Work In Colour - Work. Think. Live. In Colour
Saturday 25th April 2009 | No comments
Have you come across this nifty idea called 'shifting' from a guy called Robert Epstein? He has long been a fan of having groups work together for a while, then shift out of the group to work on the problem individually, then come back together again for another group round, then shift out again, and on it goes.
His experience over many years tells him that if you have two groups working for 15 minutes on brainstorming names for a new soft drink, say, and in one group they stay together for the whole time and in the other they work together for 5 minutes then shift out for 5 minutes and keep working solo, then come back together for 5 minutes, the shifting group will on average come up with twice as many names as the togetherness group.
Why is it so?
Epstein sees 2 things at work here. Firstly, creativity is always an individual spark, although it can be stimulated in a group. Secondly, groups, while a positive creative force in many ways, can stifle creativity - dominant people control proceedings, junior people tend to edit themselves in front of those higher up, a maverick can hijack proceedings for their own agenda...the list goes on and on.
So when you shift in and out, you get the benefits of group stimulation and minimise the downside of group process. It could be worth a try next time you are planning an idea-generating meeting. As Epstein said in a recent interview for Scientific American Mind magazine: 'When people shift, everybody ends up working on the problem.'
Tags: ideas, thinking, creativity, tips
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