Tools for Working with Ideas

Most of the value in a team’s work lies in the ideas and insights it generates during a project. The tools presented in this section are meant to help your team generate, organize, and prioritize ideas. The following are tips for consideration when using these tools.

• All teams need brainstorming, which is the most common type of idea-generating discussion.
• Affinity diagrams are helpful to organize a large set of ideas after a brainstorming session, when analyzing product features, customer comments, etc.
• Multi-voting is helpful when you have more ideas than your team can handle and need to identify priorities or narrowing down alternatives.

The tools listed below provide an overview, tips, example, template, and a short explainer video.

Brainstorming

A technique used to provide a group with a wide range of ideas around any topic in a short period of time. Designed to stimulate the creative thinking process, it helps make sure diverse ideas from all group members are considered.

Instructions:

• Introduce the problem you are trying to solve (e.g., create a new process, solve a customer issue, etc.)
• Clarify the goal/question and provide any relevant information.
• Set some ground rules for the brainstorming session to establish expectations and let the session run smoothly, i.e., let individuals complete their thoughts, etc.
• Assign a team member or invite an impartial facilitator to help guide the session along and keep track of time.
• Give everyone a few minutes of silence to think about the question and individually write down some ideas:
  • Have people write down ideas on self-stick notes or cards (one idea per card).
  • Encourage creativity – no idea is too outrageous for brainstorming.
• Gather ideas:
  • Do a round robin, where people state one idea at a time, or do an open “popcorn,” where anyone can speak up at any time.
  • Capture every idea – if ideas are written on self-stick notes, post them on the wall, board, or flip chart; have each person read one idea aloud so a scribe can write it up on a flip chart; post the ideas on a blank cause-and-effect diagram, if doing cause analysis.
  • Do not allow discussion until after all ideas are gathered (only allow questions of clarification).
  • It is okay for people to write down or add new ideas sparked during the sharing session (make sure the new idea is captured both on the flip chart and on a self-stick note).
  • Continue until everyone is out of ideas.
• Consolidate similar ideas and discuss the complete set of ideas. Use other tools as appropriate (use affinity diagrams to find patterns or use multi-voting to narrow down and prioritize ideas).

Tips:

• Encourage quantity (not necessarily quality) in the early rounds.
• Build on existing ideas.
• Organize, categorize, and evaluate only after the brainstorming session.
• Don’t criticize ideas or make judgments as ideas are being offered.
• Make sure everyone is able to participate; don’t allow any one person to dominate the session.
• If you are running virtual brainstorming sessions, see some tips here.

Brainstorming Template

Brainstorming Example

Affinity Diagram

An affinity diagram (also called affinity chart, affinity mapping, K-J Method, thematic analysis) organizes a large number of ideas, facts, opinions or issues into natural groups and relationships to help diagnose a complex situation or find common themes. It is the organized output from a brainstorming session, whereby after generating ideas, you group them according to their affinity, or similarity.

A technique used to provide a group with a wide range of ideas around any topic in a short period of time. Designed to stimulates the creative thinking process, it helps make sure diverse ideas from all group members are considered.

Instructions:

• Gather ideas from a brainstorming session, customer need statements from interviews, surveys, etc.
• Write ideas on cards or self-stick notes (one idea per card; stay as close to original language as possible) or use the self-stick notes from the brainstorming session, if available.
• Post self-stick notes randomly on a board or flip chart; if using cards, place them randomly on a tabletop.
• Allow people to silently start grouping the cards or notes.
  • It is OK to move notes or cards that someone else has already moved. If you cannot agree on where an idea belongs, write a duplicate note and put it in both groups.
  • Silence is critical.
• When the clustering is done, create a “header” label (on a note or a card) for each group.
  • Work through the groups one at a time.
  • Ask participants to interpret what they see.
  • Ask them to suggest a label or key theme for that group.
  • Write the theme on a larger self-stick note or card (the “header”) and place it at the top of the cluster.
• Optional: do a second round of clustering by moving the headers into groups, creating “master” header labels for the larger clusters.
• Complete the diagram and discuss the results. How will the patterns you’ve found influence your actions?

Tips:

• Use an affinity diagram when information about a problem is not well organized or a breakthrough is needed beyond traditional thinking.
• Assign a group leader for the activity can be helpful.
• Stating the problem in the form of a question (“What are the barriers to on-time delivery of medications?”) can often prove useful.
• Let the categories figure themselves out organically. Don’t force yourself into pre-decided categories.
• Give yourself enough space. Find the biggest wall you can find. If you have a lot of data, you will want a lot of space.

Affinity Diagram Template

Affinity Diagram Example

Six Thinking Hats

Developed by Edward De Bono, this structured approach offers different color “thinking hats,” symbolizing different perspectives or roles we can adopt to facilitate and promote creative thinking, team communication, process improvement, and organizational change.

Instructions:

• Learn how to separate thinking into six clear functions and roles. Each thinking role is identified with a colored symbolic “thinking hat.” By mentally wearing and switching “hats,” you can easily focus or redirect thoughts, the conversation, or the meeting:
  • The White Hat is the factual hat; when wearing it we are concerned with just the facts and objective information, data.
  • The Black Hat is the judge hat, or the critic’s hat; when wearing it, we focus on risks, difficulties, challenges, issues, what may not work.
  • The Green Hat is the creative hat; when we adopt it, we unleash creativity, alternatives, new ideas, forward thinking.
  • The Yellow Hat is the hat of the optimist; with this hat, we see benefits, advantages, positive outcomes.
  • The Red Hat is the hat of the heart and emotions; with it, we are focused on feelings, intuition, what our gut is telling us.
  • The Blue Hat is the conductor hat or director hat; with it, we are focused on conclusions, summaries, next steps, defining things.

Tips:

• Use the hats in different ways or order in a meeting or discussion. For example, you can have a moderator wearing the blue hat in a discussion, or you can systematically approach a topic wearing a particular color hat individually or as a group, and then switch your perspective to a different color hat to examine the issue at hand from a different perspective. For example, you may start by using a green hat to generate ideas but then use the black hat to examine their feasibility. Or you can start with the facts and the white hat and then employ the yellow hat to see the advantages and possibilities in a situation. ​Or, you can ask questions wearing a particular color hat, thus exploring an issue from different perspectives.
• Apply the Six Thinking Hats process to facilitate and promote team productivity and communication, creative and innovative thinking, product and process improvement, organizational change and performance, etc.

Six Thinking Hats Template

Six Thinking Hats Example