LATERAL THINKING EXERCISES FOR GROUP CREATIVITY

Purpose:      Practice how to solve problems by thinking differently. Train the brain to look for different solutions.  Show how you always get better answers in groups.

Supplies:      Page Three of this Document

Process:       Do two sample ones as a group first so they understand the concept. 

Hand out Page Three of this document and have each person work through the ten problems individually first to see what they come up with.  Chances are they will get very few correct by themselves.

Then break into groups of four (or just your immediate team if it’s only 4-6 people) and have them work together to come up with a team answer for each of the ten problems.  This is where you encourage them to share individual answers and to collaborate on the problems where no one has a good answer. 

You want them to talk it out and play off each other’s comments to see if they can find their way to the answer.

Plan on ten minutes of group work for the ten problems

Make sure each group has a group answer they agree on for each problem.

Discussion:   Ask each group for their answer for number one and then share the correct answer.   Do this for all ten questions.

                     Lessons:

1.      Ask what they think the lessons are from this exercise

2.     The main lessons are:

a.     We have to think differently and look at things differently to come up with innovative solutions.

b.    The more you practice, the better you get.  We need to constantly train our brain to think in unique ways.

c.     You ALWAYS get better answers in a group.  Resist the urge to solve everything by yourself.  Collaborate for better answers.

Download the Document for the ten problems and their answers.