Learning today comes from Adam Grant’s WorkLife. This episode went inside The Daily Show’s creative process.
‘Burstiness’ refers to when a group is rapidly generating ideas that build off of one another. It’s rapid fire of ideas with many people often interrupting one another. It’s the hallmark of productive brainstorming and it doesn’t happen by accident. Psychological safety is one part, but there are other elements to the recipe.
1. Energy – “When your day is punctuated with joy, that joy will manifest into what you’re doing” Trevor Noah.
2. Welcome criticism – People are more creative in groups where criticism in welcome. Psychological safety doesn’t mean everything is just warm and fuzzy. You need to have standards, values and criteria that help you decide if something is a good or bad idea. You create safety by having people be comfortable laughing at themselves. Try sharing an embarrassing story before the brainstorm.
3 . Structure – Planning and structure give you freedom to find the creative discoveries that make the thing sing. Steve Bodow executive producer Daily Show.
4. Diversity – Homogeneous groups often think they are better at brainstorming because it feels comfortable. Discomfort means we work harder and reveal new information. It creates an unknown and peaks our curiosity.
Being a Force for Good 