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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
Training & Organizational Development
Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
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Does anyone have any suggestions for interesting/fun warm-up exercises or activities to be used during a strategic planning session with senior management to encourage their creative, out of the box t
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Forums » Topic Forums » Training & Organizational Development » Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
posted at 1/29/2002 11:15 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 1/29/2002 Last: 1/29/2002 |
Does anyone have any suggestions for interesting/fun warm-up exercises or activities to be used during a strategic planning session with senior management to encourage their creative, out of the box thinking? |
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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
posted at 1/31/2002 6:21 AM EST
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Posts: 49
First: 7/27/2001 Last: 1/7/2003 |
The following idea was used in a seminar on diversity but could be applied as an exercise in "thinking out of the box". Give each person a plain 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. Have them close their eyes and follow your instructions (Instructions to follow)- without peeking. The object of this exercise is to show that not all people think the same way and that the same set of instructions can produce different results.
INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Fold the paper in half 2. Fold the paper in half again 3. Tear off the left corner of the paper 4. Turn the paper over 5. Tear off the left corner again 6. Now unfold the paper and open your eyes 7. Look at the paper of the people around you. Are they all the same? |
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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
posted at 2/5/2002 3:33 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 2/5/2002 Last: 2/5/2002 |
Have everyone bring a wrapped gift of no more than $10 in value. Gift should relate to the theme of the meeting. All gifts put in the middle. We did this with 12 people. Each person selects a number. Draw out of a hat from one to tweleve. The higher the number the better off you are. Number one selects any gift. Opens it and the person who purchased it tells how it relates to the meeting. Gifts can be funny or serios. Funny is better. Number Two goes, BUT if he/she likes Number One's gift, then he can steal the gift and number ones gets to select again. So on and so forth. If you are number eleven, you can steal any of the preceeding eleven gifts or select a new one. It is alot of fun and makes everyone take part. It is always a good laugh/ice breaker. |
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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
posted at 2/5/2002 4:11 AM EST
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Posts: 4
First: 2/5/2002 Last: 9/12/2003 |
A warm up exercise: Use Roger von Oech's Creative Whack Pack. Deal out a two or three cards to each person in the room. The person selects one of the cards and introduces him or herself based on the card. The narrative on the card about one characteristic of the Explorer, Artist, Judge, or Warrior can be used to introduce yourself outside of the box of your normal role as a CEO or manager, etc. |
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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
posted at 2/5/2002 8:25 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 2/5/2002 Last: 2/5/2002 |
get an odd sleection of items (I had a stethascope, a left sock, a piece of string and cant remeber what else). Split them into groups. tell them the company has overproduced these by 1000000X so we neeed some new ideas about how to get rid of them and recoup the lost $$$.
First brainstorm for X minutes. then pick the least likely idea Then say the CEO has decided to go with what they consider to be the least likely idea : get them to plan a strategy about how to make that least likely idea work Great fun...impressive what people can do to move an idea they thought impossible...good to refere back to later "well if we could market those left socks then.... Worked for us! |
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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
posted at 2/5/2002 9:25 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 2/5/2002 Last: 2/5/2002 |
Here's an exercise that I have used in a variety of contexts, including strategic planning - it releases creativity and is fun, particularly if you get animated in telling the story.
Tell a sory along these lines. "The whole group decided to go out for lunch to celebrate Mary's birthday. As we were walking past the park, a flying saucer landed - yes, really! An alien stepped out and said, 'Come with me'. So we all jumped in, and had the most magnificent journey through space and time and saw remarkable things. Anyway, your facilitator said 'We must get back now - we've got the rest of the workshop to do'. So the alien deposited us back in the park, but unfortunately got the time wrong - it was now 2030 (or choose any year well in the future which will stretch peoples' thinking). Divide particpants into groups and ask them to describe the company now (ie in 2030) - if appropriate, ask some prompt questions like 'how do we work together' or 'what do we do to reach our market', or perhaps just leave them to work out what they will describe. Have also used this in career/life planning, as a general thinking or reviotaliser exercise, or to break negativity or stuck thinking. Good luck! |
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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
posted at 2/5/2002 12:13 PM EST
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Posts: 2
First: 2/5/2002 Last: 3/1/2002 |
At our staff meetings last month, we did an exercise called "The Lifeboat Game." We split the attendees into groups of 5 or 6, and passed out a list of 15 passengers on a yacht. The list had only sketchy information on each passenger, age, sex, occupation, etc. The "rules" of the game are the yacht is sinking. The lifeboat only holds 9 passengers. Each group must choose the 9 people that get to go on the lifeboat. The entire group must agree on the choices. The 9 should be listed in order of "priority." Each group should choose a spokesperson.
They were given 15 minutes to complete the exercise. Afterward, the spokesperson of each group explained either who was chosen to go on the lifeboat and why, or who was chosen to remain behind on the sinking yacht and why. The fun part of the exercise is filling in "unknown" information once the choices have been made. More information is given about passengers to show why the choices made may not have been the best choices based on ALL of the information. The most important piece of information being, that the yacht is still at the dock. Lessons to be learned from this exercise are: We often make decisions based on incomplete information instead of asking questions. Be sure to identify the problem before seeking a solution. It is important to determine values and criteria for making choices. If anyone would like a copy of the "passenger list" for the yacht game, please email me. I'll be happy to send it to you. |
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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
posted at 2/5/2002 10:20 PM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 2/5/2002 Last: 2/5/2002 |
A useful, creative way to enable people to give their views on the state of the company and to act as a fun team building exercise is to build a collage illustrating how people view the company now and how they wish it to be in the future.
Supply the teams with a pile of pictorial magazines, large sheets of blank paper, scissors and glue and give them half an hour to do 'How we see it know' 'How we wish it could be' pictures. The resulting collages are usually good enough and bright enough to put up on the office wall for a week or so. They can also give a good insight into the morale of the staff! |
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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
posted at 2/5/2002 11:34 PM EST
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Posts: 2
First: 2/5/2002 Last: 5/28/2002 |
I think that brainteasers are a great way to start creative process training. One idea that I used with a client was to purchase from an educational supply store small blank puzzles. I ordered enough puzzles so that each person got 1 peice when they arrived. It was their job to find the other people that made up part of the puzzle (it was pretty easy because I color coded the puzzle so you could find your group easily. When your team put the puzzle together their was a brainteaser and the first team to solve the brainteaser won a small prize.
I explain that brainteasers are great personal activities to inspire / activate the creative part of your brain. That creativity is enhanced by "lossening up" acting "silly" as opposed to serious and to see new possibilities. |
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Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercise
posted at 2/6/2002 1:33 AM EST
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Posts: 18
First: 4/16/2001 Last: 7/30/2002 |
I have attended meetings where "toy" itmes were placed in the center of the table that could be played with during the meeting. The idea being to use both your left and right brain at the same time to establish more creative thinking. Examples were:
Koosh balls Stress balls Pipe cleaners Silly putty Gel timers/drippers Have plenty of white boards, colorful post-it notes, flip charts and pens for brainstorming sessions. |
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