A breakthrough in just 4 minutes.
There is one way, but you have to approach it differently
The Problem
Anyone who has ever taken part in a brainstorming session probably knows the problem. You always come to a point where no new approaches are created. To everything that is said, somebody in the group already has a reason in mind why it cannot work that way. It becomes especially critical when a supervisor also takes part in the meeting and nobody wants to attract attention by an avoidable stupid approach. This can lead to the fact that one does not go out with results and new ideas from such a meeting but frustrates the whole team and the work morale for the day is gone.
Isn’t there a way to make a 180-degree turnaround in a situation like this in just a few minutes?
The Solution
Yes, there is a way to reverse this negative group dynamic. This can be achieved by also turning the target 180 degrees. So, you are not looking for answers but for questions. This may feel very unfamiliar at first, but then we often find it much easier than finding the answer to a deadlocked question. Furthermore, this approach is extremely helpful to explore a subject area for which there is little knowledge in the team so far. But what does that mean in concrete terms “We are looking for questions?” We usually already have a question. If we get stuck and do not find any answers, then it might be the wrong question. This often happens, for example, when you are faced with a problem and already have a rough idea of how to solve it and this idea fails. Then it can be extremely helpful to find questions that have to do with the problem, but that you have not asked yourself before. How to proceed I will describe below.
The method
The preparation
You basically need the same setting as for any other brainstorming session. That means a pinboard, whiteboard or similar, where the results can be collected, and a team. Basically, this method also works for you alone, but usually the results achieved are better with people who have different perspectives. Talking about different points of view, this method invites to involve a team that is as diverse as possible. Why not invite the new trainee, a lady from the field and an experienced production employee in addition to the usual suspects? Especially in times of missing orders and short-time work, this know-how can be tapped excellently, and the employees are happy to be involved. The questions asked by these people are usually fundamentally different from those asked by the people directly involved and are therefore a real enrichment.
Now the problem to be solved is explained within 2 minutes. I mean this literally, maximum 120 seconds time to explain the problem! This limitation of time forces “the problem creator” to limit himself to the most essential things and prevents that the approach of the problem creator is already put into everybody’s head.
Before the actual brainstorming starts, three decisive rules must be established.
- Questions should be formulated completely and not just written down as keywords.
- Questions must not be answered. This sounds simple, but it is often more difficult than expected, especially for managers. This is because they are poised to answer spontaneously when asked a question in their daily work.
- No explanations may be given so that the question is understood correctly. Different interpretations of a question are more helpful with this technique.
Collecting the questions
When these rules are understood and accepted by everyone, an alarm clock will start with 4 minutes. The time pressure usually increases productivity and after about 3.5 minutes the input often flattens out significantly. This exercise is primarily about quantity, so from the beginning the goal should be communicated to formulate at least 15 questions within the 4 minutes. With this quantity, the questions are usually shorter, open questions are more likely to be asked, and the participants are not inclined to think through a question and then discard it instead of simply asking it. All these aspects improve the result.
Often it can make sense to have a session on the same topic on different days with different teams to get more input. Often this approach delivers significantly more results than repeating the exercise with the same team after a short break.
Find a solution
Afterwards you will go through the questions alone or in the team. Which of them have you not yet asked yourself? Which reveal new approaches to developing solution strategies? Pick out some questions that seem interesting. A small tip in passing: A good indicator for this can be that you feel a little uncomfortable with the question.
Now dive into the exploration of the questions, enriching them with more questions that are related. This can be done, for example, using the 5-W method or by modifying this method to ask, “Why is this important?” instead of “Why is this so?”. (Described in Michael Ray — The highest Goal) is asked.
Once you have further refined the different blocks of questions, choose at least one of them and define measures to answer these questions. With the help of this technique you will be able to find solutions that were previously far beyond your horizon and that a “normal” brainstorming could never have uncovered.
Conclusion
Putting questions at the centre of the brainstorming is an interesting method to find new approaches in deadlocked situations. It also ensures that even insecure team members can participate fully, as they do not have to worry about being exposed because they do not know something.
Furthermore, this method is very suitable for scattered teams because the input, in contrast to the classic brainstorming, is less based on the answers of the other team members.
Special: The implementation in the home office
This method can be used very easily even in times of the home office, because of the current high importance I will go into this aspect separately.
If you take it exactly, this method is predestined to be used remotely and not in a personal meeting. The team is basically only needed for about 15 minutes, so it often happens in everyday work that the walk to and from the meeting room takes more time than the use of the method itself.
All that is needed is a video conferencing solution to explain the rules of the game and the problem to be solved to all participants. As well as a virtual whiteboard on which everyone can write down their questions in parallel. A solution that fully convinced me is Klaxoon (https://klaxoon.com/). Not only can everyone create digital Post-Its with their questions in parallel, they can also be colour matched and points can be awarded for the individual questions to quickly find out the most interesting ones for the team. Very uncomplicated and without big flourishes. This makes it for me an ideal tool for the implementation of the “Question Brainstorming”.
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