Groupthink The Brainstorming Myth Summary

Groupthink: The Brainstorming Myth, written by Jonah Lehrer, explores the idea that true brainstorming (producing ideas with peers in the “absence of criticism and negative feedback” (Lehrer 2)) is less effective and produces fewer ideas than people who work alone and bring their ideas together at a later time. Lehrer implies that the presence of criticism and negative feedback is necessary when working in groups in order to generate ideas. He explains a study where teams of female undergraduates (each given one of three conditions) had to create as many solutions as they could that would reduce the traffic congestion in the San Francisco Bay Area. The team that was allowed to debate and criticize created more good ideas than the brainstorming

During my internship, I was fortunate enough to sit in on a couple of meetings that involved the directors of BISD. During these meetings, which were facilitated by my supervisor, the team of directors had to generate ideas that would streamline the governance board structure. In order to get the most out of the directors, my supervisor used “Compression Planning” as the method of carrying out the meetings. In Compression Planning, the facilitator uses notecards to visualize the background information that is needed, the overall purpose of the project and the meeting, the non-purpose of the meeting, and the ideas that are generated. Furthermore, there is a meter, known as the “Permission Meter,” that is used to enforce how much negative feedback should be used. For example, during the session where the team is purely generating ideas (the “Explore” phase), the Permission Meter is set between 7 and 10, meaning that the team is free to explore any and all ideas with no judgement or criticism. The purpose is just to produce as many ideas in the time allotted. Later in the session, when the team is breaking down the provided ideas (the “Focus” phase), the Permission Meter is set between 1 and 3, meaning that the team should only be criticizing the ideas presented. The purpose is to examine the ideas and create a solution based on