Harnessing Creative Problem Solving: A Guide to Effective Facilitation (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: CPS, or Creative Problem Solving, is a natural thinking process for working through challenges originally described by Alex Osborne. CPS includes tools for improving performance within the process to help us reach more creative solutions to the problems that arise in life. We use CPS because it gets us to novel solutions, it keeps us focused and on track, and takes us to a point where we can actually make our creative ideas happen. We can employ CPS for any issues over which we have ownership and motivation and that require imaginative thinking. So it works with personnel challenges at home, in school classrooms, within organizations, and with groups or individually. CPS is divided into stages to move through one at a time, although you may find yourself at different starting points for different situations. The clarifying stage involves exploring the vision and formulating the challenge. These inform the rest of the process. It is important to have a clearly stated challenge to move forward. The ideate stage is where the ideas happen. The more ideas you have, the more likely you are to have a truly novel, useful idea. From this multitude of ideas, you then choose what you will do to address your challenge. Now it is time to develop your idea. Here you analyze the aspects of the idea and improve upon it. This is the time to make it a truly workable solution. In the implement stage, you have a solution on hand and you must explore acceptance and formulate a plan. In this stage, you work through the details of what needs to happen, by when, and by whom. In each stage, we employ both divergent thinking, generating many possibilities, and convergent thinking, narrowing down to the best options. There are a lot of different tools that help us through each stage. These tools help groups get unstuck when working with a difficult challenge, stay on track, be their most creative, and reach consensus. CPS is a facilitated process. When we choose someone to facilitate, it allows us to stay devoted to the process. The facilitator's main job is to run how the group works together and the steps they take. The facilitator does not participate in the content, meaning they do not generate ideas or give opinions. The only decisions they make are related to what the group does within the session. The facilitator is an objective person who is solely focused on helping the group to effectively and efficiently obtain their stated objectives. The facilitator is a very important role that takes knowledge and practice. The qualities of a good facilitator are open-mindedness, good thinking skills, awareness of the group's needs, and flexibility. A good facilitator is an expert in the process. They bring focus and structure, organize information, promote different viewpoints, ask for feedback, celebrate the progress of the group, and encourage participation from everyone. Throughout a session, they choose tools that will help the group to be effective, efficient, and of course, creative. A good CPS session leaves the client feeling productive, excited, and prepared to move into action to make their creative solution a reality.