3 Ways Criticism Can Help You
Dave Buzanko
Business Development Leader | TEDx Speaker | Ironman Triathlete | Resilience SME
16%...That's a BIG Number
According to a study by MIT, that’s the increase in the number of ideas generated by groups encouraged to criticize one another’s ideas during brainstorming sessions compared with teams that were told to withhold criticism.
Here's the Challenge:
This number only holds up in cooperative contexts.
In a competitive context, groups whose participants criticize one another's ideas generate fewer and less creative ones. Most brainstorming sessions take place in environments with a mixture of these characteristics, yet if facilitators can create a perception of cooperation and mutual interest or benefit during a brainstorming exercise, criticism can be a boon to creativity.
According to McKinsey, in brainstorming sessions, people may hold back for a variety of reasons, such as feeling pressured to conform to a group consensus, wanting to avoid conflict or judgment of their ideas, or trying to maintain a perception of authority. People with social anxiety or those with more introverted personalities may also be less inclined to participate actively, finding it difficult to get a word in or needing more time to react to others’ contributions.
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3 Ways Facilitators Can Create a Perception of Cooperation:
As a speaker, I frequently use the app Kahoot to poll my audience using their smart phones as a form of Blind Voting. The same app can be used in a corporate brainstorming session to uncover the real truth about how people feel in real time. Finding ways to be more inclusive and ask better questions will lead to a more robust discussion. Critical feedback will feel less confrontational using a Kahoot Word Cloud to highlight risks anonymously. In this way you are being critical of words and ideas, not the person speaking up.
Blind Voting is also a great way to survey your employees about how they really feel about return to office options.
Creating resilience in the workplace happens when you take a group of confident and competent people and provide them with the psychologically safe environment they need to thrive and feel heard in a respectful way.
How have you been creating a perception of inclusiveness, psychological safety, and cooperation in your brainstorm meetings?
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Empowering HR & Operations Team Leaders to Drive Successful Change | Boost Engagement & Innovation for Sustainable Growth | 15+ Yrs. Supporting Organisational Change & Professional Transitions | Executive Coach, Trainer
2 年Great article Dave Buzanko. I'm assuming these techniques are carried out once the initial brainstorming has occurred using divergent / creative thinking techniques to open up the ideas? Then once we have the ideas we go through the process you described above - as critiquing ideas too early may shut down that creativity. I love the bind polling; I use Mentimeter myself. I find it interesting that you use the word "'creating a perception of' inclusiveness, psychological safety, and cooperation in your brainstorm meetings?" It starts with perception but surely we have to make these conditions a reality in order to create a creative, resilient workplace?
Business Development Leader | TEDx Speaker | Ironman Triathlete | Resilience SME
2 年Thanks for the post like Maxine. Congratulations on the home sale. Good luck with the new house hunt.