of looking at things.

•Brainstorming is a widely used creativity tool, and also the most misunderstood and misused!

Creative ThinkingSome definitions…

- Creative Specific thought processes which improve the ability to be creative.

- Being in an optimal state of mind for generating new ideas.- To think deliberately in ways that improve the likelihood of

new thoughts occurring. To maximize the ability of the brain to think of new ideas.

- The ability to think of original, diverse and elaborate ideas.- A series of mental actions which produce changes and

developments of thought. - The process of exploring multiple avenues of actions or

thoughts. (Sometimes called divergent thinking because thought patterns and areas of belief are expanded.) vs. Convergent?

Must start with divergent then end up with convergent

Creative Thinking

•Creativity is a thinking journey that has a logical way to reach ads that makes consumers buy products emotionally.

• Creativity is all about making associations!

•Being creative may just be a matter of setting aside the time needed to take a step back and allow yourself to ask yourself if there is a better way of doing something. Edward de Bono calls this a 'Creative Pause'. He suggests that this should be a short break of maybe only 30 seconds, but that this should be a habitual part of thinking. This needs self-discipline, as it is easy to forget.

Creative Thinking

"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes,

and having fun.“ - Mary Lou Cook

Creative Thinking

•Creativity is not a gift you have to be born with. Most creative people  learn how to be creative. They do it logically. They look at one perspective and think of another. They appreciate metaphors. They make cross-connections easily. They trigger their thinking one way and then apply it to the problem at hand.

•For example, creativity comes with:- seeing things differently, - seeing different things, - generating multiple options, - breaking the rules,- thinking and linking, - a high level of awareness, - knowing how you think,- playing 'what ifs,' and - trying something on for size.

Creative Thinking Principles

Follow the ‘Path of Most Resistance’ & keep the ideas closely relevant within the ‘Closed World’

PATH OF USUAL

PATH OF MORE

RESISTENCE

INVENTINVENT

ADDADD REDUCEREDUCE

REPLACEREPLACE KEEP AS ISKEEP AS IS

EXTERNALEXTERNAL CLOSED WORLDCLOSED WORLDEg. Cheaper flat tire no nails use what already have.. u get one nail from each tire and work with it on the flat

When to use Brainstorming?

•When you have a defined task/problem and want to generate many, varied or unusual ideas/options/creative solutions

•You will need - a Problem Owner who is responsible for the

content, the ideas of the session - a Facilitator to look after the process, how the

group goes about generating the ideas- flipcharts with sufficient paper, markers and

masking tape to record the ideas

How To Brainstorm?

• Identifying the problem owner i.e the person who wants the ideas in the group and who will finally decide which ideas to take forward.

• Getting the problem owner to explain the task to the group and giving them background to the project.

• Facilitator explains and write up the rules of brainstorming for everyone to follow

• The problem owner gives a very brief background of the task and answers any factual questions the group my have. Define the problem you want solved clearly, and lay out any criteria to be met.

• Writing it down in one word or sentence on a flip chart to keep the session focused on the problem (planner)

How To Brainstorm?

•Conducting the brainstorming & jotting down the ideas on the flip chart

•Making sure all ideas are valid during brainstorm and writing down every single one. The facilitator records the ideas and polices the rules (and checks with the problem owner every 10-15 minutes that the session is going in the right direction)

•Stopping after problem owner feels enough ideas have been generated.Taking a break for 15 mins. whilst problem owner goes through ideas.

•Problem owner picking however many ideas he/she wants to carry forward into evaluation.

How To Brainstorm?

•Listing favorite ideas (planner)

•Getting the group to state 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses for each selected idea.

• Spending further time, brainstorming ideas to overcome the weaknesses if possible.

•Coming up with an Action plan with clearly defined task responsibilities and timing (planner & problem owner).

Some Useful Tips..

•Ensure that no one criticizes or evaluates ideas during the session. Criticism introduces an element of risk for group members when putting forward an idea. This stifles creativity and cripples the free running nature of a good brainstorming session.

•Encourage an enthusiastic, uncritical attitude among members of the group. Try to get everyone to contribute and develop ideas, including the quietest members of the group

Some Useful Tips..

•Let people have fun brainstorming. Encourage them to come up with as many ideas as possible, from solidly practical ones to wildly impractical ones. Welcome creativity.

•Ensure that no train of thought is followed for too long

•Encourage people to develop other people's ideas, or to use other ideas to create new ones

•Appoint one person to note down ideas that come out of the session. A good way of doing this is to use a flip chart. This should be studied and evaluated after the session.

•Where possible, participants in the brainstorming process should come from as wide a range of disciplines as possible. This brings a broad range of experience to the session and helps to make it more creative.

Some Useful Tips..•Very few ideas are pronounced (we don't say all

we have.. if don't say ideas they'll never be realized).. So you must encourage everyone to speak and you must listen hard because ideas come in bunches!

•Encourage and ensure that all group members contribute ideas

•Where time is short (or there are many ideas on a particular issue all coming at once), ask the group to write their idea on a post-it note and place it on the flip chart

Rules Of Brainstorming

•Defer judgment/criticism- of others ideas- and of your own

•Look to generate many ideas- they should be as broad and odd as possible

•Look for wild and different ideas – freewheel, as fast as possible

•Build on others ideas

•All ideas are recorded and numbered

Rules Of Brainstorming

•Collect as many ideas as possible from all participants with no criticisms or judgments made while ideas are being generated.  

•All ideas are welcome no matter how silly or far out they seem. Be creative. The more ideas the better because at this point you don't know what might work.  

•Absolutely no discussion takes place during the brainstorming activity. Talking about the ideas will take place after brainstorming is complete.  

•Do not criticize or judge. Don't even groan, frown, or laugh. All ideas are equally valid at this point.  

•Do build on others' ideas.  

•Do write all ideas on a flipchart or board so the whole group can easily see them.  

•Set a time limit (i.e., 30 minutes) for the brainstorming.

Benefits of brainstorming..

•Many idea fragments which will need to be evaluated at the end of the brainstorming session and developed further - usually in a separate session

•Be prepared to lay aside a lot of them - while all ideas have value, the value of 80% of

the ideas generated in a typical session is that they stimulated the remaining 20%

What if ideas dry out??

If your ideas begin to dry up, you can 'seed' the session with any of the following tools

Creativity Tools

•A number of techniques fuse the strengths of the two different strands of creativity (programmed & lateral)

•They are designed to help you devise creative and imaginative solutions to problems, and help you to spot opportunities that you might otherwise miss.

•Many of the techniques to follow have been used by great thinkers to drive their creativity. Albert Einstein, for example, used his own informal variant of Provocation to trigger ideas that lead to the Theory of Relativity.

Creativity Tools

• Making creative leaps - Random Input• Widening the search for solutions -

Concept Fan• Carrying out thought experiments -

Provocation

Note: Some may be considered 'overkill' whendealing with minor problems, but they provideexcellent frameworks for solving difficult andserious ones.

Random Input Tool•Helps you make creative leaps

• It is very useful when you need fresh ideas or new perspectives during problem solving.

•Random input is a technique for linking another thinking pattern into the one we are using. Along with this new pattern comes all the experience you have connected to it.

• Random input is an excellent way of getting new perspectives on a problem. It often leads to startling creative leaps.

• It provides an easy way of breaking out of restrictive thinking patterns. It helps you to link in whole ranges of new solutions that you would not otherwise associate with the problem.

Random Input Tool• The best words to use are concrete nouns,

which may come from areas in which you have some expertise. Nouns should not, however, come from the same field as the problem you are considering, as the whole idea of Random Input is to link in new thinking patterns, not to stay inside old ones.

• If you choose a good word, you will add a range of new ideas and concepts to your brainstorming. While some will be useless, hopefully you will gain some good new insights into your problem. If you persist, then at least one of these is likely to be a startling creative leap.

Random Input Tool

•To use Random Input, select a random noun from either a dictionary or a pre-prepared word list. It often helps if the noun is something that can be seen or touched (e.g. 'helicopter', 'dog') rather than a concept (e.g. 'fairness'). Use this noun as the starting point for brainstorming your problem.

•You may find that you get good insights if you select a word from a separate field in which you have some expertise.

Concept Fan Tool• The Concept Fan is a way of finding different approaches

to a problem when you have rejected all obvious solutions. It develops the principle of 'taking one step back' to get a broader perspective.

• The idea of the Concept Fan was devised by Edward de Bono in his book 'Serious Creativity'

• To start a concept fan, write the problem in the middle of a large piece of paper. Write possible solutions to this problem on lines radiating from this circle.

 

Concept Fan Tool

Concept Fan Tool • It may be that the ideas you have are

impractical or do not really solve the problem. If this is the case, take a 'step back' for a broader view of the problem.

•Do this by drawing a circle to the left of the first circle, and write the broader definition into this new circle. Link it with an arrow to show that it comes from the first circle:

•Use this as a starting point to radiate out other ideas:

•If this does not give you enough new ideas, you can take yet another step back (and another, and another…):

Concept Fan Tool

Concept Fan Tool

Concept Fan Tool  

•If no idea is good enough, redefine the problem more broadly. Write this broader definition in a circle to the left of the first one. Draw an arrow from the initial problem definition to the new one to show the linkage between the problems. Then radiate possible solutions from this broader definition.

• Keep on expanding and redefining the problem until you have a useful solution.

Provocation Tool  

• Provocation is an important lateral thinking technique. Just like Random Input, it works by moving your thinking out of the established patterns that you use to solve problems.

•Provocation is one of the tools we use to make links between these patterns.

Provocation Tool  

 

• We use it by making deliberately stupid statements (Provocations), in which something we take for granted about the situation is not true. Statements need to be stupid to shock our minds out of existing ways of thinking. Once we have made a provocative statement, we then suspend judgment and use that statement to generate ideas. Provocations give us original starting points for creative thinking.

 

Provocation Tool

 

As an example, we could make a statement that 'Houses should not have roofs'. Normally this would not be a good idea! However this leads one to think of houses with opening roofs, or houses with glass roofs. These would allow you to lie in bed and look up at the stars.

 

Provocation Tool

 

Once you have made the Provocation, you can use it in a number of different ways, by examining:

• The consequences of the statement

• What the benefits would be

• What special circumstances would make it a sensible solution

• The principles needed to support it and make it work

• How it would work moment-to-moment

• What would happen if a sequence of events was changed

• Etc.

Provocation Tool • You can use this list as a checklist.

• Edward de Bono has developed and popularize use of Provocation by using the word 'Po'. 'Po' stands for 'Provocative operation'. As well as laying out how to use Provocation effectively, he suggests that when we make a Provocative statement in public the we label it as such with 'Po' (e.g. 'Po: the earth is flat'). This does rely on all members of your audience knowing about Provocation!

• As with other lateral thinking techniques, Provocation does not always produce good or relevant ideas. Often, though, it does. Ideas generated using Provocation are likely to be fresh and original.

 

Creativity Tools

•Principles:- Function Follows Form turning thinking

upside down.. think what I need.. then you'll clearly see what and how you should do it, Step 2: Once you settle on form.. then think what's the best function for it.. what can I do with what I have??

Creativity Tools

•Know and explore the 10 Creative Thinking Patterns- Even creativity has steps.. patterns.. mostly

they are done unconsciously by creatives but it's very useful technique for brainstorming and to come up with creative solution and to help write more creative briefs by challenging the usual and normal…

- Use them to judge creative see if the pattern fits with your brand and what you’re trying to say

You can brainstorm alone too!

Individual Brainstorming

• When you brainstorm on your own you will tend to produce a wider range of ideas than with group brainstorming - you do not have to worry about other people's egos or opinions, and can therefore be more freely creative. You may not, however, develop ideas as effectively as you do not have the experience of a group to help you.

• Individual brainstorming is best for generating many ideas, but tends to be less effective at developing them. Group brainstorming tends to develop fewer ideas, but takes each idea further. Group brainstorming needs formal rules for it to work smoothly

• Use Mind Maps to arrange and develop ideas.

MIND MAPS (Tony Buzan)

• Expression of radiant thinking, so a natural function of the human mind

• Mind Map has 4 essential characteristics+ Subject of attention is crystallised in a central image+ The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image as branched+ Branches comprise a key image or key word. Topics of lesser importance are represented as branches attached to higher-level branches+ The branches form a connected nodal structure

MIND MAPS (Tony Buzan)

• A method of visually representing ideas and of aiding the brainstorming "free association" process. A visual method of mapping information to stimulate the generation and analysis of it. "A method of accessing intelligence, allowing rapid expansion and exploration of an idea in note form." (Tony Buzan)

When to use Mindmapping

•Note-taking

•Recording complex situations

•Exploring a subject

•Brainstorming by yourself

•Planning a presentation

How to Use Mindmapping?

•Start with the major idea in the centre of the page and work outwards in all directions- make connections and associations- the more visual the better- keep reworking until you are satisfied- add more visuals and colour

•There are two major types of mindmaps - Roots and branches - Bubbles

What Mindmapping does?

•Material organized into into a subjective form that is easily assimilated by your brain and easily processed and remembered

•A way of representing the complexity of 360º thinking on to one sheet of paper

Draw An Oval Shape

Put Ten Legs On It

Put the Topic ‘Happiness’ In The Centre

HAPPINESS

Write On The Legs The First Associations That Come To

Mind

HAPPINESS

CAT

CHOCOLATE

SWIMMING

ETC

Take One Branch And Add More Associations Each On

One Line

CAT

Purring

Fur

Fussy eater

Stopping out

You are Mind

Mapping using

roots and branches

ProblemSolving

Writing

Free-Associating

Definingproblem

MINDMAPPING

Bubble Map Sequence

Finding rightquestions

Interviewing

SeeingPatterns

Hitchhikingoff ideas Seeing

solutions

Self

TeamProblemSolving

Relating tobigger

problem

Comparingviewpoints

Pre-Outlining

Writing Takingnotes

Writinga talk

Overcomingwriter’s block

Brain-Friendly

Non-Judging

Randomthoughts

Free-Associating

Seeingmore thanon paper

ProblemSolving

Writing

Why itWorks

KEY

Brain-storming

Recordingmeetings

Definingproblem

MINDMAPPING

Fun

Roots And Branches Map Sequence

Problem solvingDefining problems

Writing Free Associating

Moving Out

Problem solving

Defining problems

Writing

Free Associating

Software Which Can Help

•Bubble mindmaps- Fastest with Inspiration - Can be done with PowerPoint or Visio

•Roots and branches mindmaps- MindManager

How to think in the best way…

• Identify your own thinking style..

• Find out the atmosphere that stimulates your thinking most (choose the best time, place.. etc..)

• Jot ideas in point form then connect them

• To creatively think/brainstorm use landscape paper versus our logical mode: Normal A4 layout (portrait)

• At the end make sure your thoughts follow

Good Ideas?

• Are far enough to be interesting but not far away to be irrelevant or scary !

• There's a very thin line (so no one will register it if it’s too close yet no one will understand it if we hit too far away), so the safest way is to keep in the closed world principle to keep the ideas closely relevant.

Now you’re ready to make the most out of our

brainstorms!