Creative Problem Solving (CPS)Module 5

David A. JarvisSalve Regina UniversityMGT567 Creative Problem SolvingOctober 6-7, 20-21 2012

Creative process roles (von Oech)

Explorer Artist Judge WarriorSearching for new

information

Turning your resources into new

ideas

Evaluating the merits of an idea

Carrying your idea into action

Divergent/convergent thinking

Divergent and convergent principles

To Diverge To Converge

Defer judgment Apply affirmative judgment

Go for quantity Keep novelty alive

Make connections Check your objectives

Seek novelty Stay focused

Allow for incubation

Defer judgment

Hold evaluation until a later time

Suspend disbelief Entertain potential

value

Increases your awareness of and respect for possibilities

Replaces a “can’t” mentality with a “can do” mindset

Makes you more open and receptive to new things

Expands your array of usable choices

Helps you to get a different idea or new way of looking at things

Go for quantity

The ability to generate many possibilities

Increases the likelihood of a breakthrough idea

The more your produce, the more you learn

Most original ideas come after a period of extended idea

generation

Prevents jumping on the first idea that sounds like it might

work

“The best way to have a good idea is to have

lots of ideas.”

Make connections

Prevent teams from becoming isolated

Find remarkable idea combinations at intersections

Increases the likelihood of obtaining unusual responses

and solutions

Encourages flexible thinking

Helps to elaborate on or extend initial ideas

Provides cross-fertilization of ideas and results

Seek novelty

Stretch your thinking Generate an idea that

is paradigm breaking Take a new view of a

old problem

Leads to breakthrough ideas

Stimulates other ideas that may be practical

Fosters a playful and creative atmosphere in groups

Apply affirmative judgment

Using effective critical thinking, as opposed to faultfinding

Don’t focus on “wrong” or “why it won’t work”

Consider both the positives and negatives

Keep the momentum of the creative process going

Remember, feedback can either support or hinder creativity

“Leaders should not be unduly critical of developing ideas…”

Keep novelty alive

Entertain original concepts that have been previously generated

Be open to the unexpected

Avoid simply discarding unexpected outcomes as mistakes

Be open to the benefits of new discoveries

Check your objectives

Consider the reality of the situation Understand your criteria for success Work within your constraints True creativity is about developing

something that is novel and meets a need

“You must embrace both realism and creativity

throughout the evaluation process…”

Stay focused

Ensure that the best alternatives are selected and developed

Must deliberately and systematically refine your thinking

Balance and combine intuition with critical analysis (the analytic sandwich)

“Creativity is damn hard…”

Allow for incubation

Take a break from actively pursuing a solution when the problem is not consciously worked on, allowing

options to develop without full awareness

Creative problem solving process

Assessing the

situation

Exploring the

vision

Formulating

challenges

Exploring ideas

Formulating

solutions

Exploring acceptan

ce

Formulating a plan CREATIVE

PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS

CLARIFICATION

TRANSFORMATION

IMPLEMENTATION

Clarification Transformation Implementation

Step(1)

Assessing the situation

(2) Exploring the vision

(3) Formulating challenges

(4) Exploring ideas

(5) Formulating

solutions(6) Exploring acceptance

(7) Formulating

a planDiverge Converge Diverge Converge Diverge Converge

Purpose

To describe and identify

relevant data and to

determine next process step

To develop a vision of a

desired outcome

To identify the gaps that must

be closed to achieve the

desired outcome

To generate novel ideas that address importance challenges

To move from ideas to solutions

To increase the likelihood of

success

To develop an implementatio

n plan

Thinking

Skill

Diagnostic Visionary Strategic Ideational Evaluative Contextual TacticalMaking a careful examination of a

situation, describing the nature of the problem, and

making decisions about

appropriate process steps to

be taken

Articulating a vivid image of

what you desire to create

Identifying the critical issues that must be

addressed and pathways

needed to move toward the

desired future

Producing original mental

images and thoughts that

respond to important challenges

Assessing the reasonableness and quality of

ideas in order to develop workable solutions

Understanding the interrelated conditions and circumstances

that will support or hinder success

Devising a plan that includes specific and measureable

steps for attaining a

desired end and methods for monitoring

effectiveness

Affective

SkillsMindfulness Dreaming Sensing gaps Playfulness

Avoiding premature

closureSensitivity to environment

Tolerance for risks

Attending to thoughts,

feelings and sensations

relative to the present situation

To imagine as possible your desires and

hopes

To become consciously

aware of discrepancies between what currently exists

and is desired or required

Freely toying with ideas

Resisting the urge to push for

a decision

The degree to which people are

aware of their physical and psychological surroundings

Not allowing yourself to be

shaken or unnerved by the

possibility of failures or setbacks

Key Words Picture, dream,

look at, forecast, contemplate,

see, speculate, ponder, wonder

about

Clarify, untangle, explicate, define, decipher, clear up, uncover, discern why

Come up with, invent, break

through, originate,

innovate, hatch, fashion, think

up,

Develop, elaborate, expand,

evaluate, flesh out, strengthen, refine, analyze, maximize, build

on

Sell, convince, market,

promote, leverage, influence,

persuade, pitch, position,

introduce, advocate,

Execute, implement, do,

script, orchestrate, devise, plot,

outline, organize, rollout,

Tools • 5 W’s and an H

• Why/why diagram

• Hits • Highlighting

• Wishful thinking

• Storyboarding• Success

zones

• Statement starters

• Webbing

• Brainstorming• Forced

connections

• Criteria• Evaluation

matrix• PPC°

• Assisters and resisters

• Stakeholder analysis

• Generating actions steps

• How-how diagram

• Sequencing• Performance

dashboard

CPS skill summaryStep Thinking Skill Affective Skill

1 Assessing the situation Diagnostic Mindfulness

2 Exploring the vision Visionary Dreaming

3 Formulating challenges Strategic Sensing gaps

4 Exploring ideas Ideational Playfulness

5 Formulating solutions Evaluative Avoiding premature closure

6 Exploring acceptance Contextual Sensitivity to environment

7 Formulating a plan Tactical Tolerance for risks

Screening – does this problem need creative problem solving?

Influence?Imagination?

Interest?Immediacy?

Assessing the situation

Leaders need to…

Influence and be influenced Move quickly in response to new ideas

Make adjustments as things change

Act as gatekeepers to the flow of information

Sort through what is important and what isn’t

Make good and wise decisions

Ensure opportunities aren’t missed

Understand the context of the current reality

Interpret data and explore meaning

Be cognizant of both the content and the process

Diagnostic thinking

What needs to be done

Who can help or hinder you

Why you should or shouldn’t do it

How it should be done

First, you need to understand…

Qualities of mindfulness

• Focus on the present moment• Being fully present• Openness to experience• Non-judgment• Acceptance of things as they are• Connection• Non-attachment• Peace and equanimity• Compassion

SOURCE: “Nine Essential Qualities of Mindfulness”, Psychology Today, 2/22/12

How to assess the situation

Take in data

Examine the situation

Analyze choices

Make a decision

Determine process steps

“You see,” he explained, “I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might

be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he

has difficulty laying his hands upon it.”

(Sherlock Holmes, “A Study in Scarlett”)

Data comes from many sources

Information and knowledge Impressions Feelings

Specific knowledge or facts about the area,

news, research, theory, from many disciplines

Personal hunches or guesses, intuition, “sixth

sense”, beliefs, predictions

Emotional responses, sentiments, sympathy,

empathy

Questions Observation

Inquiring, doubting, paradoxes, uncertainty,

confused, unclear, curiosity

Taking into account through the senses,

perceiving,

SOURCE: Creative Problem Solving: An Introduction

The 5 H’s and a W

Remember to ask “else”? Who else? Etc.

Who? What? When?

• Who’s involved?• Who created the situation?

• Who will have to help?• Who’s concerned? Excited?

• What has been done before?

• What resources do we have? Need?

• What do we want to happen?

• When did I become aware?• When must action be

taken?• When is the best or worst

time to work on it?

Where? Why? How?

• Where does the action take place?

• Where else has someone dealt with this situation?

• Where would we like to be?

• Why do we have this situation?

• Why hasn’t it been dealt with?

• Why do we want to deal with it?

• How do I see this situation?• How do others view it?

• How do we want things to change?

• How will it be different than the present?

SOURCE: Creative Problem Solving: An Introduction

Exploring the vision

Leaders need to…

Identify future opportunities Help others works towards goals

Ensure high levels of performance Initiate change

Inspire others Create consensus

Provide others with direction Create a sense of purpose

Determine which activities have the greatest potential (anticipating what will be required)

“There is no more powerful engine driving an organization towards

excellence and long-range success than an attractive, worthwhile and

achievable vision of the future, widely shared.”

(Burt Nanus, Visionary Leadership)

“For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the

moon and to the planets beyond, and we have

vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag

of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and

peace.”

“I have a dream that my four children will one day

live in a nation where they will not be judged by the

color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

“(Disneyland) will be filled with the accomplishments, the joys and hopes of the

world we live it. And it will remind us and show us

how to make those wonders part of our own

lives.”

What do we want the future to look like?

An individual

I want a career that is fulfilling but allows

me to have a full

relationship with my family

A company

We want to be #1 in our industry and provide a sustained

return for our investors

A country

We want to reduce our resource use while preserving

a high quality of life

Exploring the vision

Alternative views of future

directions

Which is the most productive pathway to your

purpose

Creating a wide shared clear sense of purpose, direction and desired future state

Tools – wishful thinking

Think about many positive and negative future outcomes

Identify the topic to explore

(think headlines)

STEP 1 STEP 2

Use statement starters to

create alternatives

(WIBNI, WIBAI)

Identify the key

statements

(the most promising and ones to void)

Reverse any WIBAI

statements

(wouldn’t it be awful)

STEP 3 STEP 4

Tools - storyboarding

Create a sequential story about the future highlighting significant events – from the present to a desired future

Identify the topic to explore

Decide on the number of panels

Define your current situation

Project yourself into the future Sequence the story

Elaborate on the images

(outcomes, obstacles, insights)

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6

Tools - storyboarding

Formulating challenges

VIDEO: Finding the problem is the hard part (Mike Krieger)

Leaders need to…

Break out of old ways of looking at a problem

Uncover opportunities you didn’t even know existed

Discover the root of issues Identify issues hidden in complex challenges

Not waste resources Avoid rushing to a solution – test assumptions

Reframe challenges Define the issues clearly and efficiently

Strategic thinking

Recognize what must be done to manifest the vision

Identify critical issues that must be addressed

Find paths to move towards the desired future

Understand where problems begin and end

Determine the best way to approach the problem

Creating a good problem statement

Should be in a question form, point to an objective, provoke ideas, be free of limiting criteria and stated concisely

Questioning stem

Someone to take action Action Receiver

• In what ways might…

• How might…• How to…• What might…

• Ownership• Whose

problem are you working on?

• “I” or “we”

• Attract•Increase•Improve•Find•Eliminate•Win•Change•Excite•Ensure•Create

+ + +

Sample problem statements

In what ways might I increase student’s motivation in the classroom?

How might we ensure our environment supports collaboration?

How can we make staff meetings more productive?

How might state government attract new business to the state?

What might improve the rate of adoption of hybrid and electric vehicles by …?

Tools – Webbing

Identify goal or desired outcome

Ask “why” – turn the answer into a question with a

statement starter

Ask “why else is this important?”

Ask “why” and “why else” to

those new challenges you

identified

Ask “what’s stopping me” to

explore more concrete

challenges

Continue asking “what’s stopping me” and “what else is stopping

me”

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6

Tools – Webbing

VISION OR DESIRED

OUTCOME

Why? Why else?

What is stopping you?

What else is stopping you?

GLOBAL

CONCRETE

Exploring ideas

VIDEO: Where good ideas come from (Steven Johnson)

People with a lot of ideas

Leaders need to…

Encourage in order to get breakthroughs

Have many, varied, unusual ideas

Get fresh perspectives Go beyond “surface ideas”

Engage in truly original thinking

Create an environment where ideas are welcome

Go to unanticipated places Create competitive advantage

Leaders must believe in the value of creative play

Making things Build and create

Making things up

Imagine and fantasize

Make believe

Doing as if / pretense

Being playful is about asking “what if” – turning reality into fantasy or fiction

Brainstorming tools - SCAMPER

S Substitute What might you use or do instead?

C Combine What things might be combined or synthesized to form new ideas?

A Adapt What might be changed or used in a different why?

M Magnify or minimize What might be made larger or smaller?

P Put to other uses How might something be used or applied in a new or different way?

E Eliminate What could be deleted?

R Reverse or rearrange What if you looked at the problem in the opposite way?

SOURCE: Creative Problem Solving: An Introduction

Formulating solutions

Resist the pressure to produce quick and easy decisions and solutions

Hulk smash your puny

ideas!!!

Leaders need to…

Strengthen the potential of ideas

Keep an open mind on an idea’s potential

Think through the strengths and weaknesses of an idea

Elaborate on less developed ideas

Turn ideas into viable solutions

Prioritize the importance of ideas to grow a plan

Provide a balance between novelty and usefulness

Influence others to appreciate novel ideas

Evaluate ideas and solutions before others see the final results

Bridging the gap between ideas and acceptance

This phase is the transition point between ideas and implementation

StrengthenIdentify weakness

DevelopRefine

EvaluateElaborate

IDEA

SOLUTION

The importance of criteria

Helps to screen ideas

Establishes benchmarks for evaluation

Determines strengths and limitations

Assesses options consistently

Will it… Does it…

Cost Will options be cost effective to implement?

Acceptance Will this possibility be acceptable to others?

Resources Will the materials needed be available?

Time Will the option fit into our schedule?

Space Will there be room to do what’s needed?

EXAMPLES

Evaluation matrix process

Develop criteria to evaluate options

Check to see if the

criteria are distinct and

positive

Build the matrix

Select an evaluation

system

Evaluate each choice

Review the matrix

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

Develop options and

make a final

decision

STEP 4

STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7

Evaluation matrix - exampleCriteria Decision

Criterion 1

Criterion 2 … Criterion

n Accept Refine Reject

Option 1 1 to 5good fair

poor

+-o

Option 2

…

Option n

PPCO

Pluses List what is good, positive, about the idea

Potentials List what might happen if the idea were pursued, what are the possibilities

Concerns What are the shortcomings, weaknesses or limitations of the idea

Overcoming concerns

Generate ideas to overcome concerns, starting with the most important

Miller, Vehar & Firestien, 2001

Exploring acceptance

The importance of contextual thinking

Leaders need to…

Ensure that new ideas are rolled out smoothly Build coalitions of support

Avoid being blindsided by critics

Ensure psychological, social and emotional support for

change

Attract resources necessary for success

Ensure alignment with organizational goals

Facilitate the objective analysis of ideas

Inform action plans with wisdom and social intelligence

Overcome sources of resistance

Anticipate, avoid and overcome

the people, resources and

conditions that will hinder your

progress

Qualities of an effective guiding coalition (Kotter)

Position power

Enough key players should be on board so that those left out cannot block progress

ExpertiseAll relevant points of view should be represented so that informed intelligent decisions can be made

CredibilityThe group should be seen and respected by those in the firm so that the group’s pronouncements will be taken seriously

LeadershipThe group should have enough proven leaders to be able to drive the change process

SOURCE: “Accelerate!”, John Kotter, HBR, Nov 2012

A management driven hierarchy working in concert with a strategy network

The Eight Accelerators: The processes that enable the strategy network to function

SOURCE: “Accelerate!”, John Kotter, HBR, Nov 2012

Assisters and resisters

Assister Resister

Who? Helpful people Critics or opponents

What? Essentials resources Things that might be unavailable

When? The best time to carry out solution The worst time to carry out solution

Where? Best places to implement the plans; support success Worst places; hinder success

Why? Best, most important justifications Least persuasive justifications

How? Actions others might take to support idea

Actions others might take to undermine idea

Stakeholder analysis

Generate a list of all of

the stakeholders

STEP 1 STEP 2

Identify their current level of support

Estimate where levels of support need to be

Generate action steps to close the

gaps

STEP 3 STEP 4

How to best influence those individuals, groups or organizations that have a vested interest

Formulation a plan

Leaders need to…

Assign resources Establish schedules and deadlines

Monitor progress Manage details

Deal with failures and setbacks

Conduct contingency planning

Questions to ask…

What steps are you committed to take? What resources are required to take them? When and where will they take place? Who will be involved? Why are they important? How will you carry them out?

Implementation planImmediate (next 24 hours)

Action By Whom? By When? Resources?

1. XXX XXX XXX XXX

Short-term stepsAction By Whom? By When? Resources?

1. XXX XXX XXX XXX

Intermediate stepsAction By Whom? By When? Resources?

1. XXX XXX XXX XXX

Long-term stepsAction By Whom? By When? Resources?

1. XXX XXX XXX XXX

“We cannot wait for great visions from great people…It is up to us to light our own small fires in the darkness.”

(Charles Handy)

VIDEO: Garden of your mind

SOURCESBOOKS Arthur, Cropley. Creativity in Education and Learning. Routledge, 2001. ISBN-10: 0749434473 Kelley, Tom, Jonathan Littman, and Tom Peters. The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's

Leading Design Firm. Crown Business, 2001. ISBN-10: 0385499841 Lehrer, Jonah. Imagine: How Creativity Works. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Leonard-Barton, Dorothy and Walter C. Swap. When Sparks Fly: Harnessing the Power of Group Creativity. Harvard

Business Review Press, 2005. ISBN-10: 1591397936 Managing Creativity and Innovation (Harvard Business Essentials). Harvard Business Review Press, 2003. ISBN-10:

1591391121 Puccio, Gerald, Marie Mance and Mary C. Murdock. Creative Leadership - Skills That Drive Change. 2nd ed. Sage

Publications, 2011. ISBN-10: 1412977576 Treffinger, Donald, Scott Isaksen, and Brian Stead-Doval. Creative Problem Solving: An Introduction. 4th ed. Prufrock

Press, 2006. ISBN-10: 1593631871

ARTICLES “Developing Creative and Critical Thinkers”, Col. Charles D. Allen, U.S. Army, Ret. and Col. Stephen J. Gerras, Ph.D.,

U.S. Army, Ret., Military Review, Nov-Dec 2009 “Sparking creativity in teams: An executive’s guide”, Marla M. Capozzi, Renée Dye, and Amy Howe, McKinsey

Quarterly, April 2011 “How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity”, Ed Catmull, Harvard Business Review, Sept 2008 “Inside Cisco’s Search for the Next Big Idea”, Guido Joret, Harvard Business Review, Sept 2009 “How to Kill Creativity”, Teresa M. Amabile, Harvard Business Review, Sept-Oct 1998 “Cultivating organizational creativity in an age of complexity” (IBM study, 2011) “Defining Systematic Creativity” (LEGO Learning Institute, 2009) “Accelerate!”, John P. Kotter, Harvard Business Review, Nov 2012 “What Doesn't Motivate Creativity Can Kill It”, Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer, Harvard Business Review Blog

Network, April 25, 2012 “KIDS Vision: Imagining Possible Futures for Technology”, Latitude Studios