This is the second and last part of our Reverse Brainstorming series. Previously we went through the initial preparation, getting the participants accustomed with the process, contributing to the atmosphere and actually doing some work. The fun part. Now, we have to make something out of all these ideas. Buckle up, we go!

Step four. All the statements that the groups have written on their flip-charts are filtered. The first thing to do is to reverse the statements so as to be a solution for the original challenge. After reversing all the statement we can keep only the ones that are feasible. I recommend keeping the ones that did not make the cut in an archive. Who knows with what occasion they will be the next best thing in solving your problems?

A solution to Reverse 2 – How to recruit the most unsuitable members for GLT? – might be: We favour applicants who cheat, steal and lye. If they do heavy drugs, bring’ em on board.

Reversing so as to fit our initial challenge – How to recruit the most suitable members for GLT? – We favour applicants that prove to value integrity, honesty and have a constructive social conduct. We understand how the image of our members if closely connected with the one of the organization. If applicants are related to any illegalities, we will address this issue.

Step five. Again, an optional one. Technically, we completed the Reverse Brainstorming session. In our training we chose to wrap things more tightly so we included a “Make an Action Plan” stage. The objective: everything has a time-line, a responsible and some evaluation criteria.

In our example, the majority of the solutions people came up with were mostly related to the profile of the desired candidate. But people were proactive and went further. For some of the characteristics, they designed games and special moments in the selection process. All these were placed in the recruitment time-line.

Sixth step. The debriefing. Crucial for every training session, it comprises some sort of assessment – both for the participants and for the trainer. We went through brainstorming stages, rules and important things to remember.

This being said, I strongly encourage using this technique whenever finding solutions comes to a standstill. It is fun, dynamic and useful especially for coming up with flexible solutions to challenges.