Do people really brainstorm or do they get brainwashed? Just by looking at the seating arrangements, the number of participants and the resources/equipment used for a brainstorming session, we can see what is really happening.

It is the stormy season in Mauritius and not just in the atmosphere. Indeed we are hearing about and seeing brainstorming sessions very often these days in the press and on television. While these well-publicized (and sometimes well-paid) sessions are quite recent, brainstorming has been in use in businesses and ministries for a long time. Indeed, it is by far the most widely used tool for creative thinking. Brainstorming is mentioned in most business books that advocate the use of groups and is described in nearly every book on the basic tools of quality management.

As problems increase and the urgent need to find solutions increases, the brainstorming fashion is likely to increase and its climate will prevail everywhere. It is a good thing because (as we shall see in another article) creative and lateral thinking can solve a number of serious problems that have cropped up recently in our country. Traditional (vertical) thinking is already making them worse. Brainstorming can be of great help, provided the proper techniques are used.

However brainstorming is no panacea and it has its limitations. And we should be aware of this because, just like an atmospheric storm, even a brainstorming has the potential to cause great damage (disillusion, disappointment, even resentment, waste of time or just bad ideas), and especially if it is transformed into a brainwash. Hence we had better get prepared and take basic precautions because as far as brainstorms are concerned there will be no Mr Meteo to guide us. We need to know what brainstorming really stands for and how to use it effectively, not just as a buzzword.

<B>Vertical and lateral thinking</B>

A brainstorming session is a formal setting for the use of lateral thinking in a group. Lateral thinking is concerned with the generation of new ideas. New ideas are the stuff of change and progress in every field from science to art, from politics to personal happiness. Lateral thinking is also concerned with breaking out of the concept prisons of old ideas. This leads to changes in attitude and approach. In vertical thinking one moves forward by sequential steps each of which must be justified. In lateral thinking one may have to be wrong at some stage in order to achieve a correct solution. Lateral thinking is no substitute for vertical thinking. Both are complementary. Lateral thinking is generative, vertical thinking is selective. Vertical thinking is used to dig the same hole deeper. Lateral thinking is used to dig a hole in a different place.

<B>History of brainstorming</B>

Brainstorming was developed in the 1940s/1950s by advertising executive Alex Osborn. Unknown to Osborn at the time, a similar technique had been practiced by Hindu teachers in India for more than 400 years (LeBoeuf, 1980). Since creative thinking was essential in an advertising agency, Osborn sought to develop a method that would bring out five traits that he considered important for creative thinking (fluency, flexibility, originality, awareness and drive) in everyone. Osborn?s (1953) model for the creative process comprised seven steps :

Orientation: pointing out the problem.

Preparation: gathering pertinent data.

Analysis: breaking down the relevant material.

Ideation: piling up alternatives by way of ideas.

Incubation: letting up, to invite illumination.

Synthesis: putting up the pieces together.

Evaluation: judging the resulting ideas.

Unfortunately, what has survived in business literature today are primarily only methods and rules associated with the 4th step, Ideation. And these rules are commonly known as:

Criticism is ruled out (judgement is suspended, there is no bad or unfeasible idea)

Freewheeling is welcomed (the wilder the idea, the better)

Quantity is wanted (maximum number of ideas)

Combination and improvement are sought (building on ideas of others).

<B>Not what it is meant to be?</B>

Note that while originally brainstorming comprised seven steps, nowadays only the above four rules are considered to be brainstorming. This is the first reason why brainstorming is not what it is meant to be. Secondly, these four rules do not give strong guidance on how to be original and creative. There are four other reasons why the popular brainstorming rules are a weak (though not bad) tool for imagination:

While suspension of judgement and going for quantity is necessary for creative thinking, this is not sufficient. For many people, creative thinking does not come naturally and requires training.

As practised today, brainstorming sessions naïvely assume that no prior preparation is needed. It is naïve to assume that brilliant, never-before-thought-of-ideas will suddenly burst forth from a group of people assembled to brainstorm. It can happen, of course, but how often? That is why preparation is important but too often neglected (step 2).

Brainstorming exhorts us to be creative but fails to tell us how to achieve it. With the popular notion of brainstorming, the assumption is that the creative ideas are there already, locked up in the mind ? we just need to let them out. At most, brainstorming sessions turn out to be a tool for constructive group discussion or sometimes a pretext for brainwashing.

As practised today, brainstorming sessions rarely do an effective job of harvesting the rich set of ideas, if any, that are generated.

In fact more than 250 tools for creative thinking have been developed and described in specialised books, some of which are listed below. Hence if you are not very creative or imaginative but need ideas and are seriously interested in creative thinking, you would need do to some research. In the meantime, you can use the tips given below to improve your current brainstorming techniques.

<B>How to proceed </B>

<B>Time.</B> 30 minutes is the ideal time. 45 minutes is an outside limit. There is nothing worse than a session which drags on in silence while participants desperately try to think of something to suggest.

<B>Warm-up period. </B> If the participants are unfamiliar with the procedure or if they have not used it for some time, it is a good idea to have a 10 minutes warm-up session.

<B>Number of people. </B> The lower limit is six and the upper limit is twelve. Above that number, it tends to generate into a session where a few people talk and the rest serve as a silent audience.

<B>Nature of people. </B> There should be a nucleus of people concerned with the problem (about one-third of the total) and the rest should be from as wide a range of interests as possible.

<B>Note taker. </B> He or she has to condense the ideas and list them (with the help of a tape recorder, if necessary).

<B>Chairman. </B> His or her role is to enable the session to proceed smoothly, to give everyone an opportunity to suggest ideas, to suspend judgement of ideas, to help the note-taker and be responsible for organizing the session.

<B>Definition of the problem & preparation. </B> If the problem is defined too narrowly, it limits the thinking and ideas. But if the definition is too broad, it can also be misleading.

<B>Follow-up. </B> The simplest way is to make copies of the list of ideas compiled by the note-taker and to distribute it to the participants who should add any additional ideas.

<B>Evaluation. </B> The brainstorming session is followed about a week later (in the meantime, other ideas are added) with an evaluation session. This can be made up of completely different people or can include some of those who took part in the original session. The usual methods of critical analysis, practicality, cost?etc are used in the evaluation session. At end of the session, one might draw up a list of ideas under the following headings :

1. ? Ideas for immediate use

2. ? Ideas for further exploration;

3. ? different approaches and attitudes.

<B>Kailash Mani NUNKOO [email protected]</B>