Don Foreman and Pete Keillor have already presented excellent
recommendations. Let's look at some of the starting assumptions:

1. This is a group-think approach - everyone leaves their title and
authority at the door. Pulling rank stifles creativity.
2. The hard facts and the negotiable concerns are written on a board
where all can see. There will be no surprises at the end to kill an
otherwise good idea.
3. Courtesy and respect are obviously present. There are no "crazy"
ideas. Just write them down and move on. Each speaker has a time limit
and is not interrupted unless they choose to invite another person to
speak.
4. There's always a contrarian in the crowd. That's usually me.
Questions as to why something has to be done a certain way. Just like
a person's first day on the job. Question assumptions.
5. There is a moderator/facilitator for the discussion and it's not a
manager. It's someone who has that skill to ensure that each has his
say but no more.
6. Closure is essential. The ideas presented and the ones selected are
written and all participants get a copy. The attendees are listed. It
is a form of "recognition" for their participation.

A truly great discussion is the result of polite presentation of
apparently conflicting ideas that ends with consensus. I realize that
personalities and egos are at stake. Those get left at the door as
well. A person is not "bad" for making a suggestion or asking a
question that does not work. Just keep a time limit on it.

Tom

On Fri, 5 Sep 2008 00:24:26 -0400, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:

On one of my recent posts, you kind people pointed out that there are many
ways of doing something. Simple observations are often the most profound.
I'm not a master at being able to see a problem from different angles and
visualize different solutions. It seems that some parts of one idea affect
another so the ideas are not independent, not "clean" and compartmentalized.
I met with my guys today and discussed if we could figure out how to think
about different ways of doing things we are developing. I want multiple
solutions presented and thinking out of the box. It seems there is always a
brute-force method of doing something yet the "other" idea, the one that
springs into existence at the odd hour, is often better, cheaper and more
elegant. How do you attract those "other" ideas?

Is there a method or exercises to develop creative thinking? Cutting metal
and drilling holes is the easy part, how do you completely forget an idea in
order to "see" a new idea? This may come easily for an intelligent person
but I struggle with my mental limitations.

---- Posted via Pronews.com - Premium Corporate Usenet News Provider ----
http://www.pronews.com offers corporate packages that have access to 100,000+ newsgroups