How Can We Make a Creativity Workshop Exciting for Junior to Mid-Level Managers?

Request for Perspectives on Training Workshop Content

I shall request you to kindly share your valuable perspectives on the following: If a Training Workshop is to be arranged on "Creativity and Problem Solving Skills," what should be its contents? The participants would range from junior to middle management level. It is desired that the fundamental theme should be to address the routine repetitiveness that creeps into our way of managing tasks, thus leading to boredom and demotivation.

Your help in this regard would be deeply appreciated.

Thanks,

Dr. Ashish Johri

Content for Creativity and Problem Solving Skills Program

• Recognizing and defining problems
• Using appropriate strategies to develop solutions
• The problem-solving cycle
• Whose problem?
• Accepting problems
• Working in a group to decide
• Blocks to decision making
• Evaluating solutions to select the best available option
• People problems
• Getting solutions accepted by others
• Analyzing decision-making style
• Creativity in problem solving
• Our approach to problems and decisions
• Management problems
• The role of communication in problem solving
• Creating an action plan to guide future decision making
• Models of problem solving and decision making, including force field analysis, pro and con method, five whys, and others

Regards,
Arshi

There is no doubt that we are all unique personalities; hence, the way we solve problems and demonstrate our maturity levels differs. Every human being is blessed with some skills. Please try to understand your audience/trainees' attitude, behavior, habits, and communication style, including their superior's attitude/behavior.

One's creativity and problem-solving skills are proportional to the culture in which they lived and the people they are involved with.

Case Study Approach

As a case study, try to present a few practical experiences from your life associated with creativity and problem-solving. How successful were you in demonstrating creativity in everything you did and solving problems in your personal and professional life? Ask your audience/trainees to share similar experiences and understand their success ratio.

I don't recommend your workshop to look or feel like a one-day course. Nothing will work out at the end of the day because none of us are habitual of following/implementing suggested strategies in our lives, nor do they work if we strictly adhere to them because of prevailing situations and circumstances.

Interactive Coaching

As a coach, you are required to interact and listen to their experiences. Present as many case studies as you can and allow them to encounter them individually. Once they are done, ask them to exchange their sheets. This will help your trainees to explore themselves and understand others' perception levels.

As such, nothing is pre-defined in this world. Everything we do is purely proportional to the situation and prevailing circumstances; hence, we need to respond or react based on the situation and circumstances. If you associate this with creativity and problem-solving skills, you will come to know how human beings respond or react to particular situations or prevailing circumstances. At times, we humans are also habitual of getting carried away with others' activities/actions as we believe in them when nothing comes to our minds; hence, our thinking style is locked with their actions/activities.

Last but not least, anyone with a negative attitude cannot foster creativity, nor can they solve problems. We must keep learning something new in our life to support creative problem-solving skills.

Recommended Reading

Kindly Google and try to download these books. If possible, please share a copy with your trainees:

1) "30 Minutes to Solve That Problem" by Michael Stevens

2) "101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving" by Arthur VanGundy, Ph.D.

With profound regards