Editor's Choice -- Ismaili Digest -- The brainstorming myth: why you shouldn't brainstorm in teams or committees and what to do instead

Has your group, committee or organization ever held a "brainstorming" meeting to come up with "the best ideas" to solve some problem your facing? You know, the meetings where you're told, for example, "there are no bad ideas?"

Brainstorming was first suggested almost 80 years ago, in the 1940s, but was already discredited by Yale University a decade later, in 1958. Since then decades of additional research have consistently shown that brainstorming groups are less effective not only in just generating ideas, but also in generating good quality ideas, than people who first work on their own.

Brainstorming is just a nice sounding theory that has failed again and again and again when put to the test by researchers, yet despite all this research showing its ineffectiveness, it still persists as the way most organizations, groups, and teams try to solve problems.

In 2012, Scientific American, quoted the organizational psychologist Adrian Furnham who said "evidence from science suggests that business people must be insane to use brainstorming groups. If you have talented and motivated people, they should be encouraged to work alone when creativity or efficiency is the highest priority."

So why doesn't brainstorming work? Well quite simply because it has nothing to do with how the human brain works: how the brain generates ideas and how creativity is stimulated within it.

The articles below explain why brainstorming doesn't work, what methods for generating high quality ideas do work and perhaps, most importantly, the social environment that enables innovation and creativity to flourish.

At a personal level, solitude and quiet is essential . This is why so many of the most innovative and creative people in the world are introverts: they thrive on solitude and always do their best work when alone, and left alone, as explained in the New York Times article, "The Rise of the New Groupthink" and others linked below.

And, at the group level, group leadership is critical. It must, as The Atlantic article, "Groupthink: The brainstorming myth" explains, ensure vigorous debate, so bad ideas are weeded out rather than been coddled for fear of "offending people." However, at the same time, leadership must, as the Harvard Business Review article, "The Two Traits of the Best Problem-Solving Teams" explains, ensure high "psychological safety" and high "cognitive diversity."

If you are involved with a committee, group or organization -- either as a leader or member, within the community or outside -- that requires innovation and creativity to not just solve problems, but identify the right problem to solve in the first place, we urge you to review the articles below and share this email with others on your team so they too can see how to become more effective, creative and innovative.

Warm regards
Ismaili Digest