Silent Brainstorming Exercise and Problem-Solving Tool
APPLICATION:
Useful to demonstrate just how quickly a team can generate multiple ideas for multiple problems. This is one of Dan's favorite tools because it can be very useful and also downright fun to do.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
- Pens or pencils for everyone
- Problem/Solution sheet (as described below)
THE PROCESS:
This process works best if everyone is seated around a table (large conference room tables or multiple rectangular tables positioned end-to-end) so that up to twenty people or so form the team "loop." We recommend that you break down groups of more than fifteen to twenty into two or more smaller teams in order to manage the time needed for this exercise.
Begin by giving everyone at the table a preprinted sheet that has a few lines at the top for the "Description of the Problem" and the remainder of the page having lines for "Suggested solutions."
Explain the process to the team, which is simple and as follows.
Everyone begins with a copy of the worksheet. Give them a couple of moments to think about and write down a work-related problem that has been bothering them and is still unresolved. It should be a problem of a nature that everyone in the group could have ideas about, not something that falls within a limited area of expertise that would exclude part of the group. Allow them time to each think about a problem and write it down, asking them to turn the sheet face-down in front of them when they are done. When everyone is finished with the first step, proceed to the next step.
Using a stopwatch or a watch or clock with a second-hand, explain that when you say "Go," each person is to quickly pass the sheet that is in front of them to the person on their right, in a counter-clockwise manner. Each person will have 30 seconds to quickly read the "Problem statement" and use the first available blank line below it to write down the first "Solution idea" that comes to their mind. They are not to read any other solution ideas someone else might have already written. Just read the problem and write the first idea that comes to their mind -- no matter ridiculous it may seem to them. If they finish writing it before the 30 seconds is up, they simply flip the sheet face-down in front of them and wait.
When the 30 seconds is up, instruct everyone still writing to stop and turn the page face-down. Now, you simply repeat the process, having everyone pass the sheet in front of them face-down in a counter-clockwise fashion again, telling them to "Go," and giving them 30 seconds to write their response to the next problem that has just been handed to them. Repeat until the sheets have made a full-circle, back in the hands of the person who wrote the "Problem" statement at the top of it. This is their to keep.
The result of this little exercise/tool is that in a little over ten minutes, a group of ten people will generate up to ninety ideas for solutions to ten individual problems, and it will take between ten and fifteen minutes to accomplish.
How many fifteen minute meetings have you been to that resulted in ninety ideas for possible solutions to ten problems?
The underlying premise of this exercise, which you can share with group when completed, is that when people are not busy arguing their points but instead able to freely share their ideas without interruptions or lengthy discussions, an amazing amount of information and a large number of ideas can be generated.
-- The Heart of Excellence Team --