Post-Covid Brainstorm Positives

Moving from Groupthink to Newthink*

I was never a massive fan of the brainstorm. Coming from a theatrical background into a corporate space, I was always unsettled by the subtext of inter-collegiate competition, back-stabbing, sniping and hierarchical authoritarianism.

That and the fact that no matter what new ‘fun and funky’ technique the brainstorm leader brought in, there very quickly formed a nucleic cabal of voices that dominated the room and led to the inevitable ‘groupthink’ solution.

In some ways, ‘groupthink’ can be seen as the creative expression of the culture of that creative team or agency, but in other ways, it can be a creative tragedy dressed as cultural farce.

These days, when we can’t get together to brainstorm in the same space, but still need the varied inputs of different perspectives on a problem, there is a whole new ‘fresh and funky’ way of unearthing ideas.

There is no name for this, (yet) but essentially it's a version of the ‘write storm’ concept whereby the people in the room are exposed to the brief or just the central problem, and they write down their ideas or reactions or doodles or whatever in silence.

This is great because it gives everyone in the room a voice on the page. Once the ideas are collected and read out then the rest of the group gets to comment, but by then the smallest voice has been registered and it’s too late for the Big Voice in the room to stifle it with some pithy comment, inside joke, or value judgement.

This same technique works perfectly well – perhaps even better – when a team is working remotely. Each has their own time to consider the problem and to come up with a list of ideas and reactions without the added pressure of listening to Big Voice scratching away furiously on his or her note pad or tapping madly at their iPad.

Once these first round of ideas are in, the convenor of the brainstorm can begin to group ideas that are similar for further exploration by the group, but also – and more interestingly – can single out left-field or oblique ideas that might take the group in a totally new direction.

Away from the normal ‘groupthink’ into an unexpected ‘newthink’.

After that, it’s pretty much business as usual for the rest of the process. Weeding out the weakest, the usual, the obvious, the confused and the impossible ideas. Getting extra input on the most robust or exciting concepts. Tailoring them down to testable proposals in line with production realities. Presenting to client and fielding feedback. Popping champagne or calling the team back to start all over again with new insights on the problem.

Bottom line – if you enjoyed brainstorming with your team in pre-Covid, there is no reason not to continue in post-Covid. In fact, it might be healthier and more enjoyable for everyone - except Big Voice.

If you’d like some ‘newthink’ on an internal communications or change marketing issue you’re currently grappling with, contact nick@creativeclarity.co.za.

P.S. *This post was inspired by an article by Art Markman in the Harvard Business Review, November 25, 2015. It is even more relevant today than it was in that ancient past.