BUNCHES OF BANANAS
Lateral thinking techniques are often as much about reducing
excessive left-brain attention (which may be fuelling a mind-set) as
about introducing particular content.
Many people instinctively liven up stuck meetings by being
provocative, or ‘throwing in a bunch of bananas’. Here are some
tips:
1.
Assess the mood and climate: are there any signs of
‘stuckness’?
2.
Think about what you might say or do to help bring the group
out of that state of ‘stuckness’. Create ‘bunches of bananas’ to
suit your own personality and style.
3.
Remember that you are engaging in a ‘whole-brain’ activity. Just
as with a comedian, it is as much the delivery as the idea which
produces the effect.
4.
For inexperienced groups, the approach may have to be
appropriately signalled: ‘I know this is going to sound a little
crazy, but bear with me a minute or so. Sometimes you can get
out of a rut in the most unexpected ways …’
For instance, a small group working on marketing goods from the
UK to Australia, had exhausted the obvious possibilities and seemed
to be ‘stuck’.
‘We don’t seem to be getting very far,’ someone said.
‘What I’d like to do would be to find a product that every Australian
sheep would be clamouring to buy.’
This might have been met with derision or polite silence. He had,
however, timed his ‘bunch of bananas’ well, and someone picked up
the idea.
‘Sheep? Oh, you mean for us to find large numbers of customers
who can be influenced easily. Perhaps we have been concentrating
too hard on too few clients …’
Eventually, a new product strategy for marketing to Australia
emerged along the lines of discussion this idea triggered.
‘Bunches of bananas’ can come in very different forms – any well
placed joke or image that captures attention when appropriate. The
simple use of Random stimuli (q.v.) can often have the same effect.
FUNCTION
Exploring
Defining
Gathering
Generating
Grouping
Screening
Prioritising
Planning
Full process
RESOURCES
1(–2) people
Large group
Brief
Extended
Facilitation skills
Special setting
Computing
PROBLEM
Personal
Multiple issues
Stakeholders
New product
Futures/plans
ANALYTIC MODE
Categorising
Causality
Checklist/table
Combinatorial
Mapping
Numerical
Questioning
Reframing
Scanning
Scenarios/views
Surveys, etc.
Uses experts
Voting
INTUITIVE MODE
Analogy
Distortion
Excursion
Hitch-hiking
Imagery
Kinaesthetic
Listening
Pictures
Relaxation
Role-play/empathy
Subconscious
Values
Verbal
Wishing
SOCIAL MODE
Ad hoc/covert
Anything goes!
Debate/dialogue
Game
Interactive events
Moving about
Networking
Nominal
Starter’s kit
Source: J. Martin, R. Bell, E. Farmer and J. Henry, (2010) Technique Library, Milton Keynes, UK: Open University,
ISBN 9781 8987 3541 5
B822 Technique Library
Copyright © 2009 The Open University
In many ways, the actual content of the intervention is not important. It is concerned
more with mood than with correctness of content. And it does involve some risk and
uncertainty, as you can never predict the effect the intervention will have.
Adapted from: Rickards, T. (1988) Creativity at Work, Aldershot, Gower, pp. 80–2
Source: J. Martin, R. Bell, E. Farmer and J. Henry, (2010) Technique Library, Milton Keynes, UK: Open University,
ISBN 9781 8987 3541 5
B822 Technique Library
Bunches of bananas