Divergent Thinking 101: Brainstorming
As the American inventor, Thomas Edison, once said, “To have one great idea, have plenty of them around.” And he should know, having designed not only the first commercially viable light bulb but also the phonograph.
Edison was, of course, referring to the first part of the creative process. It is the initial step in the DEAR model (dream big!), where you’ll use divergent thinking to produce lots of concrete, abstract, or visual ideas.
Over the next three chapters, you’ll explore how to dream big in three ways: through idea generation and flexible and original thinking.
We’ll start with idea generation.
Idea generation is the act of originating new ideas. And it’s essential to keep an open mind, so everyone feels their contribution is valued.
Brainstorming is the most common technique used to generate ideas. You have most likely taken part in a session at some point in your working life. But how can you get more from them?
Let’s explore some brainstorming techniques.
Brainstorm With “Yes, and...”
Try the “Yes, and…” method, borrowed from improv comedy; it’s an incredibly effective way to brainstorm because each new suggestion builds on the last.
You can do this exercise in a group or pairs if team members find it challenging to share their ideas in a larger group.
How does it work?
Decide on something you want to solve. The first person states the problem and their solution; the second begins their statement with “Yes, and…” then adds to the idea with a new, related one before bouncing it back to the first person. Continue until you’ve exhausted all ideas.
Starting your statement with “yes,” means you immediately acknowledge the first person’s idea. No ideas are dismissed as worthless. It’s a given that each is a good idea. Following this with “…and...” allows each new response to build on the last, sometimes in surprisingly refreshing ways.
Use Focused Mind Maps
Mind maps are great visual tools to generate ideas. However, you can use them in a more focused way by breaking them into three levels: the problems, your needs, and possible solutions.
Start by writing down the issue you need to solve in the middle of a large sheet of paper or whiteboard. Your first level brainstorm should be around the problems you might face. Next, brainstorm your needs. What do you need to know, do, have in place, or think? Write these down on some Post-It Notes, and add them to the sheet around the original problem.
Next, on different colored Post-It Notes, write down possible solutions. This way, you can see the three different levels of ideas.
If working on a creative project with long-distance collaborators, you can also use mind mapping software such as Mindmeister, represented below, to invite others to contribute their ideas remotely.
In the above example, the climate change problems are blue, the needs are red, and the resulting solutions are yellow.
Creative Mash-Ups
Mash-ups are large group-brainstorms that are great for creating innovative ideas. They encourage you to make unexpected and unusual liaisons between objects or ideas that you wouldn’t normally associate.
If you’re a strong visual thinker, you’ll especially like these because you get to express your ideas using images.
Take Action
Use a different-colored sticky note for each of the categories below – you’ll write one idea on each sticky – and, in groups of 3-4 people, brainstorm as many of the following in 5 minutes:
Human needs/wants (i.e., I want to be happy, I need companionship).
A service (i.e., food delivery service, hotel, restaurant).
Tools (i.e., screwdriver, lighter, pen).
You’ll end up with lots of sticky notes, filled with ideas from each of the categories.
Each group then picks three random sticky notes – one from each category. You’ll use two or more to come up with as many new concepts as possible in 12 minutes. For each concept, you’ll need to:
Give it a name.
Define what it does.
Draw it.
Each group displays its ideas and has 1 minute to choose their best one. They then spend a further 10 minutes developing it further before presenting it to the larger group.
Complete Your Creativity Journal
Do: Choose one of the brainstorming exercises you’ve explored in this chapter. Apply it to a problem you’re facing.
Reflect: How effective was the exercise you chose? How many ideas did you generate? Were any of them surprising? If so, why?
Let’s Recap!
There are many ways to use brainstorming to ideate.
Encourage all ideas, even if they seem crazy or far-fetched.
Use mash-ups to generate innovative, unusual ideas.
Now that you’ve experimented with different ways to generate ideas, you’re ready to explore some techniques to get you thinking more flexibly.
