Generating Solutions Chapter 8 Chapter Objectives Learn The common causes of mental blocks To identify and define 6 types of mental blocks How to break through mental roadblocks How to use brainstorming as a tool The 4 methods to break mental blocks while brainstorming How to create a fishbone diagram from brainstorming information Common Causes of Mental Blocks Some common causes of mental blocks include Defining problem too narrowly Attacking symptoms not real problems assuming there is one right answer Getting hooked on the first solution that comes to mind Becoming hooked on a solution that almost works but really does not Being distracted by irrelevant information called mental dazzle Getting frustrated by lack of success Being too anxious to finish Defining the problem ambiguously Types of Mental Blocks There are 6 types of mental blocks Perceptual Emotional Cultural Environmental Intellectual Expressive Perceptual Blocks Definition Obstacles that prevent the problem solver from clearly perceiving either the problem or the information needed to solve it Types of perceptual blocks Stereotyping Limiting the problem unnecessarily Saturation or information overload Emotional Blocks An emotional block decreases the amount of freedom with which you explore and manipulate ideas and interferes with your ability to conceptualize fluently and flexibly Types of emotional blocks Fear of risk taking Lack of appetite for chaos Judging rather than generating ideas Lack of challenge Inability to incubate Cultural Blocks Cultural blocks are acquired by exposure to a given set of cultural patterns These blocks can arise when activities do not fall into the norm of certain members in a specific society Environmental Blocks Blocks imposed by our immediate social and physical environment Examples include Distractions by phones pagers etc can break an individuals concentration Working in conditions absent of emotional physical economical or organizational support can have a negative impact on the problem solver Intellectual Blocks Intellectual blocks can be caused by Inflexible or inadequate problem solving strategies Lack of intellectual skills Lack of information to solve the problem To break these blocks Obtain additional training background or resources Ask for help Expressive Blocks Expressive blocks can occur when you have difficulty communicating your ideas to others either verbally or written Examples include Playing charades Playing a group game to identify a drawn picture Blockbusting There are several methods to break mental blocks Consider the following problems and solutions Negative attitude correct with attitude adjustment Fear of failure correct with risk taking Following the rules correct with breaking the rules Over reliance on logic correct with an internal creative climate You aren t creative correct with creative beliefs Improve Your Creativeness The ways to improve your creative abilities include but are not limited to Tracking your ideas at all times Posing new questions to yourself every day Learning about things outside your specialty Avoiding rigid set patterns for doing things Being open and receptive to ideas Being alert Adopting a risk taking attitude Keeping your sense of humor Having courage and self confidence Brainstorming Brainstorming creates an environment Where unstructured free association can occur to generate ideas Individuals can build ideas upon other individual ideas Where a positive attitude reigns The greater number of ideas generated the better chance an innovative workable solution will be identified Brain Drizzling Inappropriate comments during brainstorming can lead to brain drizzling These comments may include That won t work It s not our job That s too much hassle We haven t done it that way before We can t solve this problem That s too expensive Osborn s Checklist Osborn s checklist helps groups build on ideas by asking Adapt How else could this be adapted Modify Can anything be modified with meaning color etc Minify Can this be split reduced made lighter etc Substitute Who else where else what else Rearrange Can parts be interchanged use other layouts etc Combine Combine parts units ideas Random Stimulation Random stimulation makes use of a random word or piece of information to act as a trigger to stimulate thought patterns in the event of a roadblock The goal of the pattern change is to allow the problem to be viewed from new perspectives not previously considered Other People s Views This process allows individuals to understand the problem while using another person s perspective of the situation Futuring Futuring focuses on identifying solution that may not be currently technically feasible but could be in the future The rules of futuring Try to imaging the ideal solution without regard to whether or not it is technically feasible Make statements such as If this happened it would completely change the way I do business Fishbone Diagram A fishbone diagram is an organized graphical representation of ideas generated from brainstorming To use a fishbone diagram Write the real problem at the head of the fish Brainstorm potential solutions to the problem Categorize the solutions into larger groups Place the grouped solutions on the bones of the fish Brainwriting When you need to brainstorm but don t have at least one more person available consider brainwriting It uses the same principles of brainstorming but you do it alone Use free association Walk through Osborn s checklist Use random stimulation Perform futuring Cross Fertilization and Analogy Cross fertilization is used to transfer ideas and analogies from other disciplines to the discipline of your problem The idea is to draw on the experiences from other areas to determine how those situations may lead to a possible solutions Incubation Incubation provides a period of time when you can move from actively analyzing your ideas to allowing your subconscious to continue the work If your problem does not require an immediate solution take some time away from it and use incubation to help you through the solution process Summary Mental blocks can impair our ability to generate solutions There are several types of mental blocks Mental blocks can be broken with various techniques Individuals can increase their creative abilities through several activities Brainstorming is a group activity to free associate ideas into solutions Brainwriting is brainstorming for one individual Using ideas from