Brainstorming & Solving problems

Should people be honest? Of course, the answer has to be yes! But the fact is, there are often good reasons not to be honest. When it comes to interacting with other people in a work environment, there are times when we choose not to say what we really think.

That creates a dilemma. The only way to get a grip on the facts, issues, and nuances we need to solve problems and collaborate effectively is by communicating fully and openly, by not withholding or misleading.

Our decision-making is better if we are able to draw on the collective knowledge and unvarnished opinions of the group. But our own fears and instincts for self-preservation often cause us to hold back.

Replace honesty with candor. They are not so different. Candor is forthrightness and frankness. The word communicates not just truth-telling but a lack of reserve. Everyone knows that sometimes, being reserved is healthy, even necessary for survival. Nobody thinks that being less than candid makes you a bad person (while no one wants to be called dishonest). People will have an easier time talking about their level of candor because they don't think that they will be punished for admitting that they sometimes hold their tongues. This is essential. You cannot address the obstacles to candor until people feel free to say that they exist.

So how can a manager ensure that his or her working group, department, or company is embracing candor?

The premise is simple: Put smart, passionate people in a room together, charge them with identifying and solving problems, and encourage them to be candid with one another. People feel freer when asked for their candor; they have a choice about whether to give it, and thus, when they do give it, it tends to be genuine. Without candor, there can be no trust. And without trust, creative collaboration is not possible.

Let's imagine that you just joined a Brainstorm meeting for the first time and sat down in a room full of smart and experienced people to discuss any problem.

Before you speak up, no matter how self-assured you are, you will check yourself: "Is this a good idea or a stupid one?" It is not that you want to be dishonest or to withhold from others. At this point, you aren't even thinking about candor. You are thinking about not looking like an idiot.

Everyone is asking the same question; societal conditioning discourages telling the truth to those perceived to be in higher positions. Then, there's human nature.

Why brainstorming is so crucial to problem solving?

People who take on complicated creative projects become lost at some point in the process. In order to create, you must internalize and almost become the project for a while, and that near-fusing with the project is an essential part of its emergence. But it is also confusing. The details converge to obscure the whole, and that makes it difficult to move forward substantially in any one direction. That creates a problem for those who seek to give helpful feedback.

How do you get someone to adress a problem he or she cannot see? The answer depends on the situation. No matter what, the process of coming to clarity takes patience and candor.

You try and create an environment where people want to hear each other's notes, even when those notes are challenging, and where everyone has a vested interest in one another's success. Give your leaders both freedom and responsibility. Then, knowing that they can be blinded in the process offer them to have a brainstorm meeting whenever necessary.

How can we make this different from any other feedback mechanism?

First, make a group of people with a deep understanding of the process you are dealing with. The project leader or manager will particularly prize feedback from fellow leaders and managers.

Second, this feedback has no authority. The team does not have to follow any of the specific suggestions given. These are not top-down meetings. By removing the power of mandate solutions, we affect the dynamics of the group in ways which are essential. These meetings are intended to bring the true causes of problems to the surface, not to demand a specific remedy. Our solution won't be as good as the one the project leader an his or her group comes up with.

This way you ensure the team rise their game not by being prescriptive but by offering candor and deep analysis.

The pain of being told that flaws are apparent or revisions are needed should be minimized. This principle eludes most people, but is critical: You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged. To set up a healthy feedback system, you must remove power dynamics from the equation. Focus on the problem, not the person.

Candor is only valuable if the person on the receiving end is open to it and willing, if necessary, to let go of things that don't work.

It is natural for people to fear that such an inherently critical environment will feel threatening and unpleasant. The key is to look at the viewpoints being offered, in any successful feedback group, as additive, not competitive. A competitive approach measures other ideas against your own, turning the discussion into a debate to be won or lost. An additive approach, on the other hand, starts with the understanding that each participant contributes something. This is valuable because it broadens your perspective, allowing you to peer through others' eyes.

When constructive criticism is a good note?

1. A good note says what is wrong, what is missing, what isn't clear, what makes no sense.
2. A good note is offered at a timely moment, not too late to fix the problem.
3. A good note doesn't make demands; it doesn't even have to include a proposed fix. But if it does, that fix is offered only to illustrate a potential solution, not to prescribe an answer.
4. A good note is specific.

There is a difference between criticism and constructive criticism. With the latter, you are constructing at the same time you are criticizing. You are building as you are breaking down, making new pieces to work with out of the stuff you have just ripped apart. That's an art form in itself. Whatever note you are giving should inspire the recipient.

Telling the truth is difficult, but is the only way to ensure excellence.

Candor isn't cruel. It does not destroy. On the contrary, any successful feedback system is built on empathy, on the idea that we are all in this together, that we understand your pain because we have experienced it ourselves. Every note we give is in the service of a common goal: Supporting and helping each other as we try to do a better job.

It would be a mistake to think that merely gathering a bunch of people in a room for a candid discussion every couple of months will automatically cure your company's ill.

1. It takes a while for any group to develop the level of trust necessary to be truly candid
2. Even the best group can't help people who don't understand this philosophy, who refuse to hear criticism without getting defensive, or who don't have the talent to digest feedback, reset, and start again.
3. This branch of your culture evolves over time. It is not something you do once and then check off your to-do list. Watch and protect it continually, making adaptations if needed.

You can and you should make your own solution group

The people you choose must:

1. Make you think smarter
2. Put lots of solutions on the table in a short amount of time.

It doesn't matter who it is, the janitor, or the intern or one of your most trusted lieutenants: if they can help you do that, they should be at the table. Seek out people who are willing to level with you, and when you find them, hold them close.