Redefine the Problem

One simple technique that can generate fresh thinking is to redefine the problem. The way we express any issue, the form and choice of words we use, sets expectations and constraints. There was an ideas meeting at a manufacturing plant where shop floor workers were asked for their suggestions on how to improve productivity. The response was disappointingly sparse. A little later a similar group was asked to brainstorm the challenge 'how can we make your job easier?' The result was a flood of good ideas. Most of the ideas that came out were fundamentally productivity improvement ideas. By changing the question and giving it a different focus results were transformed.

If you have laboured with an issue for a while then stop and ask the group to redefine the problem using none of the original words. Say for example we are an insurance company and the initial challenge is 'How can we improve company brand awareness?' Now everyone, working silently, has to express the same aim in different words. The aim is not to find slavish synonyms but to express the essential goal or meaning in a new way. So people might suggest the following:

• Get more people to know us.
• Make customers think of us first.
• Get drivers to think of us before they have an accident.
• Double the number of people who call our number.
• Be the first choice for insurance companies.
• Be the first recommendation of brokers.
• When people think insurance they think of our name first.
• Be in front of people.
• Make our name the best known of local businesses.

In this process there is no 'right answer.' Each reforming of the issue gives a different perspective. We could now select some of the most promising and brainstorm them. For instance one group might consider, 'How can we get customers to think of us first?' Another group might use as the starting point, 'How can we be the first recommendation of brokers?' Because each group has a different focus for its idea generation they are likely to come up with different ideas.

The words we use matter. By starting with different words we give the brain a different approach path towards the issue.

Paul Sloane facilitates workshops on creativity and innovation.

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