Thinking creatively about change
Facilitator notes
These notes are designed to guide facilitation of a 90-minute creative thinking
session which assumes that parallel groups of colleagues (ideally between 5 and 10
in each group) are each working on respective shared projects.
The room should be set up so that each group is clustered in a semi-circle around a
display board (with 3 flipchart sheets pinned up where ideas generated can be
posted. Each group also has its own flipchart and marker pens, and each individual
has a pad of Post-Its (at least 30 sheets per person).
1. Icebreaker (5 mins.)
Ask everyone to stand up. Each group places one chair with its back to the display
board, facing outwards into the semi-circle. Explain that you will be making a short
series of subjective statements, and that individuals must move themselves within
their group space in relation to the chair: being on the chair denotes 100%
agreement with the statement, while further distances away indicate relative
disagreement.
Make each statement, then give each team a minute or so to share their
perspectives each time. Statements depend on the outcomes you desire for the
session, but might include:
 “I enjoyed breakfast this morning” (warm-up)
 “Our team has identified what will enable us to succeed”
 “Our project is clear about its impact measures”
2. Identifying challenges (5 mins.)
Ask each individual to think of a challenge which the group’s project faces, written
on a Post-it as a ‘How do we/I…?’ question. The challenges are posted randomly on
the flipchart.
3. Selecting the challenge (15 mins.)
Ask the group to draw a square on the flipchart, and arrange the challenges so that
they fit as follows: easy challenges (middle of the square); the maximum of what is
possible (edge or corners within the square); beyond what is possible (outside the
square).
The group should then select one challenge from the edge/corners, and write this in
bold across the top of the flipchart, as a question.
4. Quiet round (10 mins.)
Explain that there will now be a sequence of 4 different activities to generate ideas in
response to the challenge question. The first involves individuals sitting in silence for
5 minutes, thinking of their own ideas, writing each one as a separate Post-It, and
keeping it for the time being.
Ask each individual to go up to the display board in turn, and place each of their
ideas, reading this out so that the rest of the group can hear. Ask people to avoid
expounding their ideas – they should simply read out what’s on the Post-it, and stick
up the Post-it randomly. There should be no judgement, comment or analysis from
the rest of the group.
5. Word association (10 mins.)
Demonstrate this activity using one of the challenge questions from the room.
Groups must choose the 2 most interesting words from their challenge question, and
write these in opposite corners of a blank flipchart sheet. They should then call out
words which individuals associate with the selected words, and a scribe should write
these up. Choose an interesting word from the first ‘layer’ of suggestions, and
associate new words out from this. Continue until the sheet is full – this should
generate at least 50 words in all.
Ask each individual to sit in silence, looking at the words generated, making links as
they see fit, and using this as a trigger to generate new ideas – each of which should
be captured separately on Post-its and read out to the group.
6. Analogy (10mins.)
Each group chooses a product they admire which is not related to education. Give
them 4 minutes to list as many of its attributes as possible.
Next, relate each attribute to the project challenge. Use this as a trigger for more
ideas, and capture them on Post-its on the display board. Remind the groups that
they should frame these in terms of outcomes and enabling actions.
7. Assumptions (10 mins.)
This is designed to draw out and recognise thoughts that limit new ideas. Give each
group 3 minutes to list all the assumptions they can think of which lie behind the
challenge question.
Groups then have a further 3 minutes to turn around or adapt these assumptions so
that they are reversed/transformed. Use this as a final trigger for more ideas, and
capture them on Post-its on the display board.
8. Sifting and evaluating the ideas (20 mins.)
Draw a set of boxes on a flipchart sheet, labelled:
 Ordinary and Feasible
 Extraordinary and Feasible
 Extraordinary and Unfeasible
Ask each individual to pick up one Post-It to put in each box. If their first choice is
already taken, they should use their second preference.
If time allows, individuals can then ‘vote’ on the ideas collected in the boxes by
allocating 10 points (or an imaginary £10,000 budget) between all the ideas they
consider interesting – if only one idea, all 10 points go to this; otherwise points are
distributed by writing the number on each Post-it. The highest-scoring ideas become
priorities for subsequent group action.
Paul Gentle
Leadership Foundation for Higher Education
September 2011