Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

7. Allow no evaluation, criticism, or discussion while ideas are being generated. Watch out
for "stifling phrases." Ideas can be clarified by their originator if others request it.
8. Allow participants time to think. Do not let a lull in the storm stop the session.
9. After all ideas have been generated, reduce the list by questioning, categorizing, and
consolidating.
In Project Study #5, brainstorming was used to develop work performance improvement
principles and techniques.
Remember, the goal is to think creatively and view the problem from many perspectives. To
paraphrase Nobel Prize winning physician, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, discovery is looking at the
same thing everyone else is looking at but thinking of something different. And as another
creative genius, Albert Einstein, expressed, problems cannot be solved at the same level of
conscious awareness at which they were created.
Expected Outcomes:
A large number of ideas that relate to some specific problem or situation.
Broadening participants thinking by exposure to many ways of looking at a problem.
Sets the framework for good communication and dialogue by getting everyone involved
and contributing.
See:
Project Study #5 (City of Moline, IL)
Case Example #4 (Chrysler Corporation)
Case Example #15 (US Army TEAM C4ISR)
Tools: Brain Writing
Collaborative Problem Solving Forum
Concept Mapping
Relationship Building
Sleep On It
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