So now comes the fun part, brainstorming.
There are some rules of brainstorming and we'll start with the first, deferred judgment.
We don't like to judge anyone's idea while they're
brainstorming and in brainstorming mode because it shuts down our ideas.
And how many times have you been sitting around a table,
at a meeting and you bring up a great idea that you think is very creative or innovative,
and other people say to you,
"That'll never work here" or,
"We don't have time for that" or,
"We don't have the money to do that".
Brainstorming rules allow for everyone's idea to be accepted. So no judgment.
Also, we like to build off the ideas of others
and ensure that we say our idea out loud as
we're writing these on a post-it note and putting them up on
a flip chart or on a foam cork board or on a whiteboard,
we like to build off the ideas of others.
Yes/and, is a great phrase to ensure that we're building off of the ideas of others.
We like to stay focused on the topic.
It's really not the time to start thinking about what you're going to do on the weekend.
We want to stay in this brainstorming mode because we're
really moving into that divergent space again,
so that we can then converge on one or two ideas that we can actually go after.
And one conversation at a time.
We really want to keep this brainstorming,
so that it's controllable,
and we can be able to build off the ideas of others.
We like to encourage wild ideas.
A great mentor and colleague of mine likes to say that every brainstorming session should
have at least one idea that's impractical, illegal, and immoral.
So we like to be visual as well in our brainstorm.
Perhaps you can sketch your idea or take a picture of your idea,
and put that up on
the brainstorming board as you're brainstorming your solutions as well.
We like to go for quantity.
Every brainstorming session that lasts 10 minutes
should have at least 30 ideas up on the board,
so that you had then been able to go out into that wild space,
out to that space,
where just when you think you're finished,
you come up with another idea.
Because in every wild idea,
there's some element that we can try or test.
So go for quantity.
The brainstorming phase, again,
is a very divergent process,
but then we lead into the idea where we converge on the idea that we want to go after.
So let's take a look now at what brainstorming really looks like.
For successful brainstorming,
we usually anchor the brainstorm with a how might we question.
The how might we question ensures that we don't have
a brainstorm that's too broad or too narrow.
So, I'd like to practice brainstorming some how might we questions now.
Would anyone like to be our scribe?
Thank you, David.
So how might we use existing hospital protocol to better help adhere to hand hygiene?
How might we use past experiences?
I thought about how might we use friendly competition to motivate.
That's a good one.
Now, let's look at how you go back and converge on one idea to actually develop.
So now that we've come up with
all these great ideas it's time to choose one for prototyping.
So the process we'll use here is called a note and vote.
So each of you will get three stickers here
and I'd like you to designate one of your ideas as either your first choice,
your second choice, or your third choice.
That's great.
Yep, I agree.
So it appears after our note and vote the group has
decided that the best idea we've come up with is to turn
the existing hand sanitizer dispenser into a game to motivate hand hygiene.
And after some discussion about whether or not that, in fact,
was the best idea,
it seems like we're going to prototype that one.
As we're brainstorming, we really don't like to be constrained.
But it's important that as you're choosing
your ideas to further develop that you are thinking about
your error reduction strategy and your strategy
to be able to move as high up on this forcing function as you can.
So, as you're choosing your solutions to actually develop,
you want to be thoughtful about choosing
solutions that really move you to the top of this continuum.
Bob Hody
