Welcome wild and outrageous ideas

Explicitly invite the absurd — it’s easier to tame a wild idea than to enliven a dull one.

Why it works

Wild ideas serve two functions: they expand the search space (the conceptual territory the group is willing to occupy), and they provide raw material for combination — a genuinely outrageous idea often contains a workable kernel. Psychological safety research confirms that groups that signal safety for unusual input generate more diverse output, which correlates with finding novel solutions.

How to do it

1. Give explicit permission at the start: "The wilder the better — impossible is fine."
2. Reward the most outrageous contribution with light recognition to anchor the norm.
3. Never explain why an idea is impractical during the generation phase — just add it.
4. Later, mine wild ideas for fragments: "What’s the kernel of this that could work?"

Evidence

Psychological safety research supports the idea that explicit permission for unusual input increases the range of ideas generated. Mining extreme ideas for useful fragments is mechanistically coherent but not well-isolated in controlled trials. (mechanistic)

The value of wild ideas depends on the harvest step — groups that generate outrageous ideas but never revisit them for kernels get no benefit from the range.

Sources

• Edmondson (1999), psychological safety in teams, Administrative Science Quarterly
• Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383.

Common mistake

Welcoming wild ideas verbally but rewarding only the reasonable ones with attention, which immediately signals that "wild" is actually penalized.