Impact Learning

Background
This activity is the grandparent of all the “just alike only different” activities. It is based on general analogical thinking that relies on the direct comparison of one thing or action to another. As with Bionic Ideas [53], comparisons are used to spark ideas. The difference is that the comparisons may be drawn from anywhere, not just from Mother Nature, as with Bionic Ideas. Once the similarities have been identified, they are elaborated and then used to stimulate ideas.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2?? diameter)and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• I like It Like That Handout

Time
45 minutes

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

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Next, look at the subattributes and develop analogies for each one. For instance, some sample word analogies might include the following:
• Name: Disappearing merchandise
• Customers: Small people, money collectors, enhanced brains
• Merchandise: Electronic organizers, viewing boxes, stacking levels
• Money: Circular disks, plastic debits, substituting values
• Security: Caretakers, visual image capturing devices, illumination projection
• Observing Customers: Hidden recesses, cover-ups, electronic information processors

Finally, generate ideas using these word analogies:
• Lock all merchandise in display cases (from “disappearing merchandise”).
• Install a system so that people must pay for merchandise on their way out to unlock an exit door. People who don’t buy anything subject themselves to personal inspections (from “money collectors”).
• Place video cameras on merchandise counters (from “viewing boxes”).
• Provide educational seminars in schools on the pitfalls of shoplifting (from “substituting values”).
• Place monitors throughout the store that show shoplifters being arrested (from “visual image capturing devices”).
• Project onto the walls pictures of previous customers who were caught shoplifting (from “illumination projection”).
• Put all merchandise in vending machines (from “hidden recesses”).

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Chain Alike is slightly more complicated than other analogy-based activities. More work is required to set up the stimuli to use as idea triggers. Ask the participants if they felt the extra work was worth the effort and if the quality of ideas was any better than when compared with other activities.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Chain Alike Handout
Assume you are the manager of a department store. Your assistant has informed you that the store’s losses due to shoplifting are greater than ever. To help resolve this problem, you decide to try the Chain Alike activity.

• Customers
• Merchandise
• Money
• Security
• Observing customers

Next, list subattributes:
• Name: Shoplifting
• Customers: Children, elderly, middle-aged, rich, poor, educated, uneducated
• Merchandise: Electronics in display cases, clothing on shelves and racks
• Money: Dollar bills, coins, credit cards, debt, charging, exchange rates
• Security: Guards, cameras, alarms, lighting, electronic sensors
• Observing Customers:Watching, unobtrusive, disguises, equipment

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Assume you are the manager of a department store. Your assistant has informed you that the store’s losses due to shoplifting are greater than ever. To help resolve this problem, you decide to try Bionic Ideas.

You state the problem as “How could we prevent shoplifting in our store?” Next, you describe the major principle or process as prevention. You then make a list of things in nature that involve the concept of prevention:
• Most birds build their nests in trees to prevent predators from reaching the nests.
• Some animals change the color of their skin to blend in with their environment and prevent attacks from enemies.
• Squirrels put away nuts for the winter to prevent starvation during the cold months.
• Many animal couples take turns guarding their nests to prevent harm to their offspring.
• Camels store large quantities of water in their bodies to prevent thirst and dehydration.
• Turtles quickly pull into their shells to prevent predators from biting their heads or legs.
• Mother Nature installs a strong sex drive in most animals to prevent extinction of the species.
• Many plants turn toward a light source to prevent loss of growth (the so-called phototropic response).
• Leaves drop off many trees to prevent the trees from having to provide nourishment during the winter months.
• Many animals make loud noises to prevent enemies from attacking.

These comparisons might suggest the following ideas:
• Install cameras in ceilings to watch for shoplifters.
• Have security personnel pose as shoppers to blend in and nab any shoplifters.
• Save extra money to make up for stolen merchandise.
• Have employees rotate turns looking for shoplifters.
• Encourage customers to turn in shoplifters by having a lottery among customers who report shoplifting. The winner receives an ocean cruise.
• Install a sensor so that all the doors close automatically when the device detects that someone is trying to leave the store with stolen merchandise.
• Offer employees rewards to encourage them to help perpetuate profits for the store by catching shoplifters.• Have all the store’s lights begin flashing whenever someone attempts to leave with
stolen items.
• “Drop” very expensive items into tall boxes to prevent people from reaching the items. Instead, expensive items must be retrieved electronically by a clerk.
• Install an alarm that sounds whenever someone tries to pick up an item before a clerk has turned off the alarm.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Bionic Ideas Handout

Time
45 minutes

Related Activities
• Chain Alike [54]
• I Like It Like That [55]

Procedure
1. Distribute the Bionic Ideas Handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Have the groups state the problem as clearly as possible using an action verb and an object (for example, how to increase sales) and write it down on a flip chart.
3. Tell them to describe the major principle or process that underlies the problem. Cite, as an example, that increasing sales involves the principle of getting more of something.
4. Ask them to think of similar principles in nature (that is, biological or botanical analogies).
5. Instruct them to use these similar principles or processes to stimulate new ideas, writing them on Post-it® notes (one idea per note) to place on flip charts for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion
Some people may have trouble generating analogies for this exercise. One way to help is to have the participants brainstorm more analogies than they might use. Another way to help would be to provide a list of processes and principles found in biology (for example, osmosis, cell structures). Such lists would be available in biology texts or on the Internet.

Consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

People who like using analogies will take to them like a duck takes to water or a pig takes to mud. If people really like these activities, it will be like falling in love for the first time or the joy that comes from the birth of your first child. People may like these activities because they help them function as smoothly as a fine Swiss watch. The previous paragraph represents analogical thinking—comparisons based on similarities. Whenever we say something is “like” something else, we make an analogy.

Such expressions enrich and enliven language and interpersonal communication in particular. Analogies also allow us to express ourselves creatively. Thus, all analogies are creative products.

Analogies can help explain difficult concepts and solve problems. For instance, educators use analogies extensively when trying to teach difficult concepts. Teachers pick one topic familiar to students and compare it with an unfamiliar topic. This enables students to understand the new topic more clearly based on their familiarity with the first topic. Outside of the classroom, we also may use analogies when trying to explain a difficult
subject to someone.

Analogies have broad applicability in the business world. One of the most famous examples involves the use of analogies to develop Pringles® potato chips. Aclient of the Cambridge consulting firm Synectics, Inc., (Gordon, 1961) gave the firm a problem of how to put more potato chips on supermarket shelves. Regular bags of potato chips contain a lot of air and take up valuable space. If the product could be compressed, the company
could increase its sales volume.

To solve this problem, firm members thought of other things in life that are compressed. One that stood out was leaves. When crushed and mixed with water, the leaves would still be there but would use less space. So the firm applied this concept to potato chips by mixing water with dehydrated potato flour, shaping the chips, stacking them, and putting them in small, cylindrical containers. Voila! An elegant solution using analogical thinking.

The activities that follow are based on this same process of applying analogies, but these activities add a few twists. The only exception is the I Like It Like That [55] exercise, which provides a more structured approach to analogical thinking.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Some problem assumptions are extremely basic and fundamental; others may be more abstract and esoteric. For instance, a basic assumption of a problem involving attracting new bank customers would be that the customers have money to invest. Amore abstract assumption might be that customers put their money in banks primarily to satisfy their needs for security. Either type of assumption is appropriate for this exercise. So encourage participants to consider whatever assumption they think of, even if it may not be correct technically.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Turn Around Handout
Assume you are the president of a bank and want to attract new customers. You might list the following assumptions:
• Potential customers have money.
• Placing money in the bank satisfies security needs.
• Many potential customers are confused by banking procedures.
• Banks lend money to make money.
• People have to wait in line to get money.
• When you withdraw your money, it is not really the same money you deposited originally.
• Banks keep money in vaults.
Next, reverse these assumptions as shown in the following examples:
• Potential customers have no money.
• Putting money in the bank makes people insecure.
• Potential customers all are knowledgeable bankers.
• Banks lend money to lose money.
• People never have to wait to get money.
• Banks keep money in the open.
Finally, use these reversals to suggest ideas:
• Emphasize the lowest interest loans in town.
• Stress security measures taken to protect the customers’ money.
• Develop commercials showing the professional expertise of the bank’s officers and staff.
• Give customers who recruit other customers a higher interest rate.
• Offer home ATMs.
• Place a see-through bank vault door in the center of the bank.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

• Exaggerate That [39]
• Law Breaker [50]
• Turn Around [52]

Procedure
1. Distribute the handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Instruct the groups to state their problems simply and clearly and write them on a flip chart for all to see.
3. Read the following aloud: “Reverse the direction of your problem statement. This reversal doesn’t have to be a direct reversal of any particular problem aspect. You may change the verb, the goal, or any words in the definition. Thus, reversal is defined broadly as any change in a problem statement.”
4. Tell them to write down on a flip chart each reversal as a new (possibly sillysounding) problem statement, beginning with the phrase, “How might we. . .? 5. Direct them to use each reversal as a stimulus for new ideas, write the ideas on Post-it® Notes, and place them on a flip chart for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion
Reversals have great potential for all-purpose idea generation. They provide an easy way to “force” people to view an initial problem differently. They figuratively force one out of a current “thinking box” and into another with the ability to trigger new ideas. You may want to emphasize that a reversal, as used in this exercise, does not have to be a direct or literal change. Changing any aspect of a problem often is all that is required.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Problem Reversals Handout
Suppose you want to design a new soda can. Possible reversals include the following problem statements, each beginning with the same phrase. How might we design . . .
• an old soda can (classic picture or bottle shape)?
• a soda bottle?
• a soda can?
• a new beer can?
• a new trash can?
Next, use these reversals to help think of ideas:
• Acan with a classic logo or picture
• Acan in the shape of a bottle
• Acan that decomposes after use
• Acan with two compartments, with one side containing soda and one beer
• Acan that beeps after being emptied until it is deposited in a recycling bin. The beeping stops after sensors are activated when the can is placed in the bin.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Background
Sometimes we have trouble solving problems because we attack them head-on and become immersed. The result is that we become too close to the problem and find ourselves unable to generate new perspectives.

This can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees outcome can be avoided by entering the forest from a different direction. Change direction and we change perspectives. Instead of being blocked by our initial, unproductive perspectives, we will discover new ways of seeing our problems. New ideas then will flow.

Problem reversals have been widely used ever since brainstorming was popularized by Alex Osborn in the 1930s. Creativity consultant Edward de Bono (1972) also advocated reversals as one way to achieve his concept of “lateral thinking.”

Stand-up comedians and cartoonists often use reversals to create the unexpected. Just look at Gary Larson’s “The Far Side.” One of his cartoons, for instance, depicts rifle-holding bears hunting people.

Everyday creative problem solving also benefits from reversing a problem statement. Apopular approach to law enforcement is to reverse the problem of going out and getting the bad guys. Some police officers instead think of ways to get the bad guys to come to them.

Sounds far-fetched, doesn’t it? Why would wanted criminals come to the police? One result of reversing thinking on this problem is for police to send out invitations to a special “party.” The “guests” are arrested when they show up. Another is to notify wanted people they have won a prize and must show up in person to claim it. Thus, a simple change in problem definition provides a hot idea.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Problem Reversals Handout

Time
30 minutes

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity