Author: admin

Listening to the radio the other day I stumbled across a programme about group creativity and it turns out (surprise, surprise) that people working in groups tend to be less creative than people working alone. This is because people often defer to those they perceive to be more senior, or more creative. People can also run a negative self talk loop that says ‘my idea is rubbish’ or ‘they will just laugh at me’ and as a result hang on to their idea and say nothing.

This is where we can deploy the concept of a silent brainstorm. We can neutralise the silly talk and keep the powerful people at bay by making sure our creative thinking sessions are held in silence.

What you do is write up the question to be answered in the middle of a flipchart pad so everyone can see it. Then hand out Post-it note pads to people and give them 2 minutes in silence to write down their idea. (Preferably using a marker pen so they are easy to read at a distance). After 2 minutes people can put their Post-its on the flipchart in silence and can read other people’s ideas. This can spark new thoughts and is a great way to foster creativity.

Then have a second round of it and see what comes up next time!

When we are faced with 2 minutes of silence the noise of the group is switched off and that allows the noise of our thoughts to bubble up to the surface. It also prevents loud (or overly influential) people from derailing the group process by intimidating others.

Silence is golden – use it and get the best out of all of your colleagues.

Next week: Three level listening

To hold the silence means to actively allow the other person to think by us being silent ourselves. We don’t tap our phone, we don’t cough or slurp coffee. We don’t stare at them either, pen poised to grab their thoughts and commit them to paper.

What we do is to put our pen down, find a neutral spot on the wall to study, ignore our cooling coffee and we wait.

We wait for them to think, to allow their thoughts to coalesce and to turn into words.

We are not ignoring them – we are holding the silence for them. If someone opens a door to come in we wave them away. If our phone chirps we silence it. If we want to speak we don’t.

In this situation we are being alert to our surroundings and are monitoring the environment so that they have a quiet, safe space to think in.

It’s tempting to fill silence with noise and chatter and the clink of coffee cups. Don’t do it – hold the silence and let the other person really think about their issue.

I’m always struck by how some of my best coaching work has been as a result of holding the silence. Saying nothing and managing an empty space has unlocked issues more speedily and allowed clients to think more deeply about things than any clever question I care to think of.

This week you’re invited to practice holding the silence, whether at home or at work. Notice how the other person reacts and how hard you have to work to give them the thinking space.

How long can you hold the silence for before feeling overwhelmed by it and needing to break it with a cough or a few words?

Holding the silence is a useful technique to help improve business, so have fun with it!

Next week: Silent brainstorming