When we talk about brainstorming, we often imagine a room full of post-its, people sending ideas in bursts and bursting with energy.
But have you already tried reverse brainstorming? This countercurrent approach is extremely effective in stimulating creativity and solving complex problems. As an innovation speaker and a creativity speaker, I have seen this technique work wonders in businesses looking to unlock new ideas or find different solutions to a problem.
What is reverse brainstorming?
It's very simple: rather than looking for a solution directly, we start by exploring how to make the problem worse.
Duncan Wardle, former head of innovation at Disney, discusses this in an article by Fast Company. He explains that this approach encourages us to question conventions and to create an environment where experimentation is valued.
According to him, anyone can be creative, as long as they evolve in an environment that encourages the diversity of ideas and accepts failure as a step in the innovation process.
Reverse brainstorming precisely makes it possible to get around our cognitive biases, avoid cliché ideas and bring out unexpected solutions.
How does it work?
It's simple, effective, and incredibly powerful.
Let's take a concrete example: How can we improve the customer experience on our platform?
1. Reverse the question
The idea is to turn the perspective around: How do you make the customer experience truly horrible?
2. List all the bad ideas - and especially the worst
Here, you have to play the game to the fullest, without filters. For example, in response to the previous question, we can imagine:
- Add intrusive pop-ups
- Make the interface confusing and unreadable
- Ignore customer requests
- Hide additional charges
3. Turning these ideas into solutions
Each “horrible” idea then becomes a lever for improvement:
- Remove unnecessary pop-ups and streamline the interface
- Simplifying navigation and make the options clear
- Optimizing customer service with quick answers
- Full transparency on rates and conditions
Why does it work?
This method is a real mind hack. It allows you to:
- Break cognitive biases: by adopting a negative perspective, we go beyond our usual framework of thinking.
- Quickly identify mistakes to avoid, and therefore the best areas for improvement.
- Stimulate creativity in a fun way: it's a reverse role-playing game that engages the team.
A technique to be tested at an innovation conference and in a workshop
In my interventions at an innovation conference, I had the opportunity to integrate reverse brainstorming to unlock team thinking. The effect is generally as follows: everyone relaxes and lets go in the “horrible ideas” phase, then often comes a revelation in the “solutions” phase.
If you are looking for a pragmatic and fun approach to innovation, test it out during your next workshop. You will be surprised by the results!
