How to help adults become more divergent in brainstorming...

In my quest to discover more about the importance of creativity in our classrooms, I've continued to explore how to help more adults become divergent thinkers. As I explored previously, divergent thinking should not just be reserved for our students. As educators, we must be pushed to think more divergently as well.

Dianne Reese, a learning designer, identifies four basic guidelines for divergent thinking which can used with adults or our students:

"Deferring judgement" allows ideas to float. When a fellow educator or administrator has an idea, let it float. Perhaps, at first glance, an educator or administrator's idea has been done before, has failed, seems time-consuming, outlandish, etc - let it float for awhile. Maybe the idea seems brilliant, again, let it float. When ideas are given without any immediate judgement, true brainstorming can occur and lead in new directions. To be divergent can be regarded as 'outside the box' - don't guard the walls of the box when someone has an idea.

When we encourage a multitude of ideas (without praising or criticizing) we swing a wide net. This is the idea of saying "Yes, and?" to each idea that comes up at the discussion or meeting. For some, this is exhausting, and they will want to narrow their scope. Don't let them - allow ideas to keep coming, encourage more by following the first guideline and eliminating judgement. This can take some practice, even my 7th graders hesitate to share ideas because of judgement, so imagine what added years of having ideas shot down can do to an adult.

As ideas float, and you encourage the multitudes, encourage wider scopes. Allow the strange and unusual to invade. It may be uncomfortable, odd, and at times, seem silly, but remember to reserve judgement! A friend of mine just asked his to students to brainstorm problems around the school in class, and while concerns about lunches and recess were expressed, the range went as wide as problems with single-ply toilet paper and the coarseness of the tissues. At first, potty humor might seem odd or inappropriate -but is it so strange to point out that the single-ply TP in the school bathrooms is an issue at times? ;-) Let the discussion go north, south, east, and west, underground and overhead. The stranger, the better - to get outside the obvious, you might need to loosen the administrator tie, take off the suit coat, and just let it get out and out weird.

Once all ideas are brought to the table - what connections can be made? How can ideas build on one another? I'm sure in the previous example regarding the toilet paper, that whomever brought up the concern about the single-ply immediately led someone to comment on the coarseness of tissues, and in turn, realize the quality of some of the toiletry consumables seems to be lacking - truly identifying a larger issue that can be addressed. It is important to let ideas build.

All of this means one thing - time. There has been a great push for shorter meetings, but it is important to evaluate the purpose of meetings. If the meeting is meant as a brainstorm and trouble-shoot, allot more time for ideas to be given, and don't leap to the most quickly identified problem or shoot down one member's idea or boost another. Sit back, nod, let the ideas float, keep asking for more, ask for strange, and let the ideas build. This might be a simple task in a room full of preschool students and kindergartners, imagine how much more difficult it becomes as students age, then imagine how challenging this can be for some adults. This fade is something Ken Robinson points out education may be doing to children... so shouldn't we kill this creative fade from the top down?