Feeling stuck at work? Can’t come up with ideas? Faced with a challenging situation on the home front? If you’re having to deal with a crisis and don’t know how to proceed, the first step could be to take a moment to brainstorm before you dive in to act upon it. Here are some techniques that you can use to optimize your capacity to ideate or reach clarity.
• Round Robin technique is a group process of brainstorming where members may sit together, in a circle, offering their opinions on an issue. Working through differing opinions strengthens the quality of discussion. In a business situation that follows a hierarchy, superiors could put forward the opening points to begin the process while others join in gradually. Two or more people belonging to the same position/job role can come up with points with each of them approaching the situation differently. One could be inventive, analytical, rich in ideas, reflective, or a good listener. So as individuals too, they bring to the table, the range of their skill sets. Hence, each of their contributions is worthwhile.
• Silent Brainstorming is a group of individuals are gathered but they could write down their points instead of verbally putting it across. It could also take place in a setting where each of them from their respective cubicles, makes a note of whatever they can come up with. After this, collective participation comes into the picture as talking and exchanging ideas follow.
• World Café or creating a comforting office space offers an informal environment with congenial coworkers. The ambience goes hand in hand with people’s behaviour to add a kind of warmth and safe space. Often superiors take up this initiative to form professional rapport such that their juniors can freely talk without fear, or hesitation as they engage in their work. The feel-good element speeds up efficiency as they can give it their best once they know that they belong and feel valued where they are. A healthy atmosphere is the first step towards employee welfare and helps reduce the effect of cut-throat competition. When employees feel motivated, they look forward to reaching their workplaces. This fosters in them the ability to brainstorm without holding them back as the overall spirit of the place makes them feel secure.
• SWOT Analysis seeks to analyze the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of an organization, or a decision they’re yet to make. It could also be applied by individuals to assess the progress they’re making toward reaching a specific goal or from a broader perspective. When all four parameters are before our eyes in the form of a table, flowchart, or diagram, it brings them all together for us to see it as a whole. The aim here is to get better at our strengths, work on our weaknesses, create more opportunities, or focus on the already existing ones for growth, and stay alert for obstacles that could potentially threaten us. When we watch out for threats, it instils better preparedness in us. This can be applied to a business situation, an interpersonal dynamic, or elsewhere as it allows us a chance at introspection.
• Five Whys seeks to explore the cause-and-effect relations underlying a particular problem through an iterative question-asking technique. The primary goal is to determine the root cause by successively asking the question ‘Why?’ This could be a guided team exercise as well. The answer to one question leads to another question and so on. Often the core issue remains hidden behind symptoms and this helps to drill it down. If we stop at the first answer, it might prove as a dead end. This method requires in-depth knowledge of the matter by the one who performs the analysis. Therefore, its success lies in the skill of the facilitator.
To be able to decide on which of these techniques is the best fit for the kind of situation you’re in calls for an understanding of what it is that you want to achieve. The nature of the challenge, its background, and how far you can stretch for it, are all determining factors.
Brainstorming is a traditional method but of course, we can rethink the ways to go about it, based on the context. Make a conscious decision about what suits your requirements- whether it is a single technique or a combination of them to have the best of these worlds. That leaves us free to choose our pick, but wisely.
