Creative Thinking Innovative Product of the Year

Innocence Suspend judgment Childlike Change of perception Look at things in a different way Creative thinking

Definition:

Six Thinking Hats Six metaphorical hats. How to use: – The thinker can put one on or take one off to indicate the type of thinking that is being used. – This putting on and taking off is essential. – The hats must never be used to categorize individuals

Definitions White Hat: – covers facts, figures, information, asking questions, and defining information needs and gaps. "I think we need some white hat thinking at this point..." means "Let's drop the arguments and proposals and look at the data base."

Definitions Red Hat: – This covers intuition, feelings and emotions. The red hat allows the thinker to put forward an intuition without any need to justify it. "Putting on my red hat, I think this is a terrible proposal." The red hat gives full permission to a thinker to put forward his or her feelings on the subject at that moment.

Definitions Black Hat: – This is the hat of judgment and caution. It is a most valuable hat and the one we need to use most of the time. The black hat is used to point out why a suggestion does not fit the facts, the available experience, the system in use, or the policy that is being followed. The black hat must always be logical.

Definitions Yellow Hat: – This hat finds reasons why something will work and why it will offer benefits. It can be used in looking forward to the results of some proposed action. It can also be used to find something of value in what has already happened.

Definitions Green Hat: – This is the hat of creativity, alternatives, proposals, what is interesting, provocations, and changes.

Definitions Blue Hat: – This is the overview or process control hat. It looks not at the subject itself but at the thinking about the subject. – "Putting on my blue hat, I feel we should do some more green hat thinking at this point."

“Innovative Product Award” Work in teams to create something new & innovative for their ‘company’ 1.What is your ‘company’ 2.Product should solve a problem for it 3.Team must demonstrate its uses & sell it 4.Why should win the “product of the year” award. 5.During the creation of product each person will try on at least 3 different “thinking hats” to see how they feel & how it affects the way they work.

information known Information needed benefit value optimistic judgment feelings hunches intuition creativitycontrol follow rules

National Competition Presentations: why did your product win the company competition? explain why it deserves to win the national competition? Place product on exhibition table with labeled with name of it on index card Voting: – Scale of 1-3 (1 = most preferred, 3 = least preferred) – Tally votes & top 3 awarded

Discussion When did you actually get the idea for your product? Was it prompted internally or by other participants? Did your creation change from your original idea? If so, in what way? How difficult was it to transform your idea into a three-dimensional form? Did you have any anxious moments during the process? If so, what were they and when did they occur? Did the time limit and competition inspire or inhibit you? Did you gain new insights to a team member or yourself regarding how their behaviors affect others? What was most interesting to you about this activity? What did you like most? Least? How can you apply this to creative problem solving and innovation in your workplace? What implications are there for team collaboration?