{"id":15729,"date":"2018-07-17T10:00:51","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T08:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=15729"},"modified":"2020-02-03T11:03:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T10:03:42","slug":"follow-the-white-rabbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/follow-the-white-rabbit\/","title":{"rendered":"Embrace crazy ideas – This is how to kickstart your team’s creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"

In order to develop creative ideas during a group brainstorm session, you need psychological safety<\/i>. An environment in which participants feel safe to share their ideas, even the silly ones, allowing other team members to build upon these ideas. To encourage your team to share bold ideas, you can use a technique called: \u2018Follow the White Rabbit\u2019.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

At HatRabbits we organize and facilitate many creative sessions. We believe (and see in practice) that everybody is capable of coming up with creative ideas. However, we have also noticed that sometimes people are uncomfortable sharing \u2018wild\u2019 ideas. Some people find it difficult to speak their minds and communicate their novel thoughts. <\/span><\/p>\n

As crazy ideas<\/a><\/span> often lead to the most interesting insights, this reluctance to share unusual thoughts can harm the creative session. That\u2019s why we have developed a technique called \u2018Follow the White Rabbit<\/i>\u2019. A group exercise that forces people to generate and share crazy ideas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Follow the white rabbit<\/span><\/h3>\n

Make sure that the challenge of the brainstorm is visible to everyone. In case you haven’t done it yet, make sure that you challenge is formulated as a ‘How can we…?’ or ‘How might we..?’ question.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hand out a piece of paper to every participant. Make sure that the paper has enough space to write down ideas. Ask the participants to divide the paper into three equal parts. (By folding the paper or by drawing lines.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 1. Write down a crazy idea<\/b><\/h4>\n

Ask all participants to individually (without consultation) write down a ‘crazy idea’ (in the first column) to reach the desired goal. By crazy we mean an idea that is impossible, illegal,\u00a0unethical etc.<\/p>\n

These\u00a0crazy ideas should be unrealistic!\u00a0However, they also need to\u00a0fit the challenge.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Participants should write down 1 idea and then\u00a0slip their piece of paper to their neighbour\u00a0on the right.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

2. Make the idea even crazier<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n

Everyone now has a new piece of paper in front of them, with one strange idea written on it. Ask participants\u00a0to look at their neighbour’s crazy idea and add something to it (in the second column), to make it even crazier.\u00a0The more absurd or funny the ideas, the better. Tell participants to “write down an idea that is so crazy that it will make your neighbour laugh or frown<\/em>.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, participants should write down one idea and then\u00a0hand over their piece of paper to their neighbour\u00a0on the right.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Step 3. Turn the crazy ideas into something feasible<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n

The last step is about turning the crazy ideas into feasible ideas. Everybody now has a crazy idea and a crazier idea that can be used as\u00a0stepping stones to generate creative ideas from.<\/span><\/p>\n

Give\u00a0participants\u00a0a few moments to turn the ideas into something workable. Remind the participants that they should keep the idea’s\u00a0novelty<\/em> when looking for feasibility.<\/p>\n

You might want to hand them a few pieces of advice, such as;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n