Creativity technique and idea generation method workshop

We have chosen the “Reverse brainstorming method” to generate new ideas and find solutions for every problem. It is often an engaging process, and can highlight hidden faults in a process or product. 

How to use reverse brainstorming:

As the term ‘reverse thinking’ itself suggests, instead of adopting the logical manner of looking at a challenge, you reverse it and think about opposite ideas. For example, instead of asking “How can I get better grades at the university?”, I will ask “How to make sure I get the worst grades possible at the university?”. In most cases, people would find it much easier to produce ideas for the negative idea. 

After you have asked the “negative” question, your team should start brainstorming answers to generate reverse solution ideas and do not reject any answer. The brainstorming session should take 10-15 minutes. 

In our case, the “reversed” solutions for my question would be for example:

• I will never attend the first lesson in the morning

• I watch Netflix shows during classes and not pay attention

When the brainstorming session runs dry, the team should have a long list of the “reverse” solutions and now it is time to look at each one in the list and think about a potential solution.

In our example the possible solutions would be:

• I will start attending the first lessons in the morning

• I am going to stop watching tv shows during classes

The reverse brainstorming method may reveal many improvement ideas and solutions to the problem. Also, the process should be fun for the team and a good change for the ordinary brainstorming method.