Productive Brainstorming

About this course

Teams usually turn to brainstorming when the current way of operating is failing, fading or no longer viable - or simply to break a habit and keep things fresh. Often the session is not productive. People stay in their execution mode, where thinking is inside the box: we need to do this, but first we need that, and we cannot do that without something else. The discussion goes in circles and ends with the conclusion that more resources are needed.

There is nothing wrong with inside-the-box thinking; it is simply a different mode, and it is not the one brainstorming needs. This course looks at how a team moves out of execution mode to explore, and then back into execution, with the box redefined or reworked. It is not something that can just be read about. People need to experience each mode, notice what being stuck feels like, and learn ways to switch and to help others switch.

What the course explores

• Why brainstorming often goes in circles
• Execution mode and exploration mode as different ways of thinking
• Moving out of execution to explore, and back into execution with a reworked plan
• Helping colleagues switch between modes, and the role of the facilitator

Intended takeaway

Understand how teams can move between exploring possibilities and practical execution.

Proposed intended understanding, not a promised result.

Course profile

Highlighted categories are this course’s main emphasis. The others are not its main emphasis, which does not mean they are absent.