No senior staff member wants to hold the hands of his or her team. When team members can solve problems on their own, they can fulfill customer needs on the fly, keep customers happy, and maintain a smooth-running business. To foster creative problem solving and sharpen decision-making skills, you need to heavily invest in employee training. Employees need a strong sense of confidence to call shots without second-guessing themselves. Let your team know you’re on their side by supporting choices they make, no matter what. In addition, train your team using these four exercises to encourage independent problem solving:

1) Playing Card Mix-Up

This exercise requires teams with six to eight participants each and two decks of playing cards for each team. Mix the two decks per team at random. Each group must sort the decks without talking. Let the teams start sorting the decks however they wish. After a few minutes, instruct each team to sort the decks a different way. For example, if a team is sorting by suits, tell them to sort by number instead. The team that sorts the deck the desired way within a certain time frame has to share the methods it used to accomplish the task.

2) Create-Your-Own Activity

This exercise asks participants to design their own problem-solving activity. Instruct the participants to work in teams to design their own original problem-solving activity. Tell them to design an activity that would be appropriate for your organization. The activity cannot be something participants have heard of or done before. Teams have one hour to develop and present their activities, as well as to outline its key benefits. Ask each team how they communicated with one another and how they managed their time. As a bonus, this exercise can give you other ideas for future activities based on what the teams come up with.

3) Build a Balloon Tower

First, divide your employees into teams of three. Provide ten inflated balloons and four three-foot long strips of masking tape to each team. The object of the exercise is to build the tallest freestanding tower they can within ten minutes. Teams can break the balloons if they wish. Teams cannot use any additional materials. The winner can either be the team with the tallest tower or the team who completes the task first. Make this exercise more challenging with instructions such as no talking, each team member is only allowed to use one hand, or one team member who cannot touch materials and can only give directions.

4) The Escape Exercise

Encourage team problem solving and collaboration with this exercise. It requires one rope, one key, a lockable room, and five to 10 puzzles or clues depending on how long you want the game to take. The goal is to work together to escape a locked room within the time limit using the clues to find the hidden key. Hide the key and each clue around the room. This exercise requires everyone to work together to create a strategy, manage their time, and brainstorm what the clues could mean. It’s great for team building as well as creative problem solving.

At Big Squirrel, it’s our goal to help and equip teams to solve problems, think creatively and build consensus quickly. We’ve seen what happens when teams get stuck in the same habits– that’s why exercises like these are important. We hope this resource helps move your team in the direction of innovation and progress!

Download our Field Guide to Innovative Thinking 
to help your team think outside the nut!

Most people can think of ways to do something better, faster, or in a manner that’s more cost-efficient. When individuals work together as a team to improve products and processes, the results can be impressive. However, too many organizations settle for “good enough.” Is your organization stuck in this rut? Learn what your business can do to create an environment in which creativity flourishes.

1) Start at the Top

When leaders are focused solely on the bottom line, they inadvertently create an environment that discourages creativity. If the boss applies extreme pressure and has little tolerance for mistakes, employees feel constant tension. They focus on completing assigned tasks as quickly as possible without making errors–and that’s all. This fosters a tense company culture and diminishes creativity. Teamwork suffers, morale drops and productivity declines.

Effective leaders know how to nurture each staff member’s abilities so creative juices can flow. They lead by example, with an easygoing attitude and willingness to listen and ask, instead of giving orders. The resulting positive feedback and constructive criticism builds an efficient and dedicated team of employees.

2) Hire Innovators

When people believe in what they do, their job is not just a means to an end: it becomes a personal mission. Identify your company’s current culture and goals, then hire employees who are passionate about issues that relate to your products and services. Look for team members who can articulate your company’s vision because it aligns with their own.

This doesn’t mean that all hires must think and act the same. Think of diversity beyond gender and ethnicity. Focus on all the factors that inform a fresh perspective. Things like age, veteran status, educational background and hobbies. When your team is comprised of individuals with a wide range of experience and multiple points of view – who are all passionate about what your company offers – you create an environment ripe for innovation to flourish.

To get a sense of the distinct perspectives potential employees can bring to the table, be willing to ask creative questions during the interview phase. Here are some examples:

• Which major societal challenge would you like to see improved? If you were in charge, how would you go about tackling it?
• In three minutes, explain to me a complicated issue that you know well.
• If you had $25,000 to build your own business, what would you do? Where would you start?
• Tried-and-true solutions sometimes fail. Describe a time when the go-to solution didn’t work. How were you able to solve the problem?

Check out our Field Guide to Innovative Thinking
to help your team think outside the nut!

3) Use Innovation Sprints

People often settle into workplace habits and behavior patterns because it seems like the path of least resistance. Employees are busy answering emails, making phone calls, attending meetings and completing their job tasks. There’s no time to think creatively.

Work sprints are based on an agile methodology that accomplishes tasks in a series of stages. Teams identify a problem to solve, break it down and assign responsibilities, then set a very limited time frame to accomplish a specific goal. At the end of the time frame, team members gather to present their solutions. All stakeholders evaluate progress, suggest refinement, and develop the next goal.

Sprints are the antidote to workplace apathy. They carve out time for focused, intense spurts of innovation. In his book, Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days, author Jake Knapp outlines a detailed process for developing creative solutions in limited periods of time. This structured forward momentum allows your business to cover ground quickly, co-create solutions, and make effective changes.

4) Encourage Positivity

When your team members put more effort into creativity, they open themselves up to judgment from peers and superiors. It’s a vulnerable position. This resultant pressure can become overwhelming and frustrating if teammates respond with negativity. But since creative problem solving necessitates open debate, navigating this landscape can get tricky.

Encourage brainstorming by employing a “no criticism” directive. Provide guidelines for phrasing feedback in a positive manner. When your staff feels supported and respected for their contributions, the pressure they feel can yield positive results.

Big Squirrel helps brands ask the right questions, articulate roadmaps for how to think differently, and ultimately instill confidence to activate ideas. Contact us to “get cracking!”

When Monday morning rolls around, your creative juices may be running low. Sure, last week may have been one of your best creative weeks yet, but you have to keep the juice flowing to ensure your team is living up to their utmost potential. Let’s take a look at six ways for you and your team to develop patterns for creative problem-solving.

1) Quit restricting yourself

This might sound simple. ‘Just let yourself go,’ right? Well, it’s not as simple as it seems. Yes, it might be simple to limit external restrictions, but loosening up internal restrictions on yourself is a whole lot harder. You have to get to a point in which you follow a path that flows with the least mental resistance. Overcoming your self-imposed limitations and restrictions can go a long way in boosting creativity and forcing you to work outside of your comfort zone. So, the question is how do you free yourself up? Well, it starts with not being so hard on yourself. Realize you are human and you are going to make mistakes.

2) Sing in the shower

Do you like singing in the shower? Whether you have a good voice or not, it’s time you start belting it out. Did you know singing in the shower can relieve stress? It can also help fight depression and even reduce your risk of heart disease. What is it about singing in the shower that brings these benefits? Well, for starters, when you sing in the shower you exercise your lungs and increase the oxygen to your brain; this leads to better mental clarity and increased creative thinking. According to an article published by Time magazine, singing in the shower boosts creative thinking and decreases depression by acting as a tranquilizer. When you sing, you release endorphins, which create a positive emotional response. Next time you’re in the shower, turn on your favorite song and make sure you sing along.

3) Change your habits

“We first make our habits. Then our habits make us.” 17th century poet John Dryden said that, and he’s got Sir Walter Scott and W. H. Auden in his corner. So, about habits – what time do you wake up? Do you do the same workout all the time? Do you get your news from the same source every day? All of these habits are pretty big ones. Try this one: If you usually salt your food first, try adding pepper first instead. By making even small changes in your daily routine, you become more awake to your mundane thoughts, and how many things you are doing by force of habit. Recognition of this, in practice with consciously altering those habits, increases creativity and helps you think outside of the box.

4) Start journaling

One of the best ways to get your team to be more creative is by having them keep a journal. Keeping a journal increases emotional intelligence, because it helps you process emotions and it boosts your self-awareness. Journaling also increases your memory and comprehension capabilities; this means you will become better at solving problems and your cognitive recall ability will be enhanced.

5) Keep the noise going

Many people think that silence is the best way to focus. What they fail to realize is, studies show ambient noise levels actually increase creative thinking rather than hinder it. Sure, silence is good for sharpening focus, but ambient noise levels boost creative thinking and promote a broader level of cognitive function, which allows you to come up with new ideas.

6) Start traveling more

Whether it’s a 10-hour road trip or a 20-minute walk to the local park, traveling and getting out of the home and office is an excellent way to increase your creative thinking. Some of the best places to travel to that can boost creative thinking include museums, parks, breweries (make sure to sip on your favorite beer for an even greater level of creative thinking), and festivals. Grab your co-workers, pile into the car and go sightseeing for an even greater level of creative thinking.

The takeaway

It all starts with small changes. If you are wanting your team to be more creative, you first have to start with yourself. It’s time for you to be a good leader and set a good example, so make sure you suggest the tips listed above to your coworkers at your next business meeting.

We’re ready to help you make these small changes.
Get cracking with Big Squirrel!