Brainstorming, Forced Connection, and PPCO With a Group

I have read and watched the resources that my teacher supplied for this course and my understanding of creativity and creative problem solving became richer and more effective.

Among the ongoing process of change, creativity and creative thinking are the two adoptive skills that will help us grow with change as well as drive the change after. I have tried out three tools: Brainstorming, Forced connection, And PPCO with a group of my daughter’s friends. Sarah, my daughter, graduated from university in Fall 2017 with a bachelors degree in Communication Arts and is finding it hard to decide whether to work in Jordan or in the US. Sarah and I tried out the divergent tool of brainstorming, then we did a convergent tool of PPCO: Pluses, Potentials, Concerns, and Overcoming Concerns. The last step for Sarah in the PPCO would be to review the work and develop a new and improved statement of the solution and would say:What I Now See Myself Doing Is so and so etc… After we finished, I praised the process of brainstorming followed by brainwriting. Lastly, we worked on the PPCO.

1. Brainstorming: First and foremost, we generated as many wild unusual ideas as possible, combined and built on other ideas as much as we can as a group. Each one in the group would say his/her idea out loud, write it with a sharpie on a sticky note and finally, would hand it to me as the facilitator. Then, I would stick it on the flip chart. Our group was very energized, built on each other’s ideas, and very collaborative. However, it is important to remember that we must defer judgment and not judge any ideas.

Did You Know?

The founder of brainstorming is Alex F. Osborn.

2. Forced Connection: During the brainstorming and generating of ideas step, the team members (this time were my husband’s relatives) are collecting ideas on places where my in-laws will get married and the possible kind of wedding reception venues the bride could have as she wanted a special reception in a special place. She gave us data about her wedding and we all started brainstorming the ideas. I told them all that they were doing a great job and they truly were.

I forced a connection by bringing in a clock, asked them to stop writing and to keep on looking at the clock for a while so as to restart generating ideas. Afterwards, I asked them: "When you look at this clock, what ideas do you get for a wedding reception venues?" One again, we must defer judgments until connections are made. Furthermore, I forced the relationship to get the group to continue diverging and it got us moving in different directions. We established novel ideas and with the plenty coming up, my in-laws were able to converge some selections at the end. Finally, we all clapped for each other.

Guidelines for Best Results

1. Defer judgment.

2. Strive for quantity.

3. Build on existing ideas with wild and unusual ideas.

Resources

Creativity Rising Creative Thinking and Creative Problem Solving in the 21st Century

Gerard J. Puccio, Ph.D. Marie Mance, M.S., M.Ed. Laura Barbero Switalski, M.S. Paul D. Reali, M.S., M.B.A. Puccio, Gerard J. Kindle Edition.

Applying PPCO:

Part 1 – https://youtu.be/ErhjRhSBKvI

Part 2 – https://youtu.be/rPdLOmHSI1Y

Part 3 – https://youtu.be/UHzD6kpro1U

I found this extra media link useful: Applying Creativity: The Power of the PPC (Pluses, Potentials, and Concerns) https://youtu.be/EoI4-joWsng (9 minutes)

Forced Connections & Brainstorming Tool Facilitation

http://youtu.be/uv0-bJ5FEvo (16 minutes)

Brainstorming Tool Debrief

http://youtu.be/6IzsuBuAgyM (9 minutes)

PPCo Tool Facilitation

http://youtu.be/N2mZFQOWPls (22 minutes)

PPCo Tool Debrief

http://youtu.be/AyHD_b6MQ_Y (11 minutes)

Examples of Divergent and Convergent Tools:

Hits: what I did in CPS class was that I diverged in the form of Journal writing as I wrote 30 wishes and got to converge my thinking by limiting the number of choices using the criteria of O-Ownership, M-Motivation, and I-Imagination. Since I had mixed wishes with different criteria, I got to converge to only one wish which was my challenge as it has my ownership. It belongs to me only and I have control over it. I'm very motivated to accomplish and I imagine myself doing it and making it come true. I converted the problem into a challenge.

My wish was TO LOSE WEIGHT.

Webbing: this mapping tool and brainstorming method provides the structure of ideas and facts. It helps strategic thinking by clarifying the scope of the problem and identifying my priorities. Webbing encourages me to tap my intuition. Simply, webbing can help me understand what it is I really want.

The goal is at the center: “To Lose Weight” The circles answer the question “Why?” and are more abstract. “What’s stopping me from getting to this wish?”

I ask myself these questions:

1. How might I have a slim body?

2. What might be all the ways to be more motivated in the path of weight losing?

3. In what ways might I be more encouraged to join diet groups on social media?

4. In what ways might I join sport/work out classes?

5. What might be all the ways to stick to a certain routines?