Kellogg School of Management Discusses the Idea of Brainwriting

How do we ensure that the best ideas are presented in executive meetings? Professor Leigh Thompson at the Kellogg School of Management (Evanston, Illinois) has come up with an innovative method of guaranteeing that all ideas are being heard.

The Uneven Communication Effect is the idea that when in a group meeting, a minority of the participants do a majority of the talking, which leads to the doom loop. The Doom Loop is the idea that overly dominant participants lead the conversation, while the quiet people stay quiet. These overly dominant people tend to lack self-awareness and self-control, so talking with them rarely solves the issue. How do we hear the ideas of quieter people?

Brainwriting is the concept that all participants in a meeting write their ideas simultaneously, rather than share them orally. Each person is given a stack of paper (Post-its, index cards, etc.) and asked to write each idea on a separate card. No identification is allowed, so ideas cannot be linked to a specific participant. Ideas are then posted on the board and participants vote on them. It becomes a meritocracy of ideas.

To learn more about Kellogg’s open enrollment programs, visit http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/execed.aspx.

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