Busy people need routines and shortcuts to make it through the day. If we had to
consciously think about the steps involved in making a cup of tea, we’d have
exhausting our thinking energy before we’d even left the house in the morning.
Routine thinking may save time and energy, but seriously hampers creative
brainstorming, so use this exercise to challenge traditional thoughts and encourage
creativity.
Make a list of common words e.g. night, smart, heavy, quick, apple. Get your team
to list the first opposite meaning word that springs to mind e.g. day, stupid, light,
slow, pear. This will flush out the obvious, routine words. Challenge your team to
come up with at least 3 further opposite words for each word e.g.
Night = day,sun,white,awake, .....
Smart = stupid, scruffy, shabby, in-elegant, clumsy, gawky
You’ll find some similar meaning words creep into your list – that’s fine as these can
spark further opposite meaning words. Remember ideas breed ideas and to keep
critical, analytical thinking in check. Limit the time spent on this activity to 10-15
minutes, to keep it fresh and focused.
Now it’s time to introduce the “real” brainstorming activity. Write your problem
statement clearly and simply, and let those creative minds go to work on generating
new and non-routine ideas to solve the problem.
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