Course Objectives
Creative Thinking and Innovation Techniques - Virtual Learning
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Assess their potential for creativity and innovation
- Apply creative thinking skills and methods in work related or personal situations
- Practice thinking in non-conventional ways by thinking out of the box, using mind mapping, picture associations and other methods
- Employ a variety of creative thinking strategies in the workplace
- Create a pleasant work environment conducive to creativity for self and others
Target Audience
Supervisors, managers, team and project leaders, and all individuals who need to adopt a more creative approach in life or at work, whether to solve problems, come up with new initiatives, initiate and introduce changes, or deal with personal or organizational issues in non-conventional ways. The course will also benefit anyone interested in recognizing and developing their own or a group's creative potential.
Target Competencies
- Creativity
- Flexibility
- Freedom from prejudice
- Persistence
- Versatility
- Problem and situation analysis
Course Outline
- Definition of creativity
- Introduction: creativity and civilization
- Defining invention, innovation and creativity
- Intelligence versus creativity
- Some theories of creativity
- Creative people in action
- Understanding the 2 hemispheres of the brain
- Right and left
- Lateral thinking
- Lateral thinking in action
- Applications of lateral thinking
- Creativity as a business tool
- The creative thinker
- Constraints in the workplace
- The creative manager
- Three parts of creativity
- Motivation
- Domain expertise
- Creative ability
- Innovation and organizational culture
- The creative attitude
- The creative methods
- Ways of overcoming barriers
- Tips for the workplace:
- Developing a culture of creativity
- Exploring problem areas
- Generating ideas
- Evaluating ideas
- Critical thinking
- Critical thinking skills versus creative thinking
- Ancient Greece
- Exploring the idea generation process
- The Brainstorming Technique
- The six thinking hats
- De Bono’s four thinking styles
- Creative thinking strategies
- Creativity tools
- Scamper technique
- Synectics technique
- Picture associations and biotechniques
- Mind mapping
- TRIZ
- Decision making
- Anatomy of a problem
- Barriers to decision making
- Steps in creative problem solving
- The power of opposite thinking
- Creative rule of thumb: the interplay of opposites
- Asking 'what if'
- Using opposite thinking