A way to use different perspectives to generate fresh ideas
Use the alternative worlds template to investigate how a successful organization or group outside your domain would approach a given issue. Doing so requires a deep understanding of their culture, practices, and procedures, in order to determine what aspects can be appropriated for your purposes.
Adopting the perspective of a completely different domain is a novel way to shift perspective and uncover potentially breakthrough ideas.
Encourage creativity and outside-the-box thinking
Provide new perspectives
Increase engagement and participation
Foster a culture of innovation
In this section detail each step of the process in using the Mural template. These steps may be taken directly from the template itself.
The first step is to define the problem you’re trying to solve with your brainstorming. This can be done before the meeting and participants can also be assigned pre-work to ensure that you get the maximum engagement and impact during synchronous brainstorming.
Here’s where you can ensure that everyone has the right context before you begin—outline the alternative worlds approach and go over the alternative perspectives you’ve decided to examine during the session.
The Mural alternative worlds template provides examples and suggestions across the following categories:
Creative organizations
Charities and public service
Innovative business and operating models
Individual people
Great customer service experience
Global reach and footprint
Your own alternative world
Once you’ve selected your alternative worlds, try to immerse your participants in each one of the alternative worlds as much as possible to help understand different perspectives.
Use Mural’s private mode, or even asynchronous brainstorming, to have each participant think through the challenge from the perspectives included in the exercise.
When all participants have contributed their ideas across the alternative worlds you’ve included, bring the group back together and use Mural’s anonymous voting to select the best ideas across the team.
To get the most out of an alternative worlds brainstorming exercise, you should:
Choose alternate realities that are relevant to the problem or challenge you are addressing: By choosing relevant alternate realities, participants will be more likely to generate ideas that are useful and valuable.
Provide clear guidelines and expectations for the exercise: Make sure that participants understand the purpose of the exercise and how to use the provided template or guidelines.
Encourage participation and collaboration: Make sure that everyone has a chance to contribute and that ideas are built upon and refined through collaboration.
Allow for flexibility and creativity: Don't be afraid to explore unconventional ideas or to deviate from the provided guidelines if it leads to new and innovative solutions.
Follow up on the ideas generated: Identify next steps or actions to take based on the ideas generated and ensure that they are followed up on to maximize the value of the exercise.
An alternative worlds exercise is a type of brainstorming activity that helps participants to explore new ideas and possibilities by considering different perspectives and scenarios. In this exercise, participants are asked to imagine a world that is different from our own in some way and to brainstorm ideas based on this alternate reality.
The purpose of alternative worlds brainstorming is to encourage creativity and innovation by challenging participants to think outside the box and consider new possibilities. By imagining alternative realities, participants are able to break free from their usual patterns of thinking and explore new ideas and perspectives.
Traditional brainstorming typically involves generating as many ideas as possible within a set time limit, with a focus on quantity over quality. In contrast, the alternative worlds method encourages participants to generate fewer ideas, but to focus on generating those ideas through the lens of different perspectives. By imagining alternative realities, participants are able to approach problems from a different angle and generate more creative and innovative ideas.
Mural is the only platform that offers both a shared workspace and training on the LUMA System™, a practical way to collaborate that anyone can learn and apply.