When Ideas Won’t Come and a Decision Feels Out of Reach

When Ideas Won’t Come and a Decision Feels Out of Reach

When uncertainty and ideas take turns as you tackle a problem, techniques, games and questions that bring creativity and critical thinking together can help.

Have you ever found yourself facing lots of options, each of them seeming risky, or sticking with your first answer even though it didn’t convince you? This blog shows you how to recognize these roadblocks and try approaches that make room for both generating ideas and putting them to the test. Short exercises, games and questions help break a problem down into manageable steps, so you can make more considered decisions at work, while learning and in everyday life.

Interested in this topic? Read more: Combining Creativity and Critical Thinking for Better Problem-Solving Want to find out where you stand personally? Take a short test at the end of the page and gain a better understanding.

How does this apply to you? Choose the answers that describe you best:

Imagine that you have been assigned the task of creating a new product that does not exist yet. What is your first step?

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You are in a team that is addressing a problem, but the discussion has stalled. How would you unblock the situation?

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How do you choose between multiple solution options?

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You found yourself in a situation where you have to defend an unpopular opinion. How do you proceed?

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How do you approach solving a problem that seems unsolvable?

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Imagine you have to come up with a new way to use an ordinary pencil. What will you do first?

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When solving the task, you realize that your original assumptions were incorrect. How do you react?

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How would you describe your ideal work environment?

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Imagine that you are solving a problem, but everyone is giving you contradictory advice. How do you proceed?

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You have the opportunity to participate in an experiment testing a new problem-solving method. How do you react?

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Creativity and critical thinking – How to combine these approaches in problem-solving

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