调查：头脑风暴不利于出创意

Perhaps more than any other category of professionals, creative types are expected to thrive in brainstorms¹. In the public's imagination, their offices are filled with fidget toys and Post-it notes in an array of colors, all meant to absorb some of the energy of a group of fast-thinking, well-dressed hipsters deep in ideation mode.

 

也许和其他职业相比，创造性工作更应该是头脑风暴的活跃之地。在公众的想象里，创意人员的办公室里放满了抗压玩具和五颜六色的便条，这些都是用于从思维敏捷、衣着光鲜的创意人才那里吸取构思的能量。

 

But a new report based on a survey of 20,000 creatives from 197 countries suggests that, in fact, a majority of these professionals - including writers, musicians, photographers, and podcasters - find that brainstorming² is largely unhelpful for solving a creative challenge.

 

The survey, commissioned by the Dutch file-sharing company WeTransfer, attests³ to the perils⁴ of this form of groupthink. "In the creative world we hear an awful lot about collaboration⁵, but it seems that while working together is essential to bring an idea to life, it's not that good for shaping ideas in the first place," notes Rob Alderson, WeTransfer's recently departed editor in chief.

 

WeTransfer's annual survey of creatives echoes previous research about the need for individual preparation and introspection. "Send people off with the time and space to think properly and the quality of their ideas will probably improve," Alderson says.

 

In the instinct to schedule meetings, it appears that we often neglect to give participants a chance to prepare and form their thoughts. It's a crucial step that was championed by Alex Osborn, the legendary⁶ advertising⁷ executive who popularized brainstorming. "Osborn repeatedly extolled⁸ the virtues⁹ of solitude¹⁰, of time spent far from the distractions¹¹ of others, as part of his own creative process," Lila MacLellan from Quartz¹² has noted¹³. "The man who gave us today's whiteboard-centric chaotic¹⁴ brainstorming ritual placed as much, if not more, faith in the individual imagination."

 

WeTransfer's survey suggests that dutiful meetings are a primary creativity killer¹⁵. More than 40% of respondents now consider "work"  - including the administrative¹⁶ tasks required of employees in big corporations - as a barrier to good thinking. "That's a worrying number given almost 90% of our respondents work in creative fields which rise and fall on the power of good ideas," the report states. "It seems we need to rethink the way we work and play, particularly how we spend time in the office."

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