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The controversial Foreign Office memo about the Pope was the result of a brainstorm among junior staff. But how do you harvest the best creative ideas while keeping a check on the too outlandish?
An abundance of marker pens, sticky notes and whiteboards in the office usually means one thing - it's time to brainstorm, to "think outside the box", let one's creative juices flow, join an "ideas shower".
In the neophiliac world of management jargon the concept of brainstorming has near elder statesman status.
A brainstorm is a session in which a small group of people is brought together to solve a problem by voicing spontaneous ideas. It doesn't matter how unusual or eccentric those ideas are - convention holds that dismissing a suggestion can stymie a group's creative dynamic.
It's a rule that might explain the results of a leaked Foreign Office memo concerning the Pope's visit to the UK.
In the memo, which was the result of a brainstorm between three or four junior civil servants, it was suggested the Pope could bless a gay marriage or open an abortion clinic. The Foreign Office has since apologised over the paper's contents.
Brainstorming was popularised in the 1940s by American advertising boss Alex F Osborn - who defined it as "using the brain to storm a creative problem - and do so in commando fashion, with each stormer attacking the same objective".
Mr Osborn believed it was "easier to tone down a wild idea than to think up a new one", and placed an emphasis on the quantity of ideas over discretion and judicial thinking.
Giggly party
Seventy years on, it is still relevant says marketing professor Tony Proctor.
"Formal meetings don't always produce results whereas a brainstorming session can liven things up and help people think in different ways," he says. "You are trying to get into the subconscious levels of what people are thinking."
An air of informality is crucial, says fellow professor Tudor Rickards, who likens a brainstorm to a convivial social gathering.
"It's a bit like going to a party and having a giggly atmosphere and people opening up a bit," says Prof Rickards, an expert in creativity and management.
Another advocate is Patrick Milenuszkin, creative director of the Extreme Sports Company, who runs brainstorming sessions to come up with new product ideas for his company.
He stands by the mantra that "there is no such thing as a stupid suggestion", and stresses the importance of people being allowed to speak up without a fear of being shot down.
But, as the Foreign Office example perhaps proves, there are perils to this "anything goes" approach.
For Prof Proctor, there is an important distinction between hastily shouted-out ideas which are drawn up on a whiteboard, and those which make it to the next stage of a creative process.
Low emotional content
"At the end of the day," he cautions, "you don't implement ideas which are detrimental."
And for Mr Milenuszkin, a brainstorming session should not equal creative anarchy.
"It is a social setting and it does need to be free and easy environment but you still need to conform to certain social sensitivities. You're not going to say things you wouldn't say in a normal work environment."
Purists might disagree, as it is the freeness of thought which they would argue promotes the best ideas.
But the problem, suggests Prof Rickards, could be down to the subject matter of the session.
When brainstorming first emerged, it was widely used in the technical industries such as engineering and manufacturing, says Prof Rickards. These are areas with "low emotional content".
Where it can get tricky is when you're talking about social issues, and things with high personal content, he says.
"What's needed in those cases is a very skilled moderator or facilitator. If you don't have that it can become infantile and some psychologists say that a team can regress to a more infantile state."
And not everyone is signed up to the benefits of the theory.
Recent research from Texas A&M University suggested that rather than stimulate creativity, brainstorms actually stifled it.
The researchers said that "fixation to other people's ideas can occur unconsciously and lead to you suggesting ideas that mimic your brainstorming partners. Thus, you potentially become less creative".
Add your comments on this story, Click here to add comments..
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
An abundance of marker pens, sticky notes and whiteboards in the office usually means one thing - it's time to brainstorm, to "think outside the box", let one's creative juices flow, join an "ideas shower". In the neophiliac world of management jargon the concept of brainstorming has near elder statesman status.
A brainstorm is a session in which a small group of people is brought together to solve a problem by voicing spontaneous ideas. It doesn't matter how unusual or eccentric those ideas are - convention holds that dismissing a suggestion can stymie a group's creative dynamic.
It's a rule that might explain the results of a leaked Foreign Office memo concerning the Pope's visit to the UK.
In the memo, which was the result of a brainstorm between three or four junior civil servants, it was suggested the Pope could bless a gay marriage or open an abortion clinic. The Foreign Office has since apologised over the paper's contents.
Brainstorming was popularised in the 1940s by American advertising boss Alex F Osborn - who defined it as "using the brain to storm a creative problem - and do so in commando fashion, with each stormer attacking the same objective".
Mr Osborn believed it was "easier to tone down a wild idea than to think up a new one", and placed an emphasis on the quantity of ideas over discretion and judicial thinking.
Giggly party
Seventy years on, it is still relevant says marketing professor Tony Proctor.
"Formal meetings don't always produce results whereas a brainstorming session can liven things up and help people think in different ways," he says. "You are trying to get into the subconscious levels of what people are thinking."
An air of informality is crucial, says fellow professor Tudor Rickards, who likens a brainstorm to a convivial social gathering.
"It's a bit like going to a party and having a giggly atmosphere and people opening up a bit," says Prof Rickards, an expert in creativity and management.
Another advocate is Patrick Milenuszkin, creative director of the Extreme Sports Company, who runs brainstorming sessions to come up with new product ideas for his company.
He stands by the mantra that "there is no such thing as a stupid suggestion", and stresses the importance of people being allowed to speak up without a fear of being shot down.
But, as the Foreign Office example perhaps proves, there are perils to this "anything goes" approach.
For Prof Proctor, there is an important distinction between hastily shouted-out ideas which are drawn up on a whiteboard, and those which make it to the next stage of a creative process.
Low emotional content
"At the end of the day," he cautions, "you don't implement ideas which are detrimental."
And for Mr Milenuszkin, a brainstorming session should not equal creative anarchy. "It is a social setting and it does need to be free and easy environment but you still need to conform to certain social sensitivities. You're not going to say things you wouldn't say in a normal work environment."
Purists might disagree, as it is the freeness of thought which they would argue promotes the best ideas.
But the problem, suggests Prof Rickards, could be down to the subject matter of the session.
When brainstorming first emerged, it was widely used in the technical industries such as engineering and manufacturing, says Prof Rickards. These are areas with "low emotional content".
Where it can get tricky is when you're talking about social issues, and things with high personal content, he says.
"What's needed in those cases is a very skilled moderator or facilitator. If you don't have that it can become infantile and some psychologists say that a team can regress to a more infantile state."
And not everyone is signed up to the benefits of the theory.
Recent research from Texas A&M University suggested that rather than stimulate creativity, brainstorms actually stifled it.
The researchers said that "fixation to other people's ideas can occur unconsciously and lead to you suggesting ideas that mimic your brainstorming partners. Thus, you potentially become less creative".
Add your comments on this story, Click here to add comments..
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.