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5. • Practical Combinations - Part 1

Probably the greatest potential for the various group techniques lies in making intelligent adaptations and combinations of the different methods. It is important that the group participants be indoctrinated into the "formal" methods first; but once they know and understand what is expected in each type of group, they can then utilize various principles and operating techniques "on the spot" at the discretion of the meeting or conference leader. As examples:

In opening a standard conference on a production problem, the person running the meeting might want to call for a ten-minute "Buzz" on the present state and condition of the production line, or on special equipment or workers on the line, without making any particular attempt to relate this to the basic problem that is to be discussed. This would serve the purpose of encouraging broader thinking on the problem and put the entire problem, when it is finally presented, into a relationship with the over-all line. In other words, it would be a "deconditioning" process to open minds up to new possibilities.

Later, in the same meeting, and when the specific problem was beginning to be more defined, the meeting leader might call for ten minutes of Brainstorming, with the ideas being recorded on a blackboard or large pad, so that everyone could see them later. This would give the group an immediate "stock" of possibilities which they could then evaluate and discuss. And the Buzz rule of an over-all time limit is a valuable one for even a conventional conference.

The Hotpoint Company has developed a modification of Brainstorming which they call "Reverse Brainstorming." This has as its objective "creative destruction." In operation, a specific product or problem or system is put before a group. One person has pre-Brainstormed an accepted or proposed method to find everything he can that is wrong with it. In the group meeting, he then takes each of the flaws he has uncovered and presents at least one suggestion for improving it. The rest of the group brainstorms improvements on his and all other suggestions on an exhaustive basis. This is a form of group test. The final result is usually a list of highly refined ideas. In one instance, such a group was able to take a planned $200,000 conveyor system, cut the proposal to pieces, suggest improvements and consolidate them, and come up with a new design that was installed and worked successfully for a cost of $4,000.

Related terms include balanced business driver focusing management process process scorecard strategic and business best practice.