Brilliant Brainstorming!

Clashing personalities or overblown egos often stand in the way of a productive meeting (or as my district identifies it – Professional Learning Communities).  Whether you are meeting with a larger or smaller group, the better ideas often seem to occur after the meeting is held.  How can we improve upon this?!

 

I read about this discussion-generating method in the current issue of Psychology Today (one of the 17 magazines I subscribe to!) and thought I’d bring it back to my PLC at the next session.  It worked!!!  It proved a more honest, productive way to generate thoughts.

Here it is (courtesy of Psychology Today) ~

I.   Write ~ Everyone sits down with a different colored pen and a piece of paper.  Each person writes an idea on the paper and passes his/her paper to the right.  EVERYONE IS MORE ACCOUNTABLE IF THEY HAVE THEIR OWN COLOR – BRILLIANT!! 

II.  React ~ Read the idea (silently) on the paper you just received, then add your own idea.  If you can’t think of something, just pass it along to keep the creative juices flowing.

III. Review ~ When a paper has about five ideas, retire it to the center of the group.  Everyone now analyzes them.  Because everyone’s ideas are all out there, there’s a need for a more systematic consideration of each idea.

IV.  Select ~ Everyone makes a list of their favorite ideas.  In my groups case, we are a small enough group that we just orally identified the favorites.  For a larger group, writing down the favorites may be more productive and honest.

“When the group is committed, they are usually surprised with what they achieve.”  (Heslin)

Bonus to Educators:  This can work as a classroom strategy as well, as a means to generate discussions or initiate background knowledge!!

Try it at your next meeting!!! 

Share on Facebook