Busy people need routines and shortcuts to make it through the day. If we had to consciously think about the steps involved in making a cup of tea, we’d have exhausting our thinking energy before we’d even left the house in the morning. Routine thinking may save time and energy, but seriously hampers creative brainstorming, so use this exercise to challenge traditional thoughts and encourage creativity.
Get your team to list the first opposite meaning of the words listed below that springs to mind e.g. day, stupid. This will flush out the obvious, routine words. Challenge your team to come up with at least 3 further opposite words for each word.
Example:
Night = day,sun,white,awake, …
Smart = stupid, scruffy, shabby, in-elegant, clumsy, gawky
1. Good
2. Dangerous
3. Clear
4. Feasible
5. Design
6. Bad
7. Safe
You’ll find some similar meaning words creep into your list – that’s fine as these can spark further opposite meaning words. Remember ideas breed ideas and to keep critical, analytical thinking in check. Limit the time spent on this activity to 10-15 minutes, to keep it fresh and focused.
Problem Solving Activity 2 – What Can You See?
Sometimes you’re so close to a problem you can’t see how it will ever be solved. This situation is so common, it even has it’s own cliché – “you can’t see the wood for the trees”. Here’s a brainstorming game to help you see things differently, and aid the problem solving process.
Each team member should individually write down what they can see.
1. Shape 1:
2. Shape 2:
3. Shape 3:
Compare your answers. You may find descriptions such as; three colored shapes, or a green circle with a diagonal line, a red hexagon and a yellow thought bubble etc. Some may have made a small creative leap and seen the top left figure as a green “forbidden” road sign. Others may have taken bigger creative leaps and see a winking, bearded face or an imminent solar eclipse on a cloudy day. It doesn’t matter if you can or can’t see these more outlandish images – there’s no right or wrong answer.
Looking at things in a fresh, new way can trigger a whole train-load of thoughts, and that’s the essence of effective brainstorming.
Problem Solving Activity 3 – Improvisation
“Normal” behavior is encouraged at school and work, as this is the easiest, most efficient way to get things done. As a result, our creative self often is hidden away, getting flabby from under-use. Then along comes a teacher or manager demanding we do some brainstorming to come up with an innovative solution. Like un-used muscles, creativity improves with exercise, so here’s a brainstorming exercise to warm-up those under-used creative muscles.
Come up with different uses for the household props in the middle of the room, e.g. the belt could become a Japanese warrior’s head-band.
Give this exercise a time limit of 10-15 minutes and encourage all team members to take part.
1. belt
2. eye cover
3. barettes
4. paper clips
5. post-it notes
6. T-pins
Problem Solving Activity 4 – Taking a Fresh Look at the Final Proposal
Now, take your existing design proposal and see how you could use it or look at it in a different way. The wackier the better at this stage – remember you’re aiming for quantity not quality – and take note of the ideas generated. It’s only later that we put our critical hats back on, and rate the ideas and assess their suitability.
-activities from http://www.mftrou.com/creative-brainstorming-activities.html
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