Time to Strengthen Your Creative Muscles!
These quick exercises will wake up your creative brain. Ready? Let's go!
Challenge: Think of as many uses as possible for a BRICK (other than building!)
3:00
Write your ideas here (aim for 10+ ideas!):
More Creative Uses for a Brick:
💡 The goal is QUANTITY of ideas! More ideas = More creative thinking!
Challenge: Find creative connections between these TWO things:
PIZZA
BUSINESS MEETING
How are Pizza and Business Meetings similar? Think creatively!
Creative Connections:
💡 Finding unusual connections builds creative thinking!
Now let's practice with actual situations you might face at work.
Situation: You're the HR manager. Your company just cut the training budget by 50%, but employees still need skills development. Your boss asks: "How can we continue training without spending much money?"
🎯 Your Creative Challenge:
Use SCAMPER to generate solutions. Fill in at least one idea for each:
S - Substitute: What can you replace expensive trainers with?
C - Combine: What can you combine with training?
E - Eliminate: What expensive parts can you remove?
Creative Solutions Using SCAMPER:
Real Example: Wipro created "Talent Transformation" program where senior employees teach junior ones - zero external cost, but huge impact!
Situation: Two team members, Sharma and Khan, constantly argue during meetings. They have different working styles - Sharma wants detailed planning, Khan prefers quick action. Team productivity is suffering.
🎯 Your Creative Challenge:
Use Six Thinking Hats to analyze this problem:
🔴 Red Hat (Feelings): How might each person be feeling?
🟡 Yellow Hat (Benefits): What's good about each approach?
🟢 Green Hat (Creative Solution): How can you use both styles?
Six Thinking Hats Analysis:
🟢 White Hat (Facts): Sharma likes planning, Khan likes action. Both want success.
🔴 Red Hat (Feelings): Sharma feels Khan is reckless; Khan feels Sharma wastes time
⚫ Black Hat (Risks): Team could split, project could fail, morale will drop
🟡 Yellow Hat (Benefits): Sharma prevents mistakes, Khan drives momentum
🟢 Green Hat (Ideas): Create a hybrid approach - "Plan on Monday, Execute rest of week"
🔵 Blue Hat (Decision): Assign complementary roles - Sharma plans, Khan executes
Creative Solution: Instead of choosing one style, create a system where BOTH styles work together! Sharma becomes project planner, Khan becomes implementation leader. Their differences become strength, not weakness!
Situation: You work in a traditional manufacturing company making steel pipes. Your CEO says: "We need to innovate or we'll lose to competitors. Give me ONE creative idea to transform our business."
🎯 Your Creative Challenge:
Think beyond the obvious. What unconventional ideas can you suggest?
5:00
Creative Innovation Ideas:
Real Example: Hindalco (aluminum company) didn't just sell aluminum - they created designer aluminum sheets for architects and car manufacturers. They transformed a commodity into a premium product! That's creative thinking!
Answer these quick questions to sharpen your creative reflexes!
What if... employees could work from anywhere in the world?
List 3 creative opportunities this creates:
Creative Opportunities:
Normal Question: "How can we increase customer satisfaction?"
Reverse Question: "How can we make customers REALLY unhappy?"
(Then do the opposite!)
List 3 ways to make customers unhappy (we'll reverse these!):
Ways to Make Customers Unhappy → Reversed Solutions:
💡 Reverse thinking helps you see problems from a fresh angle!
Problem: Improve employee engagement
Random Word: TREE 🌳
How can the concept of a TREE inspire ideas for employee engagement? Think metaphorically!
Tree-Inspired Employee Engagement Ideas:
💡 Random word association breaks mental patterns and sparks new ideas!
💡 Remember: Creative thinking is like a muscle - the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets!