How Do You Encourage Creative Thinking in Your Team? Let's Discuss Strategies

Dear Friends,

Sharing a PPT on Thinking out of the Box... Hope you all will like it.

Best wishes,
Gayathri

Gayathri,

I know the last one answer... it's simple... when you are a relaxed kind of person.

Regards,
Rahul

Did you notice another answer to Q3? Couldn't figure it out? Try this: Mark the black square EFGH in the same order in an anticlockwise direction. Now, join AH. Now, the 3rd square is in two equal halves. Join CF and CH. Hurray!! It's now 4 equal parts!

Now, the moral is: There are more than one ways to complicate things (the way I did) while there is only one simple way to keep it simple!

I heard about a good example of out-of-the-box thinking the other day. A college class was given a simple problem-solving exercise. They were asked to brainstorm ways to use a barometer to determine the height of a tall building.

The more scientific minds came up with solutions like using the change in the barometer readings from the ground to the top of the building to determine the height. There would be less pressure up higher, after all, and if the barometer was sensitive enough, this information could be used to get within a few feet of the true height.

Another student suggested dropping the barometer from the roof. By timing how long it took to fall, the distance of the fall - and therefore the height of the building - could be determined using the usual formula for acceleration. Slightly more out of the box in his thinking, one student suggested trading the barometer for a sextant. Then he could measure his distance from the building on the ground, take a sighting of the top of the building, and use the angle measured to calculate the height.

That started everyone thinking more creatively. Soon there were ideas like selling the barometer and using the money to buy string, which would be hung from the top to the bottom, and then measured. Perhaps the simplest idea was to go ask for the owner and tell him, "I'll give you this nice barometer if you tell me how high your building is."

Nice one, especially the last part – I enjoyed it, along 7 simple lines, and finally ending with a simple Gandhi picture. I fully agree that we are conditioned to solve simple problems always with complicated tools and stuff. I am a trainer in QA & Six Sigma, and I always emphasize the use of simple tools, but they suspect we don't know complicated ones.

Thanks for sharing the ppt.

I am afraid your solution does not work. The idea is not to divide the 3rd square, but the remaining white area. By doing what you suggest, we don't get 4 equal parts of the white space.

Dear Gayatri,

Your PowerPoint presentation was really nice and simple. The last two slides on the great Mahatma Gandhi's ideology added strength to your concept. Good luck.

Regards,
Denny Raj

Dear Gayatri,

Your PowerPoint presentation was really nice and simple. The last two slides on the great Mahatma Gandhi's ideology brought strength to your concept.

Good luck.

Regards,
Denny Raj

Hi Rajkumar,

My apologies. There was a mistake. Read CG instead of AH in my quote "Now join AH." Do you now agree that the white area has two equal halves, CGFB & CGHD? Right? When you join CF & CH, you now have four equal parts of the white area, viz., CFB, CFG, CGH & CDH.

Try it & confirm if I am right!!

Thanks.

Dear Sreinivas,

I tried your corrected solution too. It simply does not work. What it does is - it divides the white space into two equal halves. Anything beyond this produces 4 pieces which are asymmetrical, unidentical, and do not appear to have the same area. Please illustrate with a diagram your solution - if you think you have got it right.

Now, consider my solutions:

I have two solutions which produce four equal areas, but they are not symmetrical in shape.

(1) The first solution involves dividing the white space into three equal squares (as apparent prima facie); then divide each small square into 4 smaller squares, making a total of 12 smaller squares. Picking up any 3 adjacent squares (other than those used in the original solution) will give 4 shapes, each made out of 3 smallest squares.

(2) The second solution is similar, but here you divide each small square into 4 equal triangles - equilateral - by joining the diagonals of the smaller square. You will get 12 small triangles, out of which you need to pick sets of 3; thus totaling 4 sets of equal triangles and hence 4 equal areas.

Remember, in both solutions, the areas are equal but the shapes are not identical.

Regards.

Hi all cite HR members ,
I am forwarding a story with a theme how we can achieve success in our life
Life is like a cafeteria….
A friend's grandfather came to America from Eastern Europe.
After being processed at Ellis Island, he went into a cafeteria in lower Manhattan to get something to eat. He sat down at an empty table and waited for someone to take his order. Of course nobody did.
Finally, a woman with a tray full of food sat down opposite him and informed him how a cafeteria worked.
"Start out at that end," she said. "Just go along the line and pick out what you want. At the other end they'll tell you how much you have to pay."
"I soon learned that's how everything works here," the grandfather told a friend. "Life's a cafeteria. You can get anything you want. You can even get success, but you'll never get it if you wait for someone to bring it to you. You have to get up and get it yourself."
Regds
Bagavathi123

The essence of this PowerPoint presentation is encapsulated in the fourth question, which teaches one valuable lesson: "Things that appear most difficult are sometimes easier to solve, provided they are analyzed properly and conceptually."

Dear Balak29,

The PowerPoint presentation is meant to highlight the fact that most of us do not think laterally. We must cultivate that habit, and it can only come through practice.

Thank you.