What to Do If You Are Caught in a Brick Wall of a Brainstorming Session
The moment a great idea or solution appears, you can feel like magic – as if it was delivered to you entirely from some divine being. But what usually ends up happening is just the opposite – we flounder and get stuck in a problem, desperate for one of these magical breakthroughs to deal with it.
This post was originally published on Fast Company .
Of course, there is nothing magical about it. “Struggle and understanding go hand in hand,” says David Perkins , a research professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education . “You are unlikely to reach an understanding if you do not fight the problem.”
In other words, disruptive thinking is usually preceded by many dead ends and bad ideas. “When you look at breakthroughs from a historical perspective, history never boils down to just a key takeaway. It’s also about what led to it and what followed, ”says Perkins. “It usually takes a lot of work.”
Perkins, author of The Eureka Effect: The Art and Logic of Disruptive Thinking , told us about what keeps us from disruptive moments and how to find our way to them faster.
Two Kinds of Struggle to Solve Problems
Typically, the problems we face fall into one of two categories: technical problems or analytics problems. A technical problem requires you to work through the technical details to arrive at a solution. “It’s not easy, but it doesn’t sound like understanding,” says Perkins. “It’s like climbing a mountain by the hand.” On the other hand, the challenge of understanding may seem much darker. “It’s more like taking a break to get over the cliff to climb the cliff,” says Perkins.
Of course, finding a solution is not a question of whether you are facing one type of problem or another. “Most problems are a mixture,” says Perkins. But trying to better characterize the problem you’re facing is the first step towards a more deliberate approach to a solution.
Are you cornered or confused?
Maybe you have some solution, but it doesn’t seem to work. You feel stuck in a vice. On the other hand, you might not have the slightest idea of how to approach a problem without having the slightest idea where to start or what might work. According to Perkins, most people who are confronted with a problem of understanding end up in one of these two camps – they are either locked up or confused.
If you are confused, it probably means that you need to abandon the assumption. “This is what we mean when we talk about thinking outside the box,” says Perkins. On the other hand, when you are confused, you may feel completely disconnected or lost. “Confused means you are acting in a myriad of possibilities,” he says. Understanding which camp you fall into can help you overcome the limitations you face.
Four Approaches to Achieving Breakthrough Moment
Remember, fighting is part of the process. A breakthrough moment is essentially a quick reorganization of the ideas you’ve been thinking about. This is the moment when, by rearranging the moving parts, they finally fall into place.
While there is no magic bullet for better problem solving, there are several strategies that research and history have shown can help you reach those breakthrough moments faster.
1. Expand your search
Brainstorming is a long-standing approach to problem solving. But that could be complete nonsense. “The whole point about brainstorming is that it doesn’t always work,” says Perkins. But research has shown that there are certain approaches that can help you get the most out of brainstorming.
For example, in group brainstorming sessions, research has shown that giving group members the opportunity to brainstorm and think about an issue for themselves before discussing it with the group leads to better results and prevents group biases or “co-fixation” from forming. “It’s best to invite participants to brainstorm individually before sharing ideas,” says Perkins.
Another effective technique is random stimulation . Open a book to a random page, close your eyes and point to a word. Using this word as a starting point for thinking about whatever challenge you face can help you start to find unexpected new associations and solutions .
2. Change the problem
We often get stuck looking for a solution because we haven’t focused enough on redefining the problem. “Narrowing problems is one of the main reasons for the lack of understanding,” says Perkins.
If you are solving the wrong problem, it will be difficult for you to find the right solution. One of Perkins’ favorite personal strategies is to simply ask the question: What’s the real problem? “It’s kind of a brainstorming session about the problem itself, not the solutions,” he says. Trying to look at a problem from a new perspective opens up opportunities for new approaches. Keep asking yourself, “What’s the real problem here?”
3. Reach out to others
If you are feeling stuck, look outside yourself. Reach out to experts or friends, read on various related topics. Perkins calls this approach “deliberate cross fertilization.” Basically, you are on the lookout for new interactions that “can spark a connection or a new angle of view.”
If you’re a product designer facing a design challenge, for example, try talking to other design friends, or better yet, reach out to an architect or graphic designer – someone who works a little outside of your field and can suggest a non-standard alternative.
4. Get away from the problem
Proactively avoiding the problem may seem counterintuitive, but breakout moments are often the result of this particular time. “No time gives you free cross-fertilization,” says Perkins. In other words, you allow yourself to make new and unfamiliar connections by placing yourself in a new environment.
Lack of time also allows you to regain energy and allows you to think differently. “You’ve forgotten some of the biases that got in the way in the first place,” says Perkins.
Even after trying all of these steps once, you can still get stuck. Try again. “There is no magic bullet. But there is a quiver with arrows. You can take the arrow out of your quiver and see if you can find a place, ”says Perkins. “There is no guarantee that you will solve the problem, but you must try.”
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