Using opposites forces you begin at a distant starting point and see your discussion through an entirely new lens.

Take your discussion statement and identify its key words. Put them in a list to the side. Alongside each key word, write its opposite. Now substitute your keyword with its opposite and see how it affects your discussion statement and the outcomes of your conversation. Often the more ridiculous the substitution seems, the better results you will generate.

Opposites in practice

Discussion Point: Our company’s mission is to encourage people to help one another.

Opposites of Keywords 

company – individual
encourage – discourage
help – hinder
another – themselves

Each (individual’s) mission is to encourage people to help one another…
This may start the idea that to really bring a mission statement to life, each individual should be personally enacting the mission. This may encourage a practice whereby each employee writes their own strategy for ‘living the company mission’ during their everyday.

Our company’s mission is to (discourage) people to help one another…
This statement would provoke a conversation around why the company’s mission may not be working to its optimum and what the company is doing which may be discouraging a helping attitude. This may reveal discontent from the workforce and how the company is treating them. It may uncover dissatisfaction from customers or encourage the idea of running a customer satisfaction survey.

Our company’s mission is to encourage people to (hinder) one another…
Such a statement would continue further discussions as above. It may encourage a review of current policies, practices and procedures which may be affecting performance and holding the company back. It could provoke a competitive analysis to see how the opposition is beating the company’s performance.

Our company’s mission is to encourage people to help (themselves)…
Through allowing this conversation to take place, management may receive feedback that this is a situation that employees would prefer. By changing the focus off ‘helping others’ staff may suggest better activities for the company to make their mission. It may throw up ideas for self-empowerment which would ultimately ‘help another’