by Gregg Fraley on October 31st, 2012
Creative Problem Solving training improves team efficiency
Creative Problem Solving (CPS, Osborn-Parnes) training makes an immediate and lasting impact on team productivity.
If people don’t understand the basis of individual and organisational creativity, innovation will be hit or miss. “Organic” problem solving is generally inefficient. First, without training, teams tend to churn between ideas, exploration and solutions in a thoughtless and frantic way. That’s why, so often, teams wind up mired in debate.
Systematically this means: The problems that get solved are the ones that look solve-able from the start. When the creative “going” gets rough, people accept mediocre solutions or simply back away from a problem.
Simply quitting isn’t the answer. Learning how to solve problems creatively – and on an ongoing basis – is the only thing that will make a difference to your team’s outcomes. And the way to do this is to learn deliberate steps – and suitable tools and techniques – so that problems are well-framed in the first place, and people are clear which thinking style is appropriate at each step.
Overall, CPS training makes deliberate creative thinking – and judgement about options – part of the team’s mindset. And it’s that new mindset that allows innovation process work to integrate with operational work and business-as-usual.
At KILN, we provide robust, interactive, fun CPS training that builds your team’s creative muscles, provides team members with tools and techniques (and practice applying them) and conversation skills to keep the creative cycle on track.