|
A popular way to do creative problem solving is to gather people together in a room for a group problem-solving session. Now that electronic mail is widely available, such group sessions can be conducted without everyone being in a specific place at a specific time.
An obvious advantage of electronic conferencing is that the participants can be in widespread locations such as in different offices within a large corporation.
A less obvious advantage of electronic conferencing is that the slowness of a written discussion matches the slow process of creating effective solutions to especially challenging problems. Specifically, there are opportunities to access subconscious thinking while doing activities such as commuting, going for a walk, showering, and washing dishes (as explained in Tip number 1).
As in face-to-face meetings, creativity can be enhanced by using strategies that reduce judgmental criticism. (Incidentally, in electronic conferences, criticisms are commonly called "flames.")
To avoid wasting participant's time, electronic messages should be limited to the following types of messages (although their type need not be specified):
Notice that these categories exclude judgmental criticisms ("This is a bad idea"), wishing things were different than they are ("If only so-and-so hadn't done such-and-such"), ego strokes ("I was the person who came up with that idea"), and other comments that fail to bring the group closer to solving the problem. (By the way, claiming "ownership" of ideas is additionally unnecessary because the messages can be saved and later analyzed to reveal how a valuable solution emerged.)
It wasn't too long ago that we learned how to talk to answering machines. Now, many people are learning how to participate in weeks-long written exchanges with other people they never see or hear. Such electronic conferencing nicely matches some of the needs of creative problem solving.
Note: If you have access to the Internet "newsgroups" (conferences), check out "misc.creativity".
 List of
tips |
Top
of Page |
Next tip |
© Copyright 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, and 2003 Solutions Through Innovation www.SolutionsCreative.com All rights reserved.