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CREATIVITY IN
PROBLEM-SOLVING
by Ben B. Graham
President
The Ben Graham Corporation
© Copyright 2003,
The Ben Graham Corporation. All rights reserved.
Permission is granted to post, print and distribute this document in its
original PDF format.
What’s the Problem?
Charles Kettering - "A
problem well defined is half solved."
Sometimes defining a
problem
is
the key to its solution. The first step in solving any problem is understanding
the problem. When this crucial first step is cast aside, the “would-be”
problem-solvers rush in at full throttle contriving answers and solutions to
perceived problems.
Collect facts that will
help you understand the problem. Dig in. Ask questions. Break the facts down
into manageable parts. Ask Why? Restate the problem. Think through the problem
out loud.
Once the problem is
understood, creativity techniques may be applied to come up with a solution.
Creativity Techniques
Creativity is applying
original thought to a subject…a new idea. Creativity techniques provide us with
ways to explore our experiences and apply them in new ways.
Fresh Eyes
“Fresh eyes” means
finding a different way to look at something you are already familiar with. You
may have used this technique without realizing it. Have you ever written a memo
or letter (perhaps while you were in an irritated state) and then held on to it
to review later? When you reviewed it later, were you relieved that you didn’t
send it out the first time? You had given yourself a chance to “cool off” and
review the note with a different mindset. You might still feel the same
emotional attachment to the original words but you have tempered them by
rationalizing the potentially negative impact of publishing them.
You hang a picture on the
wall and it looks fine…until you take a few steps back and get a wider
perspective on how well it lines up with the walls, the ceiling and the floor.
Your “fresh eyes” tell you that you’re not finished yet.
Artists use this
technique often. A painter might just take a few steps back from the painting
to get a new perspective of what he has painted. He may walk a few steps away
then glance back over his shoulder to catch a new perspective or take a few
steps away then view his work in a mirror looking over his shoulder which
reverses his artwork giving him fresh eyes. Each of these simple techniques
gives him a fresh view of his work.
When you are immersed in
a project, if you don’t step away from it every now and then, your mind may let
you see the work as you want it to be rather that how it is. Raphael is said to
have worked with an hourglass, never working longer than one hour at a time on
any painting. James Michener established rigorous work habits; beginning each
morning at 7:30, he sat on a hard wooden chair, used a manual typewriter, paper
to the right, trash can to the left …and he always walked away from it at noon,
coming back the next day with a fresh mind.
Operating people often
work, in a sense, with blinders on. They don’t know what happens to the work
before they get it and they don’t know what happens to it once it leaves their
work area. As a member of a business process improvement team, they use process
charts to see their work from a new vantage point. They see the steps they work
on as part of a bigger picture. They see what happens to the work before they
get it and they see what happens to the work when it leaves their work area.
The process chart gives them the opportunity to see how changes made to the work
they do could help or hinder work further down the process flow and they may
suggest or support changes earlier on in the process that can make their work
easier or more effective. The process chart can give people a sense of worth by
showing the value they add to the process.
Videotape or film is a
way for people to actually see themselves engaged in their work. Athletes,
machine operators and surgeons are a sample of groups that have used film to
help them improve their work. Allan Mogensen is recognized as the founder of
work simplification – the organized application of common sense. He spent his
career teaching people in organizations how to simplify their work. One of the
tools he used was a motion picture camera. He would film a machine operator
performing his work and then invite him to a private showing. The operator
would see himself in action and invariably ask Mogensen two favors; “Please
don’t show this to anyone.” And “May I do it again?” Mogensen was happy to
oblige. He would ask the operator how much time he needed, and typically got a
response like “How about an hour?” An hour later, Mogensen would re-film the
operator. In the course of an hour or so, Mogensen would have before and after
films documenting improved work methods (that typically measured 30-50% faster)
simply by giving the operator “fresh eyes”.
Brainstorming
The concept of
brainstorming is credited to Alex Osborn who described it in his book “Applied
Imagination”. Brainstorming is used to quickly gather a large number of ideas
about a specific topic by using the following guidelines:
·
No
criticism of ideas
·
Go for
large quantities of ideas
·
Build on
each others ideas
·
Encourage
wild and exaggerated ideas
Brainstorming is a group
activity that includes a facilitator who leads the session, goes over the
guidelines and ensures they are followed, and a recorder (or recorders) who
captures ALL the ideas that are presented. Flipcharts, blackboards, whiteboards
are helpful to keep the ideas visible in front of the group.
A brainstorming session
is used to generate lots of ideas without evaluation. Therefore, it is
essential to follow up the brainstorming session with analysis of the ideas that
were generated.
Lateral Thinking
Edward DeBono coined the
term lateral thinking which refers to problem solving through apparently
illogical means by using techniques to jar normal thought patterns.
 In
the exercise to the right, the challenge is to draw four straight lines through
all the dots without lifting your pencil.
In a normal approach,
people tend to restrict themselves to lines that don’t extend outside the
square. They are more comfortable with lines that connect 3 dots horizontally
or vertically or diagonally through the center.
But, none of these will
produce a solution!
They will not find a solution until they break through the bounds of the outside
square and consider diagonals other than through the center.
 The
solution is elegant and simple. It just requires that you recognize and break
out of the self-imposed restraints that keep you focused in the wrong
direction. This is the classic puzzle that was used by Allan Mogensen in his
work simplification workshops beginning 70 years ago that led to the phrase
“thinking outside the box.”
DeBono’s First Law - “You
can’t dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper.”
Lateral thinking puzzles
are very popular. They provide a scenario that requires explanation. The
explanation is not obvious, but when provided, makes good sense.
These puzzles are often
presented so that the solver can ask questions that can be answered yes, no or
irrelevant.
Here is a classic – The
Man in the Bar.
A man walks into a pub
and asks the barman for a glass of water. The barman pulls out a gun and points
it at the man. The man says 'Thank you' and walks out.
You will find the answer at the end of
the article.
The puzzles that were
just presented have specific answers. That’s not the case when the problem we
are addressing is to come up with a new product, a new method, increased sales…
Random word techniques can help us begin a lateral think exercise. We start
with a word and see where it takes us…
The Yellow pages is a
good source of random words. Hold the book loosely in one hand and let it fall
open. Point your finger into the book and see where it falls. System Research
Labs in Dayton, OH was a military contractor with 90% of their business with one
client. Military cutbacks put them in a precarious situation. During a
creativity workshop, a group used the yellow pages technique to start a session
searching for alternative business opportunities. The finger landed on
“Laundries”. Discussion started at laundries and moved on to highly-sterile
laundry, to highly-sterile work environments, to hospital work to biometric
devices. Biometric devices eventually became the most profitable division in
the company.
The dictionary and
magazines are other sources for random words. There is even random word
generating software available.
Questioning Method
Rudyard Kipling – “I
keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); their names are What
and Why and When And How and Where and Who.” from The Elephant's Child
The
questioning method helps us define existing situations and challenge them. Five
of the questions (What, Who, When, Where and How) are objective with specific
definable answers. “Why?” on the other hand is evaluative. When we ask these
questions in a specific way (combining each of the descriptive questions with
“Why?”), they are particularly useful for challenging work methods. When we
ask the questions, "What is happening here and Why is it
happening?” and we find no reasonable explanation, we have an opportunity to
eliminate work. When we ask the questions, "When is this step done and
Why is it done at that time?", "Where is this done and Why
is it done there?", "Who does this and Why does this person do
it?" we may find opportunities to combine or rearrange the work.. When we ask
the questions, "How it is done and Why do we do it that way", we
find opportunities to redesign the work. The questioning method provides a
structured format for generating ideas.
The man had
hiccups. The barman recognized this from his speech and drew the gun in order to
give him a shock. It worked and cured the hiccups - so the man no longer needed
the water.
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