Brainstorming often involves sitting in a room and talking, which pushes people toward solutions that are easy to talk about. To expand the scope of your team’s thinking, try a different approach: ask your team to draw their ideas. There are several reasons why drawing is helpful. First, it’s hard for people to describe spatial relationships, so any solution that requires a spatial layout is better described with pictures than with words. Second, a large amount of the brain is devoted to visual processing, so sketching and interpreting drawings involves those brain regions in idea generation. Third, it is often difficult to describe processes purely in words, so diagrams are helpful. Don’t worry if you lack artistic talent: Studies have shown that a misinterpreted drawing can serendipitously lead to new ideas.
Adapted from "Your Team Is Brainstorming All Wrong," by Art Markman
