New Study Rains on the Brainstorming Parade
I recall one off-site brainstorming session where an outside moderator was brought in to try to get at our “problems” and keep the conversation moving forward. Well, he sure did get at our problems; by the end of the day, colleagues were ready to kill each other, and he had a flight to catch. As for the brainstorming part, we were all either too intimidated by the moderator or our boss, or just didn’t want to speak up before the group anymore.
“Evidence has long shown that getting a group of people to think individually about solutions, and then combining their ideas, can be more productive than getting them to think as a group,” wrote Jena McGregor in her On Leadership column in The Washington Post on Sunday. “Some people are afraid of introducing radical ideas in front of a group and don’t speak up; in other cases, the group is either too small or too big to be effective.”
Turns out there’s another reason. A new study by Nicholas Kohn and Steven Smith, two students at universities in Texas, and publicized by the British Psychological Society, tells of “cognitive fixation, where being exposed to another’s idea makes it more salient in your mind and blocks ideas of other types.”
In one of the experiments, Kohn and Smith placed each participant with a single partner who was actually an accomplice of theirs. “This allowed them to systematically manipulate the number of ideas a participant saw in their chat window, presenting between one and twenty typical ideas from the most common categories…As expected, a high number of cues led to less novel ideas within fewer categories, which were rarely the uncued, uncommon ones. However, the overall number of ideas was not significantly affected, meaning candidates went more deeply into those fewer categories that they did consider. This suggests fixation: inspired by—but stuck on—the concepts presented to them.”
In a second experiment, Kohn and Smith determined that they could end that fixation with a break and a 5-minute unrelated task. The study did conclude that brainstorming could be effective if the goal is to explore a few categories in-depth—given that participants are allowed to work independently a bit. But if you are looking for new ideas, it’s better to start individually and then bring those ideas to the group. Or have a moderator lead the group “towards the fringes” rather than the same old paths.
It all makes sense. We’re in an age where group dynamics can stifle individual creativity, rather than propel it, if not handled right. I lead a group of adults that reads to elementary-school age kids every Monday evening. Last year, we arrived at our weekly topics, books and activities through group emails, which always felt awkward and strung out. This year we only used that group dynamic to come up with the topics. From there, an adult steps up to plan the session. On Monday, Jason led a session on voting that was just spectacular. He had the kids creating their own voting cards; then he set up a ballot on his computer where they could check their favorite snack and sport. He also set up an out-of-the-box ballot box for them, a reminder that voting is conducted in many ways around the world.
By being given the latitude to work on his idea, Jason created a masterpiece; the blueprint will now be featured on The Reading Connection site every October. Wrote McGregor: “…it’s a helpful reminder of how unhelpful it can be when managers dump people in a room together, thinking it will result in creative big ideas. Somehow, a belief in the power of group brainstorming sessions persists, despite evidence that it doesn’t work.”
No recount is needed for that outcome.
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