You’ve probably been there. Five or six of you sit in a meeting and the leader asks you to come up with ideas on a particular issue. The first person mentions an idea. Then the second. Then the third. But then the fourth person kind of repeats what one of the first three people said. Perhaps after that, the next person says, “those are all good ideas. I agree with them.” The final person once again mentions an idea that sounds like one of the previous. So what you have in the end are six people coming up with three ideas. Not very productive, is it?
If you want a more productive way of developing ideas on a particular topic or issue, ask everyone involved to make a list of their ideas or possible solutions prior to coming to the meeting. The reasons are simple. When a person is asked to come up with ideas independently, they cannot rely on the people around them for inspiration. In the case of brainstorming, this is a good thing. There are several reasons for this.
First, there is social anxiety. In other words, people worry about what others will think of their idea. This makes them hesitant to share in a group. Second there is social loafing. This is where some people simply rely on others to come up with the ideas, rather than trying to contribute themselves. Third, there’s something called production blocking. In this case people, have to be quiet to hear what others said. As a result, that fleeting idea they had might be forgotten in the moment. In fact, there is research that demonstrates that the number of ideas a person comes up with during brainstorming declines as the size of the group size increases.
A more effective approach is to ask people to brainstorm independently and bring their ideas to the group afterward. In this manner, the similar ideas can be grouped together as the group discusses the ideas. But since people have been thinking independently, they are more likely to come up with ideas outside of what they think the group might consider acceptable. It is sometimes these outlying ideas that turned out to be the best.
So the next time you want your team your brainstorm some ideas for a current situation or decision, give them the challenge independently. Ask them to number down the side of a page from one to 10 and then try to fill those numbers with all the ideas they can, even the ones that seem nonsensical at the time. Once that’s been done you can gather everyone together to discuss what has been brought to the meeting. By the way, this will compel the social loafers to more fully participate.