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Creative Problem Solving
Creative Problem Solving is a process that allows people to apply both creative and critical thinking to find solutions to everyday problems. Creative Problem Solving eliminates the tendency to approach problems in a haphazard manner and, consequently, prevents surprises and/or disappointment with the solution.
Used by thousands of group leaders seeking a friendly introduction to using Creative Problem Solving, this book is a time-honored classic. Creative Problem An Introduction is based on more than five decades of extensive research, development, and field experience in educational settings, businesses, and many other organizations.
Written for both group leaders and individuals seeking a systematic way to build innovative and effective solutions, Creative Problem Solving is perfect for any type of setting.
This definitive guide shows you how to find successful solutions to important challenges. Creative Problem Solving (CPS) can help your students to approach problems and deal with change in a deliberate and constructive way, building their confidence and success in working with complex issues.
This revised and updated fourth edition Educational Resource
Used by thousands of group leaders seeking a friendly introduction to using Creative Problem Solving, this book is a time-honored classic. Creative Problem An Introduction is based on more than five decades of extensive research, development, and field experience in educational settings, businesses, and many other organizations.
Written for both group leaders and individuals seeking a systematic way to build innovative and effective solutions, Creative Problem Solving is perfect for any type of setting.
This definitive guide shows you how to find successful solutions to important challenges. Creative Problem Solving (CPS) can help your students to approach problems and deal with change in a deliberate and constructive way, building their confidence and success in working with complex issues.
This revised and updated fourth edition Educational Resource
- GenresNonfiction
102 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2005
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85 people want to read
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July 9, 2020
An excellent book that outlines problem-solving steps, and how to treat each one with creativity. It is not a book for skimming. It is not always easy to read, but worth it. It has a wide reach--whether you are a manufacturing company or a utility, this book is worth the read.
I'm partial to the way they use bulleted lists to summarize important points, too.
I'm partial to the way they use bulleted lists to summarize important points, too.
Read
May 13, 2011Creative Problem Solving an Introduction 4th ed by Donald J Treffinger, Scott G Isaksen, and K. Brian Stead-Dorval
CH1
Creative Problem Solving (CPS)
1. Define or understand the nature of a problem
2. Think up some new ideas
3. Devise and carry out a plan of action
“Everyone has the ability to think creatively and critically, and everyone can be successful in solving problems effectively and productively.” P 1
Use CPS to be more creatively productive.
1. Recognize opportunities, challenges, and concerns
2. Examine data in your situation to discover the most important challenge at he heart of the situation
3. Consider many ways to state the problem, and then select a specific problem statement that will stimulate ideas
4. Generate many, varied, and unusual ideas for dealing with the problem you’ve stated
5. Identify and use tools for choosing, analyzing, and developing promising ideas
6. Examine promising possible solutions and then plan for successful implementation
7. Design and carry out a specific and detailed plan of action.
Creative and Critical Thinking
“Creative and critical thinking are two complementary, mutually important ways of thinking.”
Creative Thinking
Creative thinking involves encountering gaps, paradoxes, opportunities, challenges, or concerns, and then searching for meaningful new connections by generating:
--many possibilities
--varied possibilities (from different viewpoints or perspectives)
--unusual or original possibilities
--details to expand or enrich possibilities
Creative thinking is a divergent process, in which we begin at a single point or with a single question and extend our search in many different directions, generating a wade variety of new possibilities.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking involves examining possibilities carefully, fairly, and constructively, and then focusing your thoughts and actions by:
--organizing and analyzing possibilities
--refining and developing promising possibilities
--ranking or prioritizing options
--choosing or deciding on certain options
Critical thinking is called convergent thinking. The process of attempting to take many different ideas and draw them together toward a single goal or result.
Effective Problem Solvers
Effective Problem solvers must be able to use creative and critical thinking - generating and focusing – balancing both - not just one or the other. We must be able to generate multiple options and then choose the best option or group of options to work toward solving a problem.
Basic Guidelines
Balancing the process of generating and focusing options – also involves several basic principles or guidelines – which will make it easier to understand and use all the specific tools and methods in the CPS framework.
Guidelines for generating options
We should always strive to keep our minds open to all possibilities. During the generating stage – when we are exploring and searching for new ideas - evaluation just gets in the way.
1. Defer judgment – separate generating from judging ideas - Brainstorming lets the ideas flow without any criticism or praise. Brainstorming generates options and stretches the search for some new and unique possibilities. This steps allows for generating a good, full, rich set of possibilities that are written down – so they can be evaluated later.
2. Strive for Quantity – Look for lots of options. Quantity often breeds quality in that the more options you generate, the greater the possibility that at least some of the options will be original and promising for use. List all the options – in just a few words – don’t discuss them at this point.
3. Freewheel and accept all options – capture all thoughts that come to mind without worrying that they may be too “wild” or “silly.” Give yourself permission to be playful and outrageous. Strive for uniqueness or originality. Sometime the wildest options might serve as springboards for other new possibilities. Often it is easier to tame a wild idea than to breathe excitement into a dull one. Stretch your mind. Productive thinking using CPS requires extended effort. Keep at it, searching for possibilities that don’t just pop into the mind right away.
4. Seek Combinations – very often one possibility leads to another. In conversation we often say – “oh yes, that reminds me … “ In CPS, everyone in the group is encouraged to be alert for new ways to connect one possibility to another and to build new ones.
Guidelines for Focusing Options
It is often important and valuable to look at the many shades of gray of possibilities, and not just the black and white. We should always look at possibilities carefully, constructively, and with an eye toward strengthening or developing those that are intriguing or promising. We should examine possibilities is ways that will illustrate how they might be refined, strengthened or developed to become successful. Our first step in focusing is:
1. Practice affirmative judgment – analyze ideas constructively – this step emphasizes the need to screen, select, and then support your choices. Train yourself to look for the strengths or the positive aspects of options first. Look for advantages or strengths. Consider the possibilities’ “potential.” What future benefits might emerge if some of the unusual options prove successful. Look at limits and how they might be gotten around … and if it might be worth the trouble. Evaluation and decision making should be constructive processes intended to get the best out of all options. Seek a balanced assessment of the positives, potentials and concerns of each option. Emphasize constructive rather than destructive thinking. Put more emphasis on building possibilities up rather than tearing them down.
2. Be deliberate and explicit – effective focusing involves making choices and decisions. Be deliberate and methodical in your approach. What are the criteria that should influence your decision? (may include formal, logical criteria, personal feelings, and values). Critical thinking is an important part of CPS. Being deliberate means knowing and using specific tools or strategies to examine and analyze ideas, and being systematic in your approach. Be explicit about what you are doing, express your choices and reasons clearly, work hard to be aware of and to overcome hidden agendas, and use logic and good sense.
3. Consider both novelty and the appropriateness – when selecting promising options – ask yourself ---- Is it a new or original possibility? ----Does it really move you forward or closer to a successful solution?
4. Stay on Course – Keep your eyes on your destination, making decisions and correcting your course as you travel along. What are the goals and objectives we’re trying to achieve? Which of the options help us move in the right direction?
Basic Tools
Basic tools to organize your own creative and critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Will be good to define some basic terms at this point.
--- A tool is a specific device that aids in accomplishing any task or operation. (golf clubs and golf balls are an example of tools)
---Your strategy is your working plan, continuously being monitored and carried out for choosing and using tools needed to accomplish your goal. Knowing what tool or tools to use at the proper time and understanding why they are the most appropriate tool for what needs to be done. (choosing a 9 iron when stepping up to the first tee or choosing a putter when on the green – 3 feet from the hole)
---Technique has to do with how you use the tool(s) you have selected. There are often many ways to use individual tools, not just one “right” or “wrong” way. (in golf, technique might involve the grip; the placement of your arms, legs, and head; the swing or stroke; and the follow-through)
(Table didn't copy)
CH2
CPS Overview
We have looked at the starting points for solving problems creatively
--creative thinking or generating options
--critical thinking or focusing options
--basic guidelines to follow when generating and focusing options
This is not enough to help everyone be an effective or productive problem solver. Also need to be able to build on those foundations skillfully, by learning and using a deliberate process or system for creative problem solving – a well-organized, deliberate set of methods you can call upon whenever you need to clarify any complex, open-ended (“messy”) situation, find and develop new ideas, or plan to implement new solutions.
CPS is based on a substantial foundation of theory and research about creativity and problem solving.
CPS has been a very dynamic model. It has grown and changed continuously in an on-going effort to represent as effectively as possible the strategies and actions used by effective, creative problem solvers in dealing with real problems and challenges. While CPS has been studied in experimental research for 5 decades, it has also always been a model that draws as closely as possible on what people really do when they are solving problems.
We believe that CPS is also a very practical, useful approach, suitable for the everyday situations we all encounter.
Everyone can use CPS, and using it will be helpful to you in your personal life, at home and in your family, and in your job or career.
CPS as a System for Solving Problems and Managing Change
A system is an organized and connected group of things that are associated in such a way that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We call our current approach to CPS a “system” for creative problem solving.
At a foundation level, this CPS system includes the guidelines, language, and needed tools.
At the operational level, CPS includes three components and six stages that describe the purpose of your problem-solving efforts as well as specific use of language to guide your thinking.
At the meta-cognitive level, CPS includes a management component that includes stages of Appraising Tasks and Designing Process.
To understand the general structure of CPS, we might simply ask, “What are the most important things people have to be able to do when they’re working on a problem?”
Effective problem solvers do not always need all three components, or all six stages, and it is not necessary for them always to use the components or stages in a single, fixed sequence or order.
Core Purposes of CPS Components and Stages (Use following as needed --- in the order needed)
CLARITY
--Set image for future direction
--Figure out your current situation
--Identify and frame problems to address
IDEAS
--Generate new ideas for solving problems
ACTION
--Develop, strengthen or make decisions about promising solutions
--Examine Forces influencing your success and develop powerful plans
Four components and 8 specific stages in CPS – though may not use all of them every time.
One Management Component
I. Planning Your Approach
--appraising tasks
--designing process
Three Process Components
II. Understanding the challenge
--constructing opportunities
--exploring data
--framing problems
III. Generating ideas
--generating ideas
IV. Preparing for action
--developing solutions
--building acceptance
CH3
Planning Your Approach: The Management Component of CPS
There are many
--times
--places
--situations
Where CPS is appropriate … and as many when it is not appropriate.
“Doctors prescribe specific treatments or responses once they understand the nature of the illness or injury or condition. You would be suspicious of a doctor who gave you a remedy and then asked you what was wrong. The same idea holds true with solving problems effectively. It is important and necessary to understand the nature of the task before you decide to use CPS.” P 21
Appraising Tasks
A task is any
--job
--piece of work
--assignment
--or activity
That needs your
--attention
--effort
--energy
The ELEMENTS of the Appraising Tasks stage are
--identify and examine the key people involved in the task
--identify the desired results or outcomes your hope to attain or accomplish
--explore the situation or context in which the task exists
--determine the appropriateness of using CPS on the task
People – understanding the people involved
--identify and understand the key players
--understand how they are involved
--how do they interact and work together
--how will they define, structure and deal with the task.
Different people’s problem solving style preferences also make a difference –
3 important dimensions of problem-solving style are
--orientation to change
--manner of processing
--ways of deciding
Orientation to change dimension –
--preferences people have for the kind of change they like to create
-----developer style – uses structure and boundaries to find new thinking inside the box
-----explorer style – produces new thinking outside the box
Manner of Processing dimension –
--how people think about their ideas and when they choose to share them
-----internal processers – will share ideas after much thought and reflection, seeking confirmation of their ideas
-----external processers – will offer ideas that are “seedlings” and look for input and refinement
Way of Deciding dimension –
--what do people emphasize first when making decisions
-----focus on the task first – consider the logic and quality of the outcome
-----focus in people first – emphasize issues such as harmony in relationships when making decisions
Content – Understanding the desired results
Clarifying the qualities of the desired outcome will help determine
--the kind of change desired in the task
--the overall size of the task
--the best place to begin working on the task
If there is no need for something new or different in the desired results, then CPS may not be necessary.
The size of the task also makes a difference.
Understanding the tasks most important starting point also helps to determine if CPS is worthwhile to use.
“You may need to start with an alternative method of problem solving before using CPS. For example, if there is a very high level of tension among the members of a group or a team, it may be best to begin with conflict resolution or group-building methods.” P23
Context – Understanding the Situation
Examining the context help you to understand the likelihood of action resulting from your CPS efforts. It also promotes an understanding of the opportunities that might exist for applying CPS.
If the context is ready, willing, and able to support people taking action, it increases the chances of CPS being appropriate.
The context is able to support CPS when there are people, physical and fiscal resources necessary to effectively address the task.
Method – Understanding the Process Options
This approach to CPS is only one of many processes available for solving problems and creating change.
Your
-Understanding of CPS
-Its potential to address a task
-The availability of other processes
Will influence if you choose to use CPS or not.
Summary
If you have the right people, who want a new and useful outcome, are in a situation that calls for change, and are willing to invest the costs to get the benefits, the task may be appropriate for CPS.
Several more chapters
CH1
Creative Problem Solving (CPS)
1. Define or understand the nature of a problem
2. Think up some new ideas
3. Devise and carry out a plan of action
“Everyone has the ability to think creatively and critically, and everyone can be successful in solving problems effectively and productively.” P 1
Use CPS to be more creatively productive.
1. Recognize opportunities, challenges, and concerns
2. Examine data in your situation to discover the most important challenge at he heart of the situation
3. Consider many ways to state the problem, and then select a specific problem statement that will stimulate ideas
4. Generate many, varied, and unusual ideas for dealing with the problem you’ve stated
5. Identify and use tools for choosing, analyzing, and developing promising ideas
6. Examine promising possible solutions and then plan for successful implementation
7. Design and carry out a specific and detailed plan of action.
Creative and Critical Thinking
“Creative and critical thinking are two complementary, mutually important ways of thinking.”
Creative Thinking
Creative thinking involves encountering gaps, paradoxes, opportunities, challenges, or concerns, and then searching for meaningful new connections by generating:
--many possibilities
--varied possibilities (from different viewpoints or perspectives)
--unusual or original possibilities
--details to expand or enrich possibilities
Creative thinking is a divergent process, in which we begin at a single point or with a single question and extend our search in many different directions, generating a wade variety of new possibilities.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking involves examining possibilities carefully, fairly, and constructively, and then focusing your thoughts and actions by:
--organizing and analyzing possibilities
--refining and developing promising possibilities
--ranking or prioritizing options
--choosing or deciding on certain options
Critical thinking is called convergent thinking. The process of attempting to take many different ideas and draw them together toward a single goal or result.
Effective Problem Solvers
Effective Problem solvers must be able to use creative and critical thinking - generating and focusing – balancing both - not just one or the other. We must be able to generate multiple options and then choose the best option or group of options to work toward solving a problem.
Basic Guidelines
Balancing the process of generating and focusing options – also involves several basic principles or guidelines – which will make it easier to understand and use all the specific tools and methods in the CPS framework.
Guidelines for generating options
We should always strive to keep our minds open to all possibilities. During the generating stage – when we are exploring and searching for new ideas - evaluation just gets in the way.
1. Defer judgment – separate generating from judging ideas - Brainstorming lets the ideas flow without any criticism or praise. Brainstorming generates options and stretches the search for some new and unique possibilities. This steps allows for generating a good, full, rich set of possibilities that are written down – so they can be evaluated later.
2. Strive for Quantity – Look for lots of options. Quantity often breeds quality in that the more options you generate, the greater the possibility that at least some of the options will be original and promising for use. List all the options – in just a few words – don’t discuss them at this point.
3. Freewheel and accept all options – capture all thoughts that come to mind without worrying that they may be too “wild” or “silly.” Give yourself permission to be playful and outrageous. Strive for uniqueness or originality. Sometime the wildest options might serve as springboards for other new possibilities. Often it is easier to tame a wild idea than to breathe excitement into a dull one. Stretch your mind. Productive thinking using CPS requires extended effort. Keep at it, searching for possibilities that don’t just pop into the mind right away.
4. Seek Combinations – very often one possibility leads to another. In conversation we often say – “oh yes, that reminds me … “ In CPS, everyone in the group is encouraged to be alert for new ways to connect one possibility to another and to build new ones.
Guidelines for Focusing Options
It is often important and valuable to look at the many shades of gray of possibilities, and not just the black and white. We should always look at possibilities carefully, constructively, and with an eye toward strengthening or developing those that are intriguing or promising. We should examine possibilities is ways that will illustrate how they might be refined, strengthened or developed to become successful. Our first step in focusing is:
1. Practice affirmative judgment – analyze ideas constructively – this step emphasizes the need to screen, select, and then support your choices. Train yourself to look for the strengths or the positive aspects of options first. Look for advantages or strengths. Consider the possibilities’ “potential.” What future benefits might emerge if some of the unusual options prove successful. Look at limits and how they might be gotten around … and if it might be worth the trouble. Evaluation and decision making should be constructive processes intended to get the best out of all options. Seek a balanced assessment of the positives, potentials and concerns of each option. Emphasize constructive rather than destructive thinking. Put more emphasis on building possibilities up rather than tearing them down.
2. Be deliberate and explicit – effective focusing involves making choices and decisions. Be deliberate and methodical in your approach. What are the criteria that should influence your decision? (may include formal, logical criteria, personal feelings, and values). Critical thinking is an important part of CPS. Being deliberate means knowing and using specific tools or strategies to examine and analyze ideas, and being systematic in your approach. Be explicit about what you are doing, express your choices and reasons clearly, work hard to be aware of and to overcome hidden agendas, and use logic and good sense.
3. Consider both novelty and the appropriateness – when selecting promising options – ask yourself ---- Is it a new or original possibility? ----Does it really move you forward or closer to a successful solution?
4. Stay on Course – Keep your eyes on your destination, making decisions and correcting your course as you travel along. What are the goals and objectives we’re trying to achieve? Which of the options help us move in the right direction?
Basic Tools
Basic tools to organize your own creative and critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Will be good to define some basic terms at this point.
--- A tool is a specific device that aids in accomplishing any task or operation. (golf clubs and golf balls are an example of tools)
---Your strategy is your working plan, continuously being monitored and carried out for choosing and using tools needed to accomplish your goal. Knowing what tool or tools to use at the proper time and understanding why they are the most appropriate tool for what needs to be done. (choosing a 9 iron when stepping up to the first tee or choosing a putter when on the green – 3 feet from the hole)
---Technique has to do with how you use the tool(s) you have selected. There are often many ways to use individual tools, not just one “right” or “wrong” way. (in golf, technique might involve the grip; the placement of your arms, legs, and head; the swing or stroke; and the follow-through)
(Table didn't copy)
CH2
CPS Overview
We have looked at the starting points for solving problems creatively
--creative thinking or generating options
--critical thinking or focusing options
--basic guidelines to follow when generating and focusing options
This is not enough to help everyone be an effective or productive problem solver. Also need to be able to build on those foundations skillfully, by learning and using a deliberate process or system for creative problem solving – a well-organized, deliberate set of methods you can call upon whenever you need to clarify any complex, open-ended (“messy”) situation, find and develop new ideas, or plan to implement new solutions.
CPS is based on a substantial foundation of theory and research about creativity and problem solving.
CPS has been a very dynamic model. It has grown and changed continuously in an on-going effort to represent as effectively as possible the strategies and actions used by effective, creative problem solvers in dealing with real problems and challenges. While CPS has been studied in experimental research for 5 decades, it has also always been a model that draws as closely as possible on what people really do when they are solving problems.
We believe that CPS is also a very practical, useful approach, suitable for the everyday situations we all encounter.
Everyone can use CPS, and using it will be helpful to you in your personal life, at home and in your family, and in your job or career.
CPS as a System for Solving Problems and Managing Change
A system is an organized and connected group of things that are associated in such a way that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We call our current approach to CPS a “system” for creative problem solving.
At a foundation level, this CPS system includes the guidelines, language, and needed tools.
At the operational level, CPS includes three components and six stages that describe the purpose of your problem-solving efforts as well as specific use of language to guide your thinking.
At the meta-cognitive level, CPS includes a management component that includes stages of Appraising Tasks and Designing Process.
To understand the general structure of CPS, we might simply ask, “What are the most important things people have to be able to do when they’re working on a problem?”
Effective problem solvers do not always need all three components, or all six stages, and it is not necessary for them always to use the components or stages in a single, fixed sequence or order.
Core Purposes of CPS Components and Stages (Use following as needed --- in the order needed)
CLARITY
--Set image for future direction
--Figure out your current situation
--Identify and frame problems to address
IDEAS
--Generate new ideas for solving problems
ACTION
--Develop, strengthen or make decisions about promising solutions
--Examine Forces influencing your success and develop powerful plans
Four components and 8 specific stages in CPS – though may not use all of them every time.
One Management Component
I. Planning Your Approach
--appraising tasks
--designing process
Three Process Components
II. Understanding the challenge
--constructing opportunities
--exploring data
--framing problems
III. Generating ideas
--generating ideas
IV. Preparing for action
--developing solutions
--building acceptance
CH3
Planning Your Approach: The Management Component of CPS
There are many
--times
--places
--situations
Where CPS is appropriate … and as many when it is not appropriate.
“Doctors prescribe specific treatments or responses once they understand the nature of the illness or injury or condition. You would be suspicious of a doctor who gave you a remedy and then asked you what was wrong. The same idea holds true with solving problems effectively. It is important and necessary to understand the nature of the task before you decide to use CPS.” P 21
Appraising Tasks
A task is any
--job
--piece of work
--assignment
--or activity
That needs your
--attention
--effort
--energy
The ELEMENTS of the Appraising Tasks stage are
--identify and examine the key people involved in the task
--identify the desired results or outcomes your hope to attain or accomplish
--explore the situation or context in which the task exists
--determine the appropriateness of using CPS on the task
People – understanding the people involved
--identify and understand the key players
--understand how they are involved
--how do they interact and work together
--how will they define, structure and deal with the task.
Different people’s problem solving style preferences also make a difference –
3 important dimensions of problem-solving style are
--orientation to change
--manner of processing
--ways of deciding
Orientation to change dimension –
--preferences people have for the kind of change they like to create
-----developer style – uses structure and boundaries to find new thinking inside the box
-----explorer style – produces new thinking outside the box
Manner of Processing dimension –
--how people think about their ideas and when they choose to share them
-----internal processers – will share ideas after much thought and reflection, seeking confirmation of their ideas
-----external processers – will offer ideas that are “seedlings” and look for input and refinement
Way of Deciding dimension –
--what do people emphasize first when making decisions
-----focus on the task first – consider the logic and quality of the outcome
-----focus in people first – emphasize issues such as harmony in relationships when making decisions
Content – Understanding the desired results
Clarifying the qualities of the desired outcome will help determine
--the kind of change desired in the task
--the overall size of the task
--the best place to begin working on the task
If there is no need for something new or different in the desired results, then CPS may not be necessary.
The size of the task also makes a difference.
Understanding the tasks most important starting point also helps to determine if CPS is worthwhile to use.
“You may need to start with an alternative method of problem solving before using CPS. For example, if there is a very high level of tension among the members of a group or a team, it may be best to begin with conflict resolution or group-building methods.” P23
Context – Understanding the Situation
Examining the context help you to understand the likelihood of action resulting from your CPS efforts. It also promotes an understanding of the opportunities that might exist for applying CPS.
If the context is ready, willing, and able to support people taking action, it increases the chances of CPS being appropriate.
The context is able to support CPS when there are people, physical and fiscal resources necessary to effectively address the task.
Method – Understanding the Process Options
This approach to CPS is only one of many processes available for solving problems and creating change.
Your
-Understanding of CPS
-Its potential to address a task
-The availability of other processes
Will influence if you choose to use CPS or not.
Summary
If you have the right people, who want a new and useful outcome, are in a situation that calls for change, and are willing to invest the costs to get the benefits, the task may be appropriate for CPS.
Several more chapters
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