By Erin Templer
Scott Isaksen, president of Creative Problem Solving Group and a professor II of leadership and organizational behavior at the Norwegian Business School, had the CEO/chair teams attending CUES Symposium on their feet several times last week.
One of the exercises he challenged them with was this: Each CEO and chair team was hooked to together with tangled string, and they had to work together to separate themselves.
When he said go, everyone was dancing and circling around one another, stepping through openings, and twirling about in their attempts to get untangled.
When Isaksen called time, some had managed to break free, while others were still attached. Then, Isaksen showed the crowd how, with one simple tug on the string, they would have completed their task immediately.
Instead of taking the "ready, aim, fire" approach and planning before we act, people often jump right in and "fire, fire, fire." We need to spend time framing the problem. Get a sense of the problem itself, Isaksen would advise. There is a process, even to creativity, he said.
Erin Templer is CUES' marketing supervisor.
Read more about creativity from Isaksen in "Using Your 'Unaccustomed' Hand is Always Work, but Sometimes Worthwhile."
