When ideas cease to flow, the use of ‘crazy’ ideas can inspire far sighted, original possibly ingenious concepts, possible methods:
Free Association
Free association contains elements of several other idea-generating techniques and depends on a mental ‘stream of consciousness’ and network of associations of which there are two:
Serial association, start with a trigger, you record the flow of ideas that come to mind, each idea triggering the next, ultimately reaching a potentially useful one.
Centred association, (which is close to classical brainstorming) prompts you to generate multiple associations to the original trigger so that you ‘delve’ into a particular area of associations.
As a rule the serial mode is used to ‘travel’ until you find an idea that you find of some interest, you then engage the centred mode to ‘delve’ more deeply around the interesting item. Once you have exhausted the centred investigation, you being to ‘travel’ again, and so on. Three hints:
Suspend judgement. Try not to repress your natural flow of thoughts. Unusual ideas, that may seem ‘off the wall’ are perfectly acceptable, such as:
- Rude ideas
- ‘Not you’
- ‘Silly’
- ‘Taboo’
- ‘Unethical’
- ‘Tactless’
- ‘Politically incorrect’
They are acceptable because they are thoughts you generally suppress; they could be an alternative starting point promoting all sorts of possibilities. Undoubtedly and ‘open’ strategy requires a ‘safe’ environment where the use of a variety of material is fully recognised and understood. Friendly laughter can be a breathtaking cure for any passing awkwardness that free-expression may cause!
Follow the intriguing and look for ideas that attract your attention as particularly strong, intriguing, surprising, etc. even if they don’t seem instantly appropriate to your problem. This attraction frequently signals links to a useful set of associations, and so could possibly justify a further phase of centred free association around the ‘attractive’ idea.
Use solution-oriented phrasing. The idea ‘blue’ is not much use as it stands. However, when transformed into a phrases such as:
- ‘Could we colour it blue?’
- ‘In what ways might I make it ‘blue?’
- ‘I wish it were ‘bluer’
- ‘How might it help it if were bluer’?’
Makes the idea ‘blue’ potentially a more useful one.
Bunches of Bananas
The Bunches of bananas technique is one of lateral thinking, reducing excessive left-brain attention (which may be fuelling a mind set). There are people that instinctively liven up a sluggish meeting by being provocative, or ‘throwing in a bunch of bananas’. Here are some tips:
- Consider the mood and atmosphere: are there any signs of ‘stuckness, sluggishness, and inertia’?
- What could you say or do to assist the group out of that state of ‘stuckness’. Create ‘bunches of bananas’ to suit your own character and style.
- Bear in mind in mind that you are engaging in a ‘whole-brain’ activity. Just as with a comedian, it is as much the delivery as the idea, which brings about the effect.
- If the group is inexperienced, the approach may have to be appropriately signaled: ‘I know this is going to sound a little crazy, but bear with me a minute or so. Sometime you can get out of a rut in the most unexpected ways…’
- For example, a group wanting to market goods from the UK to Australia exhausted all the obvious possibilities and seemed to be ‘stuck’. Then someone said:
- ‘We don’t seem to be getting very far. What I’d like to do would be to find a product that every Australian sheep would be clamouring to buy’.
- Although this comment could have been met with disapproval or polite silence, the timing of his ‘bunch of bananas’ was just right and someone picked up the idea:
- ‘Sheep? Oh, you mean for us find large numbers of customers who can be influenced easily. Perhaps we have been concentrating too hard on too few clients’.
- The discussion this idea triggered, eventually led to a new product being marketed to Australia.
- 'Bunches of bananas’ can come in a variety of forms – any well placed joke or image that captures attention when appropriate. The simple use of Random Stimuli of Various Kinds can often have the same effect.
In many ways, the actual content of the intervention is not important. It is concerned more with mood than with correctness of content, although it does involve some risk and uncertainty, as you can never foresee the consequence the intervention will have.
