Procrastinatr

December 8, 2023

Unpopular opinion but

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(Most) brainstorming sessions suck.

Hey Reader,

You flinch a little looking at the tiny message, on the tiny screen, in your (I’m assuming quite) tiny workspace. Probably at home, or in a coffee shop, or maybe, if you’re lucky, on a terrace looking over the sea.

Your tiny, square meter of workspace fills with dread. You know you should be excited about it (heck, it’s part of why you got into this whole creative thing in the first place.)

But you’re also… empty.

If you could hear your brain right now, it would be all echoes of bings and boings. That’s all.

The message looks back at you:

“Hey, can we jump on a call? I want to run a bit of brainstorming with you.”

Eeeeeek!

“Sure.”

Most brainstorming sessions suck

In theory, brainstorming sounds great. Like, really great. Like, if you’re young and naive, you’ll think it’s one of those scenes in Mad Men where they all gather ‘round the table and start tossing ideas at each other and come up with the next Think Different.

The reality of 2023 CE is that, well, you’re likely to be dragged into a semi-spontaneous Zoom call with ten other tired, embittered, overworked, and idealess souls looking into a camera, wishing they’d be anywhere else, and wondering why their faces look so weird in mirrored mode.

Not quite the creative space you envisioned.

Same applies to physical rooms too, by the way. Because, no, creative sparks don’t just hover over the nice room with the beanie bags in them, nor are they airborne.

There’s a long list of reasons why most brainstorming sessions are far from the bustling innovation devices they were intended to be.

• Fear: What will they say about this? What if they think I’m an idiot? What if I get admonished? What if my workmates will hate me for speaking up?
• Group mentality: Ahm…No one here is saying anything. I better do as they do. Shhh… Make yourself small. The smallestest.
• Bystanding: Why would you say anything if someone else does? Better just mentally escape this, just this once, and then it’ll be over soon.
• Conflict aversion: What if what I say steps on someone’s toes? What if it turns against me?
• Lack of clarity: What, exactly, are we even doing here? What is this group of people trying to discuss? And what does “we need creative ideas for [x]” even mean?
• Spontaneity: How can I come up with ideas in, like, 10 minutes? Or even 30? On a whim? This is more infuriating than it is encouraging.
• Idea train wrecks: Someone said something and now we’ve debated that one thing for the last 45 minutes. It’s painful, but we cannot mentally step away from it.

…And the list goes on.

In person and in Zoom/ Huddle/ Meets, brainstorming sessions tend to be anything but brainy and anything but stormy.

Don't believe me?

Here's a Wharton psychologist talking about brainstormings and why they are the least effective way to get good ideas from people. (Hint: it's the loudest, not the best ideas that get picked; ironically, most creatives are a combination of introverted and extroverted traits, so they're likely to be, well, not loud enough.)

Not all hope is lost, though

So, what then? Do we ditch group work and brainstorming altogether?

Hooold your horses!

No, if you manage creatives of any kind, what you do is build an entire team culture that fosters ideating. Not just twice a year when you need fancy ideas for Black Friday and whatever’s going on in your marketing trenches.

No.

Every day. Week. Month.

If you want good ideas, you need people to be safe ideating. Sounds obvious, but you have no idea how many people get this wrong.

Encourage people to:

1. Consume good content & ideas

No, that’s not hustlebro social media.

2. Be themselves

Yes, this is actually very important and I have felt it on my own skin.

3. Take down ideas whenever they can

Because, guess what? Good ideas don’t happen just because you planned a meeting.

Oh, and — avoid putting people on the spot. You can’t just wake up one day and ask your team to get their creative juices flowin’.

Build a common idea dumpster space for everyone to pitch in, asynchronously. "Brainwriting," as Adam Grant puts it, is far more efficient at nudging people to share their ideas -- yes, even their wildest ones.

Also, a tip of advice from my experience: discuss these ideas regularly. Prioritize them. Show that those ideas won’t be forever banished to a Trello/ Asana/ Notion board.

Enable people to make them happen. Show them their ideas matter. And be ready to take risks with it.

The only way brainstorming sessions are ever effective is when they come not from a place of need, but one of passion for what you do.

Otherwise, it’s yet another two hours no one is taking back.

And if you're a creative, do all that, but on your own. Build an idea bank -- something you can revert to when things run dry. Because they will. Because you're not a machine -- and, as 2023 has shown, machines kinda suck at the whole creativity thing.

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Random Fuel

Soz, no random fuel this week. But here's a nice version of Forever Young to usher you into whatever (new) atrocity 2024 will bring along. Or not. Maybe it will be the best year of the decade so far.

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Let's Play

This game is called ABC Brainstorming and you can use it to sort of break the ice during brainstorming sessions. If you reaally, really want to have a traditional brainstorming session.

1. Setup: Prepare a list of letters from A to Z on a whiteboard or a shared digital space.
2. Instructions: Ask participants to associate words or phrases related to the topic of discussion starting with each letter. For example, if the topic is "Product Innovation," for the letter 'A,' participants might suggest "Adaptive Design," for 'B,' "Brainstorming Techniques," and so forth.

This exercise encourages diverse thinking, prompts quick idea generation, and ensures active participation from everyone.

Let me know what comes out of it! The best examples will be featured in the next issue of Procrastinatr. :)

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Yours tiredly-is-it-January-already,

Octavia

113 Cherry St #92768, Dumbravita, Timis 307160
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