The Management Tip of the Day

It's Actually Helpful to Criticize Ideas When You're Brainstorming.‌ You've probably heard that when you're brainstorming, criticizing others' ideas will kill creativity and enthusiasm. But the truth is, when done right, criticism can encourage collaboration and help your team get to better ideas. Here's how. If you see a weakness in something a colleague has proposed, don't simply say, "This will never work." Acknowledge their idea, explain the problem with it, and then propose an improvement. Someone else should do the same for your suggestion, and then another colleague should do the same for theirs. Similarly, when you like someone's idea, don't just say, "Great suggestion!" and take it as-is. Look for ways to collectively build on the idea and make it even better. This kind of constructive interaction can create a deep cycle of critical feedback that leads to breakthroughs. That's why you're brainstorming, after all — to get to great ideas together. Today’s Tip  It's Actually Helpful to Criticize Ideas When You're Brainstorming You've probably heard that when you're brainstorming, criticizing others' ideas will kill creativity and enthusiasm. But the truth is, when done right, criticism can encourage collaboration and help your team get to better ideas. Here's how. If you see a weakness in something a colleague has proposed, don't simply say, "This will never work." Acknowledge their idea, explain the problem with it, and then propose an improvement. Someone else should do the same for your suggestion, and then another colleague should do the same for theirs. Similarly, when you like someone's idea, don't just say, "Great suggestion!" and take it as-is. Look for ways to collectively build on the idea and make it even better. This kind of constructive interaction can create a deep cycle of critical feedback that leads to breakthroughs. That's why you're brainstorming, after all — to get to great ideas together. This tip is adapted from “Why Criticism Is Good for Creativity,” by Roberto Verganti and Don Norman Access the very best. With a HBR subscription, you'll get access to 50 of our best-selling articles and a wealth of content and resources, written by the world's leading business minds. View our subscription options Article What Makes a Leader by Daniel Goleman Skills and smarts matter, but emotional intelligence matters more. Subscribers have exclusive access to this and other leadership classics in our 50 best-selling articles collection. Become a better leader Book Good Charts Workbook: Tips Tools, and Exercises for Making Better Data Visualizations by Scott Berinato $35 Learn more Don’t forget you’re entitled to 20% off your first purchase* *Use promo code HBRORGREG3 View in browser Contact us Privacy policy Unsubscribe

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