Leadership in Action: The Search for Solutions: Choosing the Right Approach to Generating Ideas

A CUSTOM APPROACH

If your diagnosis of the problem indicates that an incremental approach is desirable, consider brainwriting as the first choice among the idea-generating techniques. If you think you need a more radical solution, try an excursion technique. Brainstorming is good for a balanced approach. (The key is an accurate diagnosis of the seven situational factors.)

Brainwriting produces a higher percentage of incremental responses. Because spontaneous group interaction is difficult in this nonspeaking technique, group members tend not to spur each other on to ideas outside the given problem definition. Though problem solvers share ideas, this idea-generating technique is not as free-form and fun as the others. Being limited to the written ...