As part of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers' service to members, engineers and professionals in technical industries worldwide, we host a series of free training webinars. The slides were used in a free training webinar on creativity and problem solving skills, the stages of creativity and tactics in problem solving

1. LEARNING &
DEVELOPMENT
“THE MOST SUCCESSFUL
PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES
NEVER STOP LEARNING”
This session will start at 12:45
Creativity & Problem
Solving

2. What colour is my hat ?
Four people are buried up to their necks in the ground. They cannot move their heads and so can only look
forward.
Between A and B there is a solid brick wall which cannot be seen through.
They know that they are each wearing a hat, and that there are two black and two white hats. They cannot see
the colour of their own hat.
To avoid being covered in raw sewage one of them must call out stating the colour of their hat.
If this person gets it wrong all four people will be squirted with raw sewage. If they get it right then they are
all released unharmed.
They are not allowed to talk to each other and have just 10 minutes to fathom it out.
After one minute one of them calls out the colour of their hat correctly.
Q: Which person calls out?
This is not a trick question.
There are no outside influences, nor other ways of communicating. They are totally unable to move
(other than to breathe) and are buried in a straight line. A and B can only see their sides of the brick wall. C
can only see B and the wall. D can see B and C and the wall.

3. User guide
 Questions/ comments: chat box
 Host only
 All participants
Write here…..

4. Agenda
 The three stage process
 Stage two - creativity
 What stops us being creative?
 What helps us be creative?
 Bringing structure to creativity
 Examples of techniques
 Stages one and three
 Questions

5. Definitions
CREATIVITY = A behaviour; generating
ideas, insights, solutions, new ways of
looking at things.
INNOVATION = A process, filtering ideas,
considering the pros & cons, abandoning
most ideas and developing a few.

6. 3 Stages
1.
Focus / Problem
definition
2.
Ideas
generation /
Creativity
3.
Evaluation/
Implementation

7. Blockers & Inhibitors
 I’m not creative
 That’s not really my job
 No time
 Nobody listen to our ideas
 There is no incentive to change things
 “That’s all very well for and advertising
agency, we are dealing with practical stuff”
 I can’t get others in my team to make
suggestions
 I don’t know any/enough techniques

8. Where do you
get your best
ideas?

9. Where do you get your ideas?
Sitting quietly
at the start
of the day
Out of the blue
By trial
and error
When driving
By doodling
Reading the paper
Gardening
Whilst out
running
In the
middle of
the night
In the shower
Talking with colleagues

10. 3 Stages
1.
Focus / Problem
definition
2.
Ideas
generation /
Creativity
3.
Evaluation/
Implementation

11. Mind Maps

12. Escape

13. Escape - Restaurant
 In this restaurant you don’t pay for food
 So how does it work?

14. What situations in your
organisation would lend
themselves to this
approach?

15. Related Worlds

19.  Weather warning texts
 Shelter on wheels

20. Extract from Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1527497/Ferrari-pit-stop-saves-
Alexanders-life.html
Read the article in full at:

21. 3 Stages
1.
Focus / Problem
definition
2.
Ideas
generation /
Creativity
3.
Evaluation/
Implementation

22. Fishbone/Ishikawa

23. 3 Stages
1.
Focus / Problem
definition
2.
Ideas
generation /
Creativity
3.
Evaluation/
Implementation

24. Forcefield

25. Paired comparisons
B C D E F G H I J Description Score Per
cent
A A3 A3 A1 A3 A2 A2 A3 A2 Unit cost 19 23
B C3 B2 B3 B2 G2 B3 B3 Reliab/Durab 13 15
C C3 C3 C3 G2 C3 C3 Noise 15 17
D D3 D2 G3 D2 I1 Weight 7 8
E F2 G3 E2 I2 Packaging 2 2
F G3 F1 I1 Crashworthiness 3 3
Factor G G3 G3 Performance 19 22
1 = Low H I3 Recyclability 0
2 = Medium I Ease of install. 9 10
3 = High TOTAL 87 100

26. Risk analysis
IMPACT
Very
Low
Low Medium High
Very
High
1 2 4 8 16
PROBABILITY
Very
High
5 5 10 20 40 80
High 4 4 8 16 32 64
Medium 3 3 6 12 24 48
Low 2 2 4 8 16 32
Very
Low
1 1 2 4 8 16

27. Definitions
CREATIVITY = A behaviour; generating
ideas, insights, solutions, new ways of
looking at things.
INNOVATION = A process, filtering ideas,
considering the pros & cons, abandoning
most ideas and developing a few.

28. Agenda
 The three stage process
 Stage two - creativity
 What stops us being creative?
 What helps us be creative?
 Bringing structure to creativity
 Examples of techniques
 Stages one and three
 Questions

29. Contact us
 NAME: Victoria Hampton
 EMAIL: v_hampton@imeche.org
 OFFICE: +44 (0)1903 815634
 MOBILE: +44 (0) 7713 565 683
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