Icebreaker: You Can Only Ask One Question
This exercise can be used as an icebreaker but can also to see how delegates approach problem solving. The problems considered can also be customised to make the exercise even more useful when an i...
Creativity Exercise: Alternative Applications
You can use this generic creativity exercise to get people think of unusual solutions to problems. The idea of the exercise is to force delegates to think about alternatives and then compare their ...
Brainstorming Exercise: Design Shoes
This is an entertaining and educational exercise. It helps to unleash people’s creativity, bring them together and get them to cooperate on a common task and solve problems. In this exercise, the m...
Use Random Stimuli to Boost Creativity
A great way to increase creativity is to use random stimuli. Random thoughts can lead to new associations which in turn can help the group to explore new parts of a search space not considered befo...
Decision Making: The NAF Technique
A particularly useful technique in brainstorming and decision making is the NAF technique. The acronym stands for New, Appeal and Feasibility. It is basically a simple way to score ideas to see if ...
Teambuilding Exercise: Handle Toxic Waste
In this team building exercise, the group must work together to handle toxic waste symbolised by an object. Many areas can be explored in this exercise including leadership, problem solving, teamwo...
Words can sometimes limit creativity. Humans are generally very visual and have evolved to sense the world primarily thorough focused looking and observation. As a result, a large part of the brain...
Handout: Problem Solving Questions
The following is a series of questions presented under a number of categories that help to analyse a given problem. The set of questions can be used in a handout for people who want to explore a gi...
Crisis Management: How to Have a Plan Before it is Too Late
This is a useful exercise that helps delegates to quickly come up with a plan to respond to a crisis. In today’s dynamic world, crisis management is crucial. Risk prediction and risk management is ...
Brainstorming Exercise: Dialectic Inquiry
Sometimes it is important to scrutinise a plan to make sure it is valid. A common method used is known as Devil’s Advocate. This is basically an individual who has been given the role of an adverse...
Problem Solving Exercise: If Time Was Not an Issue
When solving problems, it is sometimes easy to dismiss new ideas straight away by worrying about lack of resources or lack of time. A new idea is usually very fragile and cannot stand much scrutiny...
Branding Exercise: What Is My Company Like?
Companies develop different cultures. It is important to know how the company is seen both internally and externally. Internally, it helps to bind the team and make everyone coordinate their effort...
Problem Solving Exercise: Look at the Problem from a Kid’s Point of View
A particularly useful problem solving technique is to see a given problem from the point of view of a 10 year old. This view point usually helps to simplify both problems and solutions and as a res...
Bullet Proofing Your Ideas: What Can Possibly Go Wrong?
Most brainstorming sessions revolve around problem solving and coming up with new solutions. This is useful in generating ideas, though it does not provide many opportunities to find out what happe...
Creativity Exercise: Introducing Random Associations
This is a template for a problem solving exercise that help generates a variety of solutions. The technique can be used in brainstorming or any creative thinking activity. It aims to bring randomne...
Crisis Management: Brainstorm a Solution
This exercise combines crisis management and brainstorming. You can use it as a template for a series of exercises on problem solving using different methods depending on what you are covering in y...
Goal Setting Exercise: Challenge Assumptions
Sometimes we take things for granted. We assume certain conditions are true and remain true until it is too late. This happens often in industries that evolve very quickly or markets that change ra...
Team Building Exercise: Slowest Balloon
This team building exercise presents groups with challenges which require solutions to seemingly easy problems. Delegates need to plan, construct and execute their solutions quickly in order to bea...
