Group Genius is a workshop I developed for Bible societies based on a book by the same name by Keith Sawyer, this workshop focuses on how to form and best utilize creative problem solving groups. Traditional brainstorming doesn’t work very well. Sawyer writes,
…decades of research have consistently shown that brainstorming groups think of far fewer ideas than the same number of people who work alone and later pool their ideas.
There are good reasons why this is so. The goal is to form and use creative groups that actually work.
I’ve had the opportunity to conduct this workshop in several UBS areas. It’s both fun (just ask anyone who participated in the Lego exercise) and insightful. Some of the questions we address are:
- Why doesn’t traditional brainstorming work?
- What are the stages in the creative process?
- What can I do to get the most productivity in a problem-solving group?
- Do I need to be selective in who I include in the group?
This is a workshop that could be done on a staff retreat for a single Bible society, or for regional gatherings. It could serve as the introduction to taking on real-world challenges that your Bible society faces.