creative problem solving tools & techniques resource guide

Creative Problem Solving Tools & Techniques Resource Guide

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• Convergence in Creativity Development for Mathematical Capacity Convergence in Creativity Development for Mathematical Capacity Ai-Girl Tan Nanyang Technological University Singapore Bharath Sriraman University of Montana (Chapter to appear in edited volume: Creativity and giftedness: Interdisciplinary perspectives and beyond; Springer Science and Business, 2016) Abstract In this chapter, we highlight the role of convergence in developing creativity and mathematical capacity. We renew our understanding of creativity from the relations of three creativity mechanisms: Convergence in divergence for emergence, and three principles of experience: Continuity, interaction and complementarity. Convergence in the context of creativity development is an incidence of learning for capacity building and knowledge construction. Examples of convergent processes in learning are: setting a plan, having a structure, and possessing coordinated capacity to complete a task. To elaborate, we refer to theories of development and creativity on how people develop their capacity in convergence (e.g., collaboration), through mathematical learning (e.g., with coherence, congruence), and for creativity (e.g., imagination). We make reference to convergent creativity of an eminent mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) for a reflection on developing creativity and building capacity for good life. Keywords: Convergence, mathematics, collaboration, creativity. Introduction Scope of the Chapter This chapter comprises three parts. In the first part we present our assumptions, mechanisms and principles of creativity and creativity development. In the second part we review briefly contemporary views on creativity development and knowledge construction. We reflect on the role of convergent creativity in developing capacity through learning a subject matter. In the third part we draw preliminary conclusions that convergent creativity is essential for knowledge construction and for good life. [Show full text]
• Creativity Through the Eyes Arousal and the Prediction of Creative Task CREATIVITY THROUGH THE EYES 1 Creativity through the eyes Arousal and the prediction of creative task performance by Locus Coeruleus-norepinephrine modes. Matthijs Dekker U1262091 / 991987 Master thesis Communication- and Information Sciences Corporate communication and digital media Faculty Humanities Tilburg University Supervisor: dr. K.A. de Rooij Second reader: H.K. Schraffenberger BEng MsC January, 2017 CREATIVITY THROUGH THE EYES 2 Abstract In order to develop creative ideas, which are original as well as effective, several cognitive processes are required involving divergent and convergent thinking. Previous research suggested that creative task performance is influenced the release of noradrenaline, causing arousal, in the Locus Coeruleus-norepinephrine system (LC-NE). This LC-NE system mediates the changes between exploitation and exploratory control states. Previous studies suggested that activity in the LC-NE system is indicated by pupil diameter. Tonic pupil sizes are associated with an exploratory control state, whereas phasic pupil are associated with an exploitative control state. This study measured the pupil diameter of participants while they performed a creative task. Different phases in the experiment are characterized by divergent and convergent thinking. It is examined whether tonic and phasic pupil sizes can predict the creativity of generated ideas during divergent and convergent thinking. It was found that (i) phasic pupil sizes are linear and quadratic predictors of effectiveness during divergent thinking; (ii) tonic pupil sizes are linear predictors of originality during divergent thinking. These findings suggest that creativity can be predicted during divergent thinking in a creative process. CREATIVITY THROUGH THE EYES 3 Creativity through the eyes Creativity among individuals and cultures can lead to happier, fuller and healthier lives (Richards, 2010). [Show full text]
• Openness to Experience and Intellect Differentially Predict Creative JournalJournal of of Personality Personality 84:2, ••:••, April •• 2015 2016 VC©2014 2014 Wiley Wiley Periodicals, Periodicals, Inc. Inc. Openness to Experience and Intellect DOI:DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12156 10.1111/jopy.12156 Differentially Predict Creative Achievement in the Arts and Sciences Scott Barry Kaufman,1 Lena C. Quilty,2 Rachael G. Grazioplene,3 Jacob B. Hirsh,4 Jeremy R. Gray,5 Jordan B. Peterson,4 and Colin G. DeYoung3 1The Imagination Institute, Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania 2Centre for Addiction and Mental Health 3University of Minnesota 4University of Toronto 5Michigan State University Abstract The Big Five personality dimension Openness/Intellect is the trait most closely associated with creativity and creative achievement. Little is known, however, regarding the discriminant validity of its two aspects—Openness to Experience (reflecting cognitive engagement with perception, fantasy, aesthetics, and emotions) and Intellect (reflecting cognitive engage- ment with abstract and semantic information, primarily through reasoning)—in relation to creativity. In four demographically diverse samples totaling 1,035 participants, we investigated the independent predictive validity of Openness and Intellect by assessing the relations among cognitive ability, divergent thinking, personality, and creative achievement across the arts and sciences. We confirmed the hypothesis that whereas Openness predicts creative achievement in the arts, Intellect predicts creative achievement in the sciences. Inclusion of performance measures of general cognitive ability and divergent thinking indicated that the relation of Intellect to scientific creativity may be due at least in part to these abilities. Lastly, we found that Extraversion additionally predicted creative achievement in the arts, independently of Openness. Results are discussed in the context of dual-process theory. [Show full text]
• Religious Control of Visual Attention Convergent and divergent operations – 1 Convergent and divergent operations in cognitive search Bernhard Hommel Leiden University, Cognitive Psychology Unit & Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands Correspondence: Bernhard Hommel Leiden University Department of Psychology Cognitive Psychology Unit 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] Convergent and divergent operations – 2 The phylogenetic development of humans and many other species is characterized by a transition from reactivity to proactivity. In contrast to the dominating experimental paradigm in behavioral and neuroscientific research—where the presentation of experimenter-controlled stimuli are marking the start of theoretical and empirical analysis—humans rarely await environmental triggers to get on their feet but, rather, are driven by internal needs, goals, and passions. Proactive behavior guided by internal anticipations and predictions requires executive functions that operate off-line rather than in real-time. Indeed, planning an action only after having encountered its execution conditions often makes little sense, which is why goalkeepers prepare themselves for jumping, catching, and pushing the ball long before they even see it coming. Planning an action in the absence of the object and situational cues it relates to requires means to represent and stimulate them in advance (i.e., off-line). This calls for cognitive abilities that go beyond what our basic sensorimotor online systems have to offer—that is, the systems that translate stimulus input into motor output more or less in real-time and that we share to some degree with almost all living organisms. In humans and perhaps in other primates, this reliance of planning ahead on longer-term internal representation has propagated the development of a dual-system architecture. [Show full text]
• The Effect of Movement on Convergent and Divergent Thinking University of Mississippi eGrove Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors Theses Honors College) Spring 5-9-2020 The Effect of Movement on Convergent and Divergent Thinking Simmy Vig Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis Part of the Cognitive Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Vig, Simmy, "The Effect of Movement on Convergent and Divergent Thinking" (2020). Honors Theses. 1359. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1359 This Undergraduate Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College) at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected] . THE EFFECT OF MOVEMENT ON CONVERGENT AND DIVERGENT THINKING by Simmy Vig A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of Mississippi in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. Oxford May 2020 Approved by ___________________________________ Advisor: Dr. Stephanie Miller ___________________________________ Reader: Dr. Matthew Reysen ___________________________________ Reader: Dr. Dwight Waddell THE EFFECT OF MOVEMENT ON CONVERGENT AND DIVERGENT THINKING © 2020 Simmy Vig ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii THE EFFECT OF MOVEMENT ON CONVERGENT AND DIVERGENT THINKING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to give my utmost thanks to my thesis advisor, Dr. Stephanie Miller, and to my laboratory advisor, Emily Frith. This research endeavor would not have been possible without their patience, guidance, and unwavering support. I would also like to express my gratitude toward the other research assistants who diligently worked with me in gathering all the data for this project. [Show full text]
• The Roles of Convergent, Divergent Thinking, and Contextual Focus During Scientific Reasoning: Birth of the “Z” Model The Roles of Convergent, Divergent Thinking, and Contextual Focus during Scientific Reasoning: Birth of the “Z” Model A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Jean-Baptiste Quillien IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Keisha Varma, Advisor Wilma Koutstaal, Co-Advisor September, 2019 i © Jean-Baptiste Quillien 2019 i Acknowledgements I would like to thank my committee members for their support, feedback and kindness: Dr. Varma Keisha Dr. Koutstaal Wilma Dr. McComas Jennifer Dr. Varma Sashank I would also like to thank my friends for the long conversations and sharing of ideas as well as The fantastic research assistants from the Koutstaal’s lab, for their precious help -- coding and running participants during those past long and stimulating years. Thank you i Dedication J’aimerais dedié cette thése a mon ami et mentor Mr. Milan Kovacovic, sans qui je ne serais pas là. Grace à qui j’ai su explorer. Merci pour le chemin à venir, mon ami. Ne pas dedié cette même thèse a un autre ami, qui a vu naître ma passion pour la psychologie de l’enfant derrière ses yeux de chiot étonné, et qui hier me voyait finir mes études supérieures derrière un regard mature et appaisé: Fridu. Merci pour le chemin passé, mon ami. ii Abstract The aim of this paper is to bridge the process of scientific reasoning with the field of cognitive science, and more specifically, the cognitive mechanisms involved during reasoning. This intent of bridging scientific reasoning with cognitive mechanisms gave birth to a new model: the “Z” model of scientific reasoning. [Show full text]
• A New Approach to Understanding Divergent and Convergent Thinking Redefining Creativity: A New Approach to Understanding Divergent and Convergent Thinking and Personality Ellis Heyen, Lucas Jasinski, Natalie Main, Rachel Thomas, Nathan Trice, and Lauryn Zinke Department of Psychology, Illinois State University Introduction Procedure Predicted Results Creativity has been of interest to researchers for over a Remote Associates Test (RAT) was used to measure We expect to find a significant positive correlation century (Weiss et al., 2020). Guilford (1967) proposed that convergent thinking processes (Mednick, 1962). between performance on the RAT and Unusual Uses Test creativity consisted of divergent and convergent thinking. • 12 stimuli sets were presented, varying from easy to (UUT), indicating that the RAT relies on divergent thinking. very hard Traditionally, convergent thinking (critical thinking • Participants were presented with sets of 3 words using logical steps to determine a single solution) is In contrast, we expect non-significant correlations for RAT that can be linked with a fourth word understood to be the performance on tasks where only one and UUT with vocabulary, a convergent thinking measure. • Sample: worm / shelf / end can be related by the solution is correct, whereas divergent thinking word book (creative thinking using strategies that deviate from We expect RAT and UUT to be positively correlated with • Asked participants to provide the related fourth word commonly used strategies) is the performance on tasks openness to experience from the personality inventory. • Responses scored for accuracy where many different solutions are needed (Gabora, 2018, 2019). Unusual Uses Test was used to measure divergent Conclusion Mednick’s (1962) Remote Associates Test (RAT) of thinking processes (Guilford, 1967). [Show full text]
• A Cognition-Based Definition of Creativity and a Proposition Linköping University Master Thesis Maria Hedblom A Cognition-Based Definition of Creativity and A Proposition for Approaching Creativity Artificially Supervisor: Examiner: Prof. Kai-Uwe Kühnberger Prof. Arne Jönsson Osnabrück University Linköping University LIU-IDA/KOGVET-A–13/012–SE A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Cognitive Science Institute IDA, Institute of Computer and Information Science November 2013 Copyright Information The publishers will keep this document online on the Internet or its possible replacement from the date of publication barring exceptional circumstances. The online availability of the document implies permanent permission for anyone to read, to download, or to print out single copies for his/hers own use and to use it unchanged for non-commercial research and educational purpose. Subsequent transfers of copyright cannot revoke this permission. All other uses of the document are conditional upon the consent of the copyright owner. The publisher has taken technical and administrative measures to assure authenticity, security and accessibility. According to intellectual property law the author has the right to be mentioned when his/her work is accessed as described above and to be protected against infringement. For additional information about the Linköping University Electronic Press and its pro- cedures for publication and for assurance of document integrity, please refer to its www home page: http://www.ep.liu.se/. c Maria Hedblom "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." Albert Einstein And in this humorous light I am proud to present my master thesis. LINKöPING UNIVERSITY Abstract A Cognition-Based Definition of Creativity and A Proposition for Approaching Creativity Artificially by Maria Hedblom Can a computer truly be creative? This is the philosophical question that defines this thesis. [Show full text]
• Stand up If You Mind! How Does Body Position Affect Creativity and Problem Solving? Stand up if you mind! How does body position affect creativity and problem solving? Name: Lindsey van der Lans Studentnumber: s0912344 Supervisor: Guido Band Second reader: Henk van Steenbergen Third reader: Ingrid Renirie en Robert Verheule, LEF future center, Rijkswaterstaat Thesis MSci Applied Cognitive Psychology 1 Table of Contents Preface .................................................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 6 Creativity, problem solving and the environment .............................................................................. 6 Embodied cognition ............................................................................................................................ 7 Arousal ................................................................................................................................................ 9 Materials and Methods ......................................................................................................................... 11 Participants ....................................................................................................................................... 11 Material ............................................................................................................................................ [Show full text]
• Personality and Creativity Correlates in Adults with Childhood Imaginary Companions Carolyn Lasch Scripps College Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Scripps Senior Theses Scripps Student Scholarship 2015 Personality and Creativity Correlates in Adults with Childhood Imaginary Companions Carolyn Lasch Scripps College Recommended Citation Lasch, Carolyn, "Personality and Creativity Correlates in Adults with Childhood Imaginary Companions" (2015). Scripps Senior Theses. Paper 669. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/669 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Scripps Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scripps Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected] . Personality and Creativity Correlates in Adults with Childhood Imaginary Companions by Carolyn M. Lasch Submitted to Scripps College in partial fulfillment of the degree of Bachelor of Arts Professor Ma Professor Carlson April 24, 2015 PERSONALTY CORRELATES OF IMAGINARY COMPANIONS 2 Abstract A few studies have demonstrated differences in various personality attributes and creative abilities in children with imaginary companions. This study examined how recalled childhood engagement with an imaginary companion correlates with adult personality and creativity measures. It was hypothesized that creation of childhood imaginary companions would be positively correlated with adult creativity, but that this relationship would be mediated by certain personality attributes such as openness to experiences and extraversion. Other details of the imaginary companion experiences were also investigated. Two hundred and forty-six participants were recruited online to answer questions related to their personality and creativity, as well as any remembered imaginary companion experiences. Results indicated that the presence of a childhood imaginary companion was related to an individual’s openness to experience, but that the roles an imaginary companion played for its creator related to adult personality attributes more. [Show full text]
• Embedding Divergent Thinking Into Project Team Decision Making EMBEDDING DIVERGENT THINKING INTO PROJECT TEAM DECISION MAKING A thesis submitted in the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Mark Ross Boyes Master of Business Administration (Executive) with Distinction, RMIT University School of Property, Construction and Project Management College of Design and Social Context RMIT University June 2019 Declaration I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. I acknowledge the support I have received for my research through the provision of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Mark Ross Boyes Date: 14th June 2019 Copyright statement This work is copyright ©Mark Boyes 2019 Apart from use permitted by the Copyright Act of 1968, no part of this work can be reproduced or stored in a document management system (electronic or hardcopy) without the written permission of the author. Permission is granted to RMIT University to store in the Australian Thesis Repository and make it available for the purpose of personal study. Permissions for other purposes can be obtained from: [email protected] Mark BOYES PhD Thesis Page 2 Acknowledgements This work was carried out between 2014 and 2019 at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia, during which time many personal obstacles had to be overcome, including the unexpected passing of my mother in 2016; therefore, this thesis is dedicated to her; Diane Elizabeth Boyes (1942-2016). [Show full text]
• Creativity and Cognitive Skills Among Millennials: Thinking Too Much and Creating Too Little CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Frontiers - Publisher Connector ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 25 October 2016 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01626 Creativity and Cognitive Skills among Millennials: Thinking Too Much and Creating Too Little Brice Corgnet 1, Antonio M. Espín 2, 3* and Roberto Hernán-González 3, 4 1 EMLYON Business School, Univ Lyon, GATE L-SE UMR 5824, Ecully, France, 2 Economics Department, Middlesex University Business School, London, UK, 3 Granada Lab of Behavioral Economics, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain, 4 Business School, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK Organizations crucially need the creative talent of millennials but are reluctant to hire them because of their supposed lack of diligence. Recent studies have shown that hiring diligent millennials requires selecting those who score high on the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) and thus rely on effortful thinking rather than intuition. A central question is to assess whether the push for recruiting diligent millennials using criteria such as cognitive reflection can ultimately hamper the recruitment of creative workers. To answer this question, we study the relationship between millennials’ creativity and their performance on fluid intelligence (Raven) and cognitive reflection (CRT) tests. The good news for recruiters is that we report, in line with previous research, evidence of a positive relationship of fluid intelligence, and to a lesser extent cognitive reflection, with convergent creative thinking. In addition, we observe a positive effect of fluid intelligence on originality Edited by: Nikolaos Georgantzis, and elaboration measures of divergent creative thinking. The bad news for recruiters is University of Reading, UK the inverted U-shape relationship between cognitive reflection and fluency and flexibility Reviewed by: measures of divergent creative thinking. [Show full text]

9 Creative Problem Solving Tools For Your Next Breakthrough Idea

This is a suite of 9 creative problem solving tools from Erik op ten Berg. He’s an expert in creative thinking or applying creativity from the Netherlands.

He’s been working in this field for 25 years and has a Master of Science from Buffalo State University in New York.

His creative problem solving process takes a challenge and finds ideas that are new, useful and meaningful. I guarantee you this process will help you mobilise your group’s creative thinking skills.

You and your group will find original ideas which are always there. This helps you get to the holy grail of breakthrough thinking and quite possibly the ‘next big thing’.

Download free slides... enter your email address at the bottom to get this team building activity in your inbox

Interview with Erik op ten Berg

Watch this video to see Erik describe in detail how each tool / activity works with examples.

Please note that the video and audio quality is a little shaky in places. Sorry about that! We had some technical issues with Skype that were difficult to overcome.

Four Stages of Creative Problem Solving

The first two stages help you and your group ‘explore ideas’. The third stage helps you select the best ideas and the fourth tests the feasibility of your best ideas.

These are the four stages you need to go through (no skipping a stage please):

• Idea generation
• Idea expansion
• Idea selection
• Idea feasibility

Always start with the ABC Avalanche and then use 1 or 2 of the next 5 tools to expand the list of possible solutions.

1. ABC Avalanche (3:55sec on video)

A very basic brainstorming technique but extremely powerful.

This tool asks people to generate at least 26 ideas for a specific challenge sorting them by their first letters. It takes about 10-15 minutes.

• Write down the central question.
• Write down the letters of the alphabet.
• Generate many ideas sorting them by their first letters.
• Complete the alphabet.

Because participants focus on generating a specific number of ideas they postpone their judgments.

These attitudes are core to creative problem solving:

• Generating many alternative ideas.
• Postponing judgments.
• Moving past the first few (obvious) ideas.

Depending on the number of people in the session you can split into sub-groups. Feel free to build in a little competition between the groups if you like.

From this stage you have at least 26 starting ideas and people won’t have jumped into judging whether they are good ideas or not.

2. Breaking Assumptions (7:38min on video)

This is a second stage to an ABC Avalanche.

One of the very classical thinking techniques because to be truly creative you need to break patterns.

Once you’re aware of a pattern or an assumption in your idea generation so far you can deliberately break this assumption and new ideas will come forward and present themselves.

• List 5 assumptions present in the question or in the list of ideas.
• Take the opposite of each assumption.
• Imagine new solutions that run opposite to the initial assumptions.
• Add these to your list of ideas.

You ask the group to identify any patterns or assumptions that are built into either the challenge or list of ideas they’ve generated so far.

Then you ask them to take the opposite view (i.e. break that assumption) and come up with any new solutions and add them to your list of ideas.

3. Association Flower (11:13min on video)

Also a second stage technique after ABC Avalanche giving you and your group extra ‘access points’ from which to consider the challenge and generate more ideas.

This technique will generate a long list of associated keywords that can be used to generate even more ideas related to the original challenge.

• Write down a keyword about the challenge in the centre of the flower and four words that are associated with the keyword around it (see template on next page).
• Write around this keyword four associations.
• Then follow each of the 4 words in turn up its branch writing associated keywords as you go.
• Then use all these words to think in a new way about your challenge and generate even more ideas.
• Make the list of ideas as large as possible.

4. Visual Connections (15:33min on video)

Another way to create new ‘access points’ from which to generate new ideas.

• Focus on an interesting object, picture or an article in a newspaper.
• Write down your thoughts, reactions, impressions and observations.
• Make connections to the central topic and write these down as new ideas.
• Repeat this several times and expand your list of ideas.

You could bring a deck of pictures with you, or a set of magazines, or even ask the participants to bring their own magazines so they’re an integral part of the process.

5. SCAMPER (18:31min on video)

Use the 8 words from the acronym to approach the challenge from a different angle and generate a larger list of creative ideas.

SCAMPER is the summary of 72 questions used by Alex Osborn who is the man that founded the concept of brainstorming in the early 40s.

• SUBSTITUTE: parts, the whole, material…
• COMBINE: functions, material, just different…
• ADAPT: other color, place, use, form, timing…
• MAXIMIZE: bigger, stronger, longer, more time, macro level, use more often…
• MINIMIZE: smaller, lighter, shorter, micro level, less important…
• PUT TO OTHER USES: other context…
• ELIMINATE: parts, functions, material…
• REVERSE: sequence, upside down, inside out…

There’s no need to do all these words. Let them go wherever they want to go to create more productive access points to tackle the original challenge.

6. Analogy with nature (22:32min on video)

Sometimes people are using this technique as biomimicry .

Your question to the group: what kind of animals are you thinking about when you use your imagination?

Get them to list lots of animals quickly and ask them to select one. What is it that makes this an extraordinary animal?

Once you have that list of characteristics about the animal use those words as access points to generate more ideas about the challenge. What you’re doing here is using the beauty of nature and bringing that connection back to the challenge.

• List several names of animals.
• Choose a special animal with no link to the problem.
• List 10 characteristics about this animal.
• Use each characteristic as a stimulus for new ideas.
• Make a force-to-fit to the problem and boost your list of ideas.

Next step is to select ideas through a process of prioritization that you want to go deeper into and do further work on to develop them further.

7. Selecting ideas & COCD Box (24:37min on video)

Using a combination of dots (or hits as Erik calls them) and his COCD box you’re looking to boil down your grand list of ideas down to about 15 really good ones (5 in each color – blue, red and yellow).

• 5-15 IDEAS: everybody selects his or her 1-3 favorite hits; make out of these a top 3.
• 15-40 IDEAS: 5 sparkling ideas per person; focus on these and define an overall top 5 using dots or hits.
• >40 IDEAS: select individually 5-8 blue-red-yellow ideas (COCD-box); define the BIG 5 in each color.

Once you have 5 good ideas in each of the coloured boxes look for themes across them to try and boil everything down to a Top 5 by making some smart combinations.

If you’re looking for breakthrough ideas (and most often you will be) the ideas in the red box will be the ones you want to focus on in the next stage.

8. Concepting (30:07min on video)

What you’re looking to do now is enrich your ideas into concepts. You do this by combining your headline ideas with other ideas that are closely related from your overall list.

Take each red idea in turn and see if you can bundle in other ideas from the grand list.

• Focus on the selected ideas.
• Take one idea and add on different ideas (with and without dots) from the idea list, to enrich the original idea.
• Do this for all the selected ideas.
• Give the enriched ideas an attractive title.
• Go on with these results.

Then give the enriched ideas a more attractive title.

9. PPCO (33:38min on video)

This is one of Erik’s little gems he got out of his Master of Science in Buffalo.

At this stage you’re looking to expand and test your best ideas or concepts for feasibility.

• Pluses : what is good, positive about the idea.
• Potentials : what are the possibilities if the idea were pursued.
• Concerns : phrase shortcomings or limitations of the idea as questions.
• Overcomes : generate ideas to overcome the ‘burning’ concerns.

PPCO is like a SWOT analysis but in a more positive end. A moving towards approach instead of getting away approach. Facing truth and reality in a way of opportunities.

Pluses : Let’s see why we should do this idea. Potentials : What are the extra potentials of this idea that you haven’t considered before? These are extra or super pluses. Concerns : ‘how can I overcome (insert negative point here) …” Overcomes : your last stage of creative thinking where you’re generating answers of how to overcome your concerns.

You end with a triple positive state with very realistic backgrounds. That’s the kind of creativity you need when you have a good idea and you want to move it further whilst trying to taste a bit of the potential of it.

Creative problem solving is a process that, if you have the right tools and activities at hand, you can consistently achieve fantastic results from.

For your session to be a success you need to make sure you move past the first few obvious ideas, you generate tonnes of alternatives and that you postpone judgment on the quality of each idea until the appropriate moment.

How does your experience stack up? Do you have any secrets you’d like to share in the comments below?

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About the author.

Erik op ten Berg (1963) holds a Master of Science Degree in Creativity and Change Leadership, and is educated in Innovation Management at Delft Technical University in The Netherlands. He is a well-known trainer in Creative Problem Solving, and moderator of hundreds of change focused brainstorm workshops. Besides his own company Pioen consult he is also partner at the “Center for the Development of Creative Thinking” (COCD) in Belgium.

Thanks great would like to communicate with Erik Op Ten Berg

dear Rakesh! send me an email at [email protected] ; I will appologize for the delays in my answer because of some Summer holiday trips until August 22…

Thanks for sharing all these ideas. Very interesting and it generates a lots of ideas. One of them is the potential use of istock or getty image platform to search visuals using key words for Visual connections exercises. Wonder if you have try something like this in the past.

Great idea Dany. You need to be careful of potential copyright infringements obviously but there are loads of free stock image repositories out there too you can use in the way you suggest.

hi Dany! visual connections are an “easy way” to create access to thoughts that didn’t came up before; you can do this offline and also online; my experience with group thinking is better with offline pictures then online; bur for individual practice the online inspiration can be very productive and provocative; I wish you lots of creative detours in your own thinking; best wishes, Erik op ten Berg

Very educative, very informative, very useful for a trainer/coach. Thanks for great help to trainer community. World owes you a lot.

excellent approach

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Creative Problem Solving

Finding innovative solutions to challenges.

© iStockphoto boboling

Discover new ways to look at things differently.

Imagine that you're vacuuming your house in a hurry because you've got friends coming over. Frustratingly, you're working hard but you're not getting very far. You kneel down, open up the vacuum cleaner, and pull out the bag. In a cloud of dust, you realize that it's full... again. Coughing, you empty it and wonder why vacuum cleaners with bags still exist!

James Dyson , inventor and founder of Dyson® vacuum cleaners, had exactly the same problem, and he used creative problem solving to find the answer. While many companies focused on developing a better vacuum cleaner filter, he realized that he had to think differently and find a more creative solution. So, he devised a revolutionary way to separate the dirt from the air, and invented the world's first bagless vacuum cleaner.

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.

In this article, we'll explore what CPS is, and we'll look at its key principles. We'll also provide a model that you can use to generate creative solutions.

About Creative Problem Solving

Alex Osborn, founder of the Creative Education Foundation , first developed creative problem solving in the 1940s, along with the term "brainstorming."   And, together with Sid Parnes, he developed the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process. Despite its age, this model remains a valuable approach to problem solving.

The early Osborn-Parnes model inspired a number of other tools. One of these is the 2011 CPS Learner's Model, also from the Creative Education Foundation , developed by Dr Gerard J. Puccio, Marie Mance, and co-workers. In this article, we'll use this modern four-step model to explore how you can use CPS to generate innovative, effective solutions.

Why Use Creative Problem Solving?

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.

CPS asks you to separate your "divergent" and "convergent" thinking as a way to do this. Divergent thinking is the process of generating lots of potential solutions and possibilities, otherwise known as brainstorming. And convergent thinking involves evaluating those options and choosing the most promising one. Often, we use a combination of the two to develop new ideas or solutions. However, using them simultaneously can result in unbalanced or biased decisions, and can stifle idea generation.

For more on divergent and convergent thinking, and for a useful diagram, see Sam Kaner's 2001 book, " Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making ."

Core Principles of Creative Problem Solving

CPS has four core principles. Let's explore each one in more detail:

• Divergent and convergent thinking must be balanced. The key to creativity is learning how to identify and balance divergent and convergent thinking (done separately), and knowing when to practice each one.
• Ask problems as questions. When you rephrase problems and challenges as open-ended questions with multiple possibilities, it's easier to come up with solutions. Asking these types of questions generates lots of rich information, while asking closed questions tends to elicit short answers, such as confirmations or disagreements. Problem statements tend to generate limited responses, or none at all.
• Defer or suspend judgment. As Alex Osborn learned from his work on brainstorming, judging solutions early on tends to shut down idea generation. Instead, there's an appropriate and necessary time to judge ideas during the convergence stage.
• Focus on "Yes, and," rather than "No, but." Language matters when you're generating information and ideas. "Yes, and" encourages people to expand their thoughts, which is necessary during certain stages of CPS. Using the word "but" – preceded by "yes" or "no" – ends conversation, and often negates what's come before it.

How to Use the Tool

Let's explore how you can use each of the four steps of the CPS Learner's Model (shown in figure 1, below) to generate innovative ideas and solutions.

Figure 1 – CPS Learner's Model

From The CPS Process and Learner's Model by the Creative Education Foundation, based on the work of Alex Osborn and Sid Parnes. Adapted by G.J. Puccio, M. Mance, M.C. Murdock, B. Miller, J. Vehar, R. Firestien, S. Thurber, and D. Nielsen (2011). Reproduced with permission.

Explore the Vision

Identify your goal, desire or challenge. This is a crucial first step because it's easy to assume, incorrectly, that you know what the problem is. However, you may have missed something or have failed to understand the issue fully, and defining your objective can provide clarity. Read our article, 5 Whys   , for more on getting to the root of a problem quickly.

Gather Data

Once you've identified and understood the problem, you can collect information about it and develop a clear understanding of it. Make a note of details such as who and what is involved, all the relevant facts, and everyone's   feelings and opinions.

Formulate Questions

When you've increased your awareness of the challenge or problem you've identified, ask questions   that will generate solutions. Think about the obstacles you might face and the opportunities they could present.

Explore Ideas

Generate ideas that answer the challenge questions you identified in step 1. It can be tempting to consider solutions that you've tried before, as our minds tend to return to habitual thinking patterns that stop us from producing new ideas. However, this is a chance to use your creativity   .

Brainstorming and Mind Maps   are great ways to explore ideas during this divergent stage of CPS. And our articles, Encouraging Team Creativity   , Problem Solving   , Rolestorming   , Hurson's Productive Thinking Model   , and The Four-Step Innovation Process   , can also help boost your creativity.

See our Brainstorming resources within our Creativity section for more on this.

Formulate Solutions

This is the convergent stage of CPS, where you begin to focus on evaluating all of your possible options and come up with solutions. Analyze whether potential solutions meet your needs and criteria, and decide whether you can implement them successfully. Next, consider how you can strengthen them and determine which ones are the best "fit." Our articles, Critical Thinking   and ORAPAPA   , are useful here.

4. Implement

Formulate a plan.

Once you've chosen the best solution, it's time to develop a plan of action. Start by identifying resources and actions that will allow you to implement your chosen solution. Next, communicate your plan and make sure that everyone involved understands and accepts it.

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CPS is a simple, general problem-solving approach, so don't rely on it solely to find effective solutions. There are a number of other tools that are more appropriate for analytical problem solving, such as Root Cause Analysis   , The Simplex Process   , and Cause and Effect Analysis   .

There have been many adaptations of CPS since its inception, because nobody owns the idea.

For example, Scott Isaksen and Donald Treffinger formed The Creative Problem Solving Group Inc . and the Center for Creative Learning , and their model has evolved over many versions. Blair Miller, Jonathan Vehar and Roger L. Firestien also created their own version , and Dr Gerard J. Puccio, Mary C. Murdock, and Marie Mance developed CPS: The Thinking Skills Model . Tim Hurson created The Productive Thinking Model   , and Paul Reali developed CPS: Competencies Model .

Sid Parnes continued to adapt the CPS model by adding concepts such as imagery   and visualization   , and he founded the Creative Studies Project to teach CPS. For more information on the evolution and development of the CPS process, see Creative Problem Solving Version 6.1 by Donald J. Treffinger, Scott G. Isaksen, and K. Brian Dorval.

Infographic

Click on the image below to see our infographic on Creative Problem Solving.

Creative problem solving (CPS) is a way of using your creativity to develop new ideas and solutions to problems. The process is based on separating divergent and convergent thinking styles, so that you can focus your mind on creating at the first stage, and then evaluating at the second stage.

There have been many adaptations of the original Osborn-Parnes model, but they all involve a clear structure of identifying the problem, generating new ideas, evaluating the options, and then formulating a plan for successful implementation.

Apply This to Your Life

Have you ever faced a problem that you thought was insurmountable? Perhaps your boss has asked you to reduce spending in your department, but you can't see where to make cuts without sacrificing quality.

Try following the first step of the CPS process, and clearly identify the problem. Next, gather data and formulate the challenge. Then, you can explore ideas and come up with solutions. Finally, develop a plan of action and make your solution a reality.

This site teaches you the skills you need for a happy and successful career; and this is just one of many tools and resources that you'll find here at Mind Tools. Subscribe to our free newsletter , or join the Mind Tools Club and really supercharge your career!

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Comments (6)

• Over a month ago BillT wrote Hello steven_jack, Thank you, I appreciate the humor.
• Over a month ago steven_jack wrote Why? Why make this free its torture
• Over a month ago Yolande wrote Hi Victoria I think using Kotter's 8-step model is a great idea. I have to admit that it's a personal favourite, so I may be a bit biased! I'd love you to ask this question on the Career Cafe Central forum. Just click on "start a new topic". Our members all help and learn from one another over there. You'll find the forum over here: https://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=2 We look forward to seeing you around. Yolandé Mind Tools Team

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