Groupthink

In the late nineteen-forties, Alex Osborn, a partner in the advertising agency B.B.D.O., decided to write a book in which he shared his creative secrets. At the time, B.B.D.O. was widely regarded as the most innovative firm on Madison Avenue. Born in 1888, Osborn had spent much of his career in Buffalo, where he started out working in newspapers, and his life at B.B.D.O. began when he teamed up with another young adman he’d met volunteering for the United War Work Campaign. “Your Creative Power” was filled with tricks and strategies, such as always carrying a notebook, to be ready when inspiration struck. The book outlined the essential rules of a successful brainstorming session. Brainstorming was an immediate hit and Osborn became an influential business guru, writing such best-sellers as “Wake Up Your Mind” and “The Gold Mine Between Your Ears.” The underlying assumption of brainstorming is that if people are scared of saying the wrong thing, they’ll end up saying nothing at all.

Help Your Team Make Smarter Decisions Every day, your employees are making decisions. While some are more important than others, it's in your best interest to help them develop a strong ability to make good ones. How can you do that? Read on for a few helpful tips. Lead by example. To help your employees make good choices, you should make good choices yourself. Offer choices. Never dictate how your employees should do their jobs. Give them permission to make mistakes. Making mistakes and suffering failure is how we learn. Praise good decisions. Most of the time your employees will make good choices, and when they do, you should let them know you appreciate it. Offer feedback--good and bad If you don't offer immediate feedback, it will be hard to tell which choice was a good one or not. Like this post?

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