Problem Solving & Innovation

Every one of us is born a creative, spontaneous thinker. Using a range of adaptive competencies, these selected strategies tap into your creative problem solving ability and shift your thinking on how to tackle problems.

This themed package consists of short modules, each developing a core competency and giving you an actionable tool to practice the competency. Build your own programme by selecting from the short engaging sessions below. ​

1. Forced Connections – Try a Random Idea

  • Duration: 75 minutes
  • Tool: Forced Connections Checklist

This exercise involves bringing together ideas that serve very different needs or interests to form a new concept. You see this sort of thinking all the time in products like the Apple watch, the Swiss Army knife & smartphones. This technique is a helpful way of getting your team out of a creative rut. We will use this technique to consider ways to improve existing processes and offerings.

2. Meerkat Magic- Ideation Made Simple

  • Duration: 75 minutes
  • Tool: SCAMPER Template

Despite living in the dry desert, meercats don’t drink water! They are however, notorious for their small, quick, playful steps….their ability to scamper. We use this magical technique to transform your thinking. S.C.A.M.P.E.R. is essentially a process for expanding and improving upon ideas by testing and questioning them from different angles. For each letter of the mnemonic, ask yourself a related question about your project or the problem at hand and generate innovative ideas and solutions.

3. Change Viewpoints – Reverse It

  • Duration: 90 minutes
  • Tool: Reverse Brainstorming

In certain corporations data security is the highest priority. So high, in fact, that these organizations have been known to hire hackers — many of whom have committed internet crimes — to hack their systems and find out where the weaknesses are. This “reverse” approach to security, wherein you hack your own company, is considered one of the best ways to secure a server from intrusion. And for us, it’s the inspiration behind this brainstorming technique. When you reverse brainstorm, you essentially work to create problems rather than solutions. ‘Why on Earth would you want to do that?’ You might ask. Creating problems teaches you what not to do so you’re more intuitive to the needs of your project. Think of it like hacking your department to find out where the weaknesses are.

4. Bare Bones – Cause & Effect Unpacked

  • Duration: 120 minutes
  • Tool: FISHBONE template

A fishbone diagram, as the name suggests, mimics a fish skeleton. It is a cause-and-effect discovery tool that helps figure out the reason(s) for defects, variations or failures within a process. The concept is said to have been around since the 1920s, but it was popularized by Japanese professor of engineering, Kaoru Ishikawa. One of the more famous uses of the fishbone diagram wasn’t used to find causes of existing problems, but rather in the design phase to prevent problems. We use this tool to encourage proactive thinking and perspective taking.

5. Opportunity Knocks – Uncovering Innovative Solutions

  • Duration: 180 minutes
  • Tool: CPS Hack

Creative problem solving (CPS) is a way of solving problems or identifying opportunities when conventional thinking has failed. It encourages you to find fresh perspectives and come up with innovative solutions, so that you can formulate a plan to overcome obstacles and reach your goals. Dealing with obstacles and challenges is a regular part of working life, and overcoming them isn’t always easy. To improve your products, services, communications, and interpersonal skills, and for you and your organization to excel, you need to encourage creative thinking and find innovative solutions that work.

6. Own the Outcome – Success Formula

  • Duration: 90 minutes
  • Tool: E+R=O

Yes, there is a little equation that gets us to take 100% responsibility. Using Jack Canfield’s success formula we will unpack a recent outcome and consider all options. Seeing this formula in action gives perspective and puts you in control of your destiny. This session busts the myth that we are entitled to success and happiness – that someone else should be giving us what we want. This little formula could change your life.

7. Drop An Assumption – What Can You Let Go Of?

  • Duration: 90 minutes
  • Tool: Assumptions Question Bank

We all carry assumptions with us — assumptions about what is and isn’t possible, about what people want, what will work, and what won’t. Using the marshmallow experiment as an icebreaker, this exercise forces us to challenge these and put everything on the table. Teams will draw up a list of all the assumptions about a current project — true or not — and challenge them.

8. Hall of Mirrors – Reframing Thoughts

  • Duration: 75 minutes
  • Tool: Reframing Question Bank

How many different angles can you see? Using the power of reframing this session will shift your perspective on any given situation that is blocking you. Feel more clear, resourceful, empowered and optimistic about your circumstances. Our Reframing Question Bank is an essential takeaway tool that will revolutionize the way you see your world.

9. ACT Brain Hack – Optimal Response

  • Duration: 75 minutes
  • Tool: ACT (Apply Consequential Thinking) Template

Our default responses are often patterns that sabotage us. We use the process of Applying Consequential Thinking (ACT©) to ensure you manage your impulses and act intentionally. This process will allow you to identify the response that is optimal for yourself and others, reducing your chances of regret.

10. Square Wheels

  • Duration: 180 minutes
  • Tool: Question Bank

Cartoons and metaphors are simple, powerful and effective ways to create lasting impact and uncover both opportunities and issues. This session encourages active problem solving and involvement. Participants will consider what slows then down and what blocks them. We will separate the ideas into external and internal, mindset and skill set and items within your control.

Duration

60-90 minute

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