Putting Step 4 into Practice

Putting Step #4 into Practice

1. Stimulate new ideas. Our minds can seize the opportunity to realign our thinking. Use catalysts—concepts that trigger new ways of thinking, word pictures that describe a situation from analogous perspectives, and physical movement—to open up fresh options.

2. Invite each person to state one option in turn. After each member of your group has had time to reflect about options, begin the process by having someone mention one. Proceed to the next person and so on through the group, inviting each participant to offer a different option. Encourage new ideas.

   The only criterion for mentioning an option is that the person thinks the option might help the group pursue its hopes for resolving the issue in question. Stating an option at this stage doesn't commit the presenter to supporting it. If any particular individual cannot come up with an option that has not already been mentioned, the person should pass. Repeating options only provides redundant information and discourages additional ideas.

   Have each person offer only one option on each circle around the group. This gives more participants a chance to offer possible solutions. Remember, it's not who comes up with an idea that counts; it's how many good ideas you can generate and how involved participants become in finding those ideas that determine success.

3. Avoid debate or comments. Stick to an open brainstorming approach. This is not the time to evaluate options. Debate discourages people from offering original and untried ideas. You'll identify each option's positives and negatives later on, in Step #6.

4. Expand your perspectives playfully. As you brainstorm, encourage logical thoughts (left brain), creative thoughts (right brain), and deep senses (gut feelings). Find ways to give expression to intuition. For example, draw pictures of the options or imagine what each might say if it could talk. Have some fun as you proceed. It will lighten the work and open the process to new ideas.

   What do your gut-level feelings suggest? As I learned in the early 1990s when I was developing a company seeking improved treatments for migraine headaches, the neuroreceptors in our intestines share similarities with those in our brains. There is an intelligence in gut feelings that's worth understanding.

5. Continue brainstorming until all options have been offered. Proceed around the group, with each person offering a new option, until all participants have expressed all their ideas. This may take several rounds. Encourage participants to identify other options, even if someone has already mentioned their own favored solutions. When they express options from outside their own preset point of view, they loosen their attachment to specific outcomes and begin the process of identifying with new possibilities.

   If, after going around the group, all you end up with are the options you started with, dig deeper. But don't worry if you end the meeting with the feeling that you haven't assembled a complete set of options. Later steps in the decision-making process will help you uncover new possibilities.

6. List all viable options, from the status quo to the more adventuresome, that are worthy of further investigation. After your brainstorming, decide which of the options merit further consideration. If you are unsure about whether to evaluate an option, include it on your list. It won't take your group very long to assess it, and including it ensures that no one's option is eliminated prematurely. Be inclusive of diverse options at the start, which will increase buy-in for the final choices your group makes.

   Unless the current situation is untenable, include the status quo in your list of options. After all, this is what you are currently doing. Including it as an option helps you understand why you are doing it. Many groups falter in their efforts to take new directions because they don't thoroughly examine their current activities. Consequently, some people remain attached to the way things are, but others bound ahead. Great decisions get everyone on board to move ahead together.

BE AN AGENT OF HOPE

Scout for fresh ideas. Choices give you strength to look at issues more creatively. Encourage everyone to identify multiple options in order to find the most fruitful results.