Reverse Brainstorming
A lateral thinking approach for ideas to a difficult problem
Library of facilitation techniques
Problem Solving Workshop Activities
Tools and techniques for conflict resolution, problem solving and managing difficult situations at your workshop, meeting or training session.
71 results
River Crossing
The river crossing game is one of many simple games that gives your group the chance to sharpen their problem-solving skills while having a bit of fun. Participants need to cross an imaginary river as a team and they need to get all members of the group safely there.
Conversation Café
The format of the Conversation Café helps people have calm and profound conversations in which there is less debating and arguing, and more listening. Sitting in a circle with a simple set of agreements and a talking object, small groups will engage in rounds of dialogue with little or no unproductive conflict. As the meaning of their challenge pops into focus, a consensual hunch is formed that will release their capacity for new action.
The Anchor Effect
This jolt demonstrates how the natural human tendency of becoming heavily attached to a starting value can influence our decision making.
The participants work with two different versions of the same questionnaire. One version asks a series of questions that provide low anchor values, while the other version provides high anchor values. The debriefing discussion examines how anchoring affects our decision making.
Distance Makes The Brain Grow Stronger
This interesting exercise replicates research done by Evan Polman of New York University and Kyle Emich of Cornell University on construal level theory. You can find more information about this theory by visiting this page in Psychlopedia: http://www.psych-it.com.au/Psychlopedia/article.asp?id=79
The participants work with two different versions of the same problem. One version describes a problem faced by someone else while the other version identifies the problem confronting the reader. The debriefing suggests that it is easier to come up with creative solutions when people are thinking for someone other than themselves.
Round Robin
Vivid way to structure a discussion for a complex topic.
How to make toast
Use this exercise to introduce people to analyse and solve problems together. Everyone feels engaged and is part of the solution.
SQUID
When exploring an information space, it’s important for a group to know where they are at any given time. By using SQUID, a group charts out the territory as they go and can navigate accordingly. SQUID stands for Sequential Question and Insight Diagram.
The 500-Year-Gap Conversation/Time Traveler
In pairs, participant A attempts to communicate the use and value of a modern-day object to participant B, who plays the role of someone from 500 years ago.
Do Nothing
Useful technique to examine the consequences of doing nothing.
Flip and Rip
Creativity through pictures and images
Draw the problem
Problems that are vague or misunderstood have a harder time passing our internal tests of what matters and, as a result, go unaddressed and unsolved. Often, meetings that address problem-solving skip this critical step: defining the problem in a way that is not only clear but also compelling enough to make people care about solving it.