Singapore – Asking stupid questions to solve organisational problems may seem plain dumb, yet practical innovative solutions can be derived simply by taking a new riff on the traditional brainstorming format.

Companies that are tired of ordinary brainstorming sessions which do not solve their issues can now try their hand at asking employees “stupid” or rather unconventional questions to generate original ideas. In fact, Prabhjit Singh, a National Library Board trainer, says these are “smart” stupid questions as the Ask Stupid Questions (ASQ) methodology is not created off the cuff. Instead, the stupid question is focused on a certain issue or problem the organisation wants its staff to brainstorm on.

From the seed of the stupid question, Singh says it sparks off employees’ creativity when thinking of new possibilities to organisational challenges. This in turn can lead to product or service innovations. “Eventually, from the numerous possibilities generated by the staff, at least a few can be innovative enough to be considered for future study or implementation.”

For example, to solve piracy issues for the coast guards, Singh asks, “How can a balloon catch pirates?” Answers vary from the coastal guard using large balloons equipped with scopes to view over areas they cannot patrol to remote-controlled balloons that use electronic “eyes” to track the movement of pirates.

The end results can range from finding new business ideas, innovative ways to market a product or service to improving teamwork within a department, enhancing creativity among staff and designing new customer service processes. Singh says ASQ can be used at department meetings to generate as many useful ideas as possible or for getting staff suggestions. “As customer expectations change over time, new ways must be found to meet their expectations.”

Besides learning how to dissect each new idea formed and fitting them back to the organisational goals and needs, employees can also improve their presentation skills during the process. It is as simple as opening up through participation within a non-threatening environment. Singh says employees get to learn “how to present a good idea within a minute and how to ask good questions to get to the heart of an idea”.

Most importantly, Singh says ASQ helps employees to “learn how to suspend judgment and making assumptions on what appear to be stupid ideas” and “see the possibilities when connecting new ideas together”.