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Thinking Pool
An easy creativity technique based on simple brainstorming, in the thinking pool, team members write down their individual ideas, which are then passed around. The team can then use each others' ideas as inspiration for more ideas. The first batch of suggestions becomes a "pool" from which new ideas and connections may emerge. This technique is also called "Brain Writing."
In the Thinking Pool, you can easily constrain the process to a more focused area of attention versus the "wide open spaces" of general brainstorming by providing the first batch of suggestions yourself, centered on a main concept or theme. Further ideas should relate to these original thoughts. So one advantage of the Thinking Pool is that you can more quickly narrow your focus and push most of your creative energy in one direction.
Action Steps.
- Define the parameters. What area do you want to brainstorm? Decide ahead of time how specific your area of concentration needs to be at the start.
- Don't accept thing singles. To encourage pool thinking, initially reject the original ideas unless two are more are attached. Let the group find value in the combination of ideas versus their isolated thoughts.
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