Workshop outline
Creative thinking is an essential complement to operational thinking.

Operational thinking is about doing things better; creative thinking is about finding new things to do. Good operational thinking seeks continuous improvement; good creative thinking seeks discontinuous innovation.

We are all naturally creative. The challenge is to find practical ways of using that energy in our work. This workshop gives you the tools and techniques to release creativity in yourself and your team, so that you can make it an integral part of your managerial toolkit.

• Use a range of creative thinking techniques
• Develop a structured brainstorming process
• Help others to think creatively
• Extend and enrich their perception and analysis of problems
• Put creative thinking to work in a range of situations

• Service development
• New applications for existing services
• Improving services to existing clients
• Systems enhancements
• Identifying opportunities for new working arrangements
• Cross-functional working
• Quality issues
• New ideas for training initiatives or activities
  
  

Workshop content

Why be creative?
Identifying objectives
What is creativity?
Challenging accepted notions of the creative
Models of the creative process
Identifying our own sources of creativity
Creating the conditions for creativity
Behaviours for encouraging creative thinking
Creativity in teams
Brainstorming: essential principles
Brainstorming: a structured approach to creativity
Task description
Idea generation
Solution development
Exploring problems
Categorising problems
Problem statements
Transforming problems
Techniques for generating ideas
Associative thinking
Metaphors
Reversal techniques
Developing solutions
Building feasibility
PMI and NAF analysis
Putting creativity to work
Identifying opportunities for creative thinking:
Action session
Participants identify the actions they will take as a result of attending the course.

Note
The ideal group size for this course is 8-12 participants.