Creative Problem Solving & Decision Making

Creativity and innovation is essential for organisations to progress. Research shows that most people only use a fraction of their cognitive abilities. Creative thinking and problem solving is a skill, and like any other skill it can be mastered and channelled towards specific goals with incredible results. 

Objectives:

• Recognise the principles of creativity and innovation.
• Explore what limits your creative potential, organisationally and personally
• Learn how to find the root cause of a problem before investing in expensive solutions.
• Explore ways to exercise sound judgment when evaluating and resolving problems.
• Apply innovative problem solving techniques to real life work challenges. 
• Learn where to focus your analytical thinking efforts for identifying effective solutions.
• Identify the obstacles to change including resistance and negative reactions to change, empower employees, and ease the tension caused by a change.
• Identify strategies to encourage an innovative culture with your team members.

Contents:

Creativity and Innovation 

• Measure your Creativity. Assessment – how creative are you? 
• Left and right brain functions 
• Approaching problems based on the past and how does this effect creativity and innovation
• Convergent and Divergent thinking
• Avoiding patterned thinking and negative thinking
• Separating idea generation from evaluation and what does it mean in practice
• Encouraging innovation in the workplace and building on other team member’s ideas

The Steps Of Effective Problem Solving Systems

• Identifying a problem
• The steps of effective problem solving system
• Defining the problem
• Generating alternatives
• Evaluating and selecting alternatives
• Implementing solutions

Analyzing Problems

• Understanding Complexity
• Cause-and-Effect Diagram
• Discover the root cause of a problem
• Uncover bottlenecks in your processes
• Identify where and why a process isn't working

The Vital Role Of Communication In The Process

• Questions techniques to use to order to stimulate communication at each step
• Positive Communication in explaining problems
• How to confront problems to prevent future stress

Creative Thinking Techniques

• Brainstorming
• Mind mapping 
• Word association
• Business process re-engineering: 20 questions