Lotusflower/Lotusblossom Technique
ACTIVITY TYPE
- Consulting
- Deciding together
DESCRIPTION
The Lotus Blossom technique adds focus and power to classic brainstorming. Once mastered, the technique helps you create more and higher quality ideas for products and services, find innovative ways of improving your project and helps you solve a variety of problems you frequently encounter.
The Lotus Blossom technique focuses the power of brainstorming on areas of interest. It does so through the use of a visual representation of ideas and is similar to a mind-map, but is more structured and pushes you in ways you don’t experience in classic mind-mapping.
HOW TO USE IT ONLINE
Cloud-based diagramming tool makes this whole process possible on line.
RESOURCES NEEDED
- Time to do: several hours
- Staff: at least one facilitator
- Equipment: prepared sheets of paper with diagram, pens, white boards/wall
SUITABLE FOR
- large and small groups
HOW TO DO IT
- Write the central problem in the centre of the diagram.
- Write the significant themes, components or dimensions of your subject in the surrounding circles labelled A to H surrounding the central theme. List The optimal number of themes for a manageable diagram is between six and eight. If you have more than eight, make additional diagrams. Ask questions like: What are my specific objectives? What are the constants in my
problem? If my subject were a book, what would the chapter headings be? What are the dimensions of my problem? - Use the ideas written in the circles as the central themes for the surrounding lotus blossom petals or boxes. Thus, the idea or application you wrote in Circle A would become the central theme for the lower middle box A. It now becomes the basis for generating eight new ideas or applications.
- Continue the process until the lotus blossom diagram is completed.
- Sort the ideas.
- Gather everyone together and spread the ideas out so everyone can see them.
- Refer back to your central problem so that when you assess each idea, it’s at the front of your mind. As you go through the list, ask yourself/the team if it answer the initial problem, align with the meeting goal.
- You may pick up top three idea (If you’re working in a group, ask each team member to mark their favourites)
ADVANTAGES
- the ideas continually evolve into other ideas and applications, as ideas seem to flow outward with a conceptual momentum all their own.
- if you complete the entire diagram, you’ll have 64 new ideas or ways to solve the problem
- When one is created large-scale on a wall – in brilliant colour to boot – it can be both interactive and inspiring
- It almost facilitates itself.
CHALLENGIES
- As a technique, it’s somewhat complex and a bit “stage-y” for brainstorms
- To safeguard maximum effectiveness, but also creativity, it’s important that the problem is discussed from different angles. A way to do this is to make sure to have a diverse group of people in the brainstorming sessions.
MORE INFORMATION
https://5by5design.com/index.php/advice/lotus-blossom-technique
https://www.toolshero.com/creativity/lotus-diagram/
https://innovationmanagement.se/2004/10/21/creative-thinking-technique-lotus-blossom/
https://online.visual-paradigm.com/knowledge/brainstorming/brainstorming-toolkit/