Office Brainstorms Are a Waste of Time — mashable.com

Brainstorming seems to be a big part of office life. However, study after study has shown that brainstorming isn’t more effective than having people working on their own and then reporting their ideas later. What makes brainstorming so unproductive? To put it simply, when people are brainstorming together, different people tend to focus on different tinier problems within a larger issue, so no one is actually looking at the same thing. Additionally, in most brainstorming sessions, the more extroverted and senior members of the groups are more likely to speak up, even if younger and quieter members have better ideas. This keeps the session from actually being a space where all voices can be heard.

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