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These are the reasons group brainstorming is a waste of time, and they can all be addressed by a simple hack, which is that each person writes down all their id
by omarhaneef 6y ago
These are the reasons group brainstorming is a waste of time, and they can all be addressed by a simple hack, which is that each person writes down all their ideas in advance before sharing the list and discussing them in public:
Social loafing: There’s a tendency – also known as free riding – for people to make less of an effort when they are working in teams than alone. As with the bystander effect, we feel less propelled to do something when we know other people might do it.
Social anxiety: People worry about other team members’ views of their ideas. This is also referred to as evaluation apprehension. Similarly, when team members perceive that others have more expertise, their performance declines. This is especially problematic for introverted and less confident individuals.
Regression to the mean: This is the process of downward adjustment whereby the most talented group members end up matching the performance of their less talented counterparts. This effect is well known in sports – if you practice with someone less competent than you, your competence level declines and you sink to the mediocrity of your opponent.
Production blocking: No matter how large the group, individuals can only express a single idea at one time if they want other group members to hear them. Studies have found that the number of suggestions plateaus with more than six or seven group members, and that the number of ideas per person declines as group size increases.
- brightball 6y agoThe downside to your approach is the natural tendency for people to defend their own ideas rather than participate in the discussion.
- Rapzid 6y ago> which is that each person writes down all their ideas in advance before sharing the list and discussing them in public This sentiment has been echoed by other posters here and I believe it to be clutch. Generally speaking I loath any meeting that does not include an agenda/context so I can prepare for it(even if just mentally).
- watwut 6y agoCountrepoint: I get more creative when I hear other people's ideas. Alone with paper I have harder time come up with creative ideas. Also, large reason is that with paper I second guess myself more and anticipate or prepare for possible negative reaction. When I see that the group dynamic is good right now, I have less reason to be careful and get more free.
- asdfman123 6y agoI wonder if the early successes of "brainstorming" come from having someone at the front of the room saying, "No, really guys, ALL ideas are welcome" and allowing the quieter types to speak up. The special sauce was asserting a commitment to psychological safety. However, now brainstorming has become a corporate cliché, and actually allowing new ideas is scary, so we all understand when people ask for "brainstorming" they mean just bring up every mediocre idea you can think of that's not too offensive.
- dafoex 6y agoI have somewhat a hypothesis that brainstorming had early successes due to the perceived democracy of it - i.e. everyone gets a chance to say how we do the thing - but started to become a poorly managed chore when the big extroverts and the office hierarchies got dragged into to meeting room, so everyone just sort of lets the loudest voice in the room dictate the project while the bosses pat themselves on the back for letting everyone have a say (if they can get a word in edgeways past loud Larry).