FACILITATION
WE CAN FACILITATE YOUR THINKING
Creative Problem Solving works best with a trained facilitator. Whether you've got complex problems to solve or exciting opportunies to grasp, it helps to have an objective facilitator to guide and stretch your thinking. Our role as facilitators is to drive the process and keep you on course, so that you are freed up to focus fully on the issue at hand.
ABOUT CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING
There are many variations of problems solving processes. They typically comprise three to eight steps involving defining the problem (which could be an opportunity), generating ideas to solve the problem, evaluating those ideas and then preparing an action plan.
Pretty simple right?
Well, yes, it is a very straightforward process, but what typically happens is that we apply all our usual thinking to the process and we get our usual results. What we really want is fresh and different thinking.
This starts by spending most of the time making sure we've framed the problem correctly. 99% of the time the actual problem is not the problem we try to solve. As faciliatators of this process, we will provide an outsider's lens and generative questioning to get a handle on the real problem to be solved.
Other issues we can help with are:
- outcomes being overly influenced by one or two dominant individuals,
- groups stopping idea generation when their first initial flow of ideas runs dry, and
- groups critiquing ideas too early.
WHEN TO USE IT
There are thousands of situations in which you could call for the use of the creative problem solving process. It could be something small and personal, such as preparing to host a special dinner party, or something large and commercial such as launching a brand new product line to regain market share.
Some examples of situations for which you may require a creative facilitator are:
- sales have dropped off and you need to seek new value streams
- your team's motivation is low and you'd like to work with them to figure out a new way forward
- communication in your team has become poor; you need to create a better way to communicate effectively
- a competitor has started poaching your clients, you need a strategy for winning them back
- your marketing strategy is becoming more heavily weighted towards digital marketing and you need to craft a solution for how to make this work
HOW DOES THIS DIFFER FROM TRAINING?
When we deliver training we manage the learning process and the content of the learning. We bring our expertise in the areas of creativity and innovation and we have learning objectives for them to achieve.
When we facilitate creative problem solving, idea generation or any other process, we focus on the process whilst the participants in the session provide the content. Our role is to help the group to manage the knowledge they have, to draw out their creative thinking and to push their boundaries.
Our facilitation will focus on helping your people think something through rather than learn something new. Nevertheless, by going through the problem solving process with us, they will pick up lessons on how to run it with their own teams, so they will still be learning!
REABETSE MODIBEDI
Campaign Manager at Sage
The silent brainstorming was very powerful for me. Sometimes we get lost in hearing other people’s ideas and you begin to think that maybe you are not that smart and your ideas are not good enough. Putting your ideas down first and then mentioning it to the team make you feel that maybe my ideas are not that bad and there is no such thing as a wrong idea. Put your idea down. It’s an idea, a suggestion. It may not necessarily be implemented. It’s good to get your own creativity flowing without dependency on other people.
SELF-DRIVEN LEARNING FOR YOUR PEOPLE
Enable your people to build their creative muscle in their own time.
Our courses are your ticket to creative freedom.
Our self-paced learning will equip your employees to develop their creative thinking at their own pace. Choose an off-the-shelf programme or let us tailor one to your needs.
Our video-based lessons are engaging and interactive. Learning is not a spectator sport! Our programmes include physical and mental stimulation, creativity assessments, stories, activities, case studies, exericises and humour.
Our learning platform is secure and simple to use. We can provide you with reports and feedback on progress and even produce leaderboards to encourage teams to hold each other accountable for course completion. Learners can learn in community and we can combine online self-paced learning with live virtual or in-person check-ins and sessions.
EXPLORE COURSES
FEEDBACK ON OUR FACILITATION
ELBIE KRUGER
Web Conversion Optimisation
Two things that really stood out for me. Creativity, if you open your brain, the amazing stuff that flows in and how receptive we became.
Secondly, the focus. When we went through everything that we had to pick now and we decided on our subject, we were lazer focused and we got so many good ideas so quickly. We are all very busy in a general day and if just take the time to focus on a subject, we can really expand on that.
ROSHIKA SEONANDAN
Operations Manager
It was stepping out of your boundary for your role. We get so caught up in what we do that we don’t really see how much effort and how much power the next person has, and how they contribute to your role. It broadened my knowledge on what everybody does. I’m not in marketing, so I never got to think about the customer. I’m only concerned about internal delivery, but it’s been power to the brain to think in broader terms.
UNATHI PAN
Trainer, Alex Works
There were so many things that I learned. The Creative Problem Solving process was amazing. It was the first time that I’ve been in a room where 8 out of ten ideas are coming from the same people, from all of us. I thought, wow, I thought only I thought like that, but so many of us think the same. That is beautiful because we are going to feed on each other, going forward.
MILLICENT PILLAY
Internal Communications Lead
I most appreciated the process that guides you through the various phases of creative thinking. It was very helpful to get tools to create an environment that is conducive for creativity and brainstorming.
OTHER WAYS WE CAN SERVE YOU
TRAINING
We just love sharing what we know and inspiring people to learn!
Our in-person workshops are unique, refreshing and transformative. We make our live virtual training engaging and interactive. Our video-based online courses are personal and impactful, with lots of practical activity and community support.
SPEAKING
We bring our own creativity to our keynotes, which will no doubt surprise and delight you. Our in-person and online talks typically include physical and mental stimulation, creative challenges, personal creativity tests, polls, participant input, global case studies, practical examples and a good dose of humour. (We can't take ourselves too seriously if we are going to get fresh thinking!)
CONSULTING
Transforming a culture requires a systemic approach. You don't need to do it alone. We're here to help you analyse and transform your social norms, your rules and policies, your systems and processes, and most importantly your organisation's assumptions and beliefs. Let us partner with you to nurture a truly innovative culture with strong roots that will bear your business fruit in the future.
"If I had 60 minutes to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes defining it and 5 minutes solving it."
Albert Einstein
IT'S TIME TO GET STARTED
Set up a time to chat with us about getting started on your personal development.
GET IN TOUCH