Thinking Horizontally or Lateral Thinking or Out of The Box Thinking “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” Definition of insanity: “Doing the same things and expecting different results!”

1. Organizing & Managing Chaos
Problem Solving & Decision Making Skills

2. Creative Thinking
• Thinking Horizontally or Lateral Thinking or
Out of The Box Thinking
• “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always
get what you’ve always got.”
• Definition of insanity: “Doing the same things and
expecting different results!”

3. Barriers to Creative Thinking
• Self-Imposed Barriers
• Establishing a Pattern or One Unique Answer
• Conformity: Giving the expected answer
• Lack of effort in challenging the obvious
• Evaluating too quickly
• Fear of looking a fool

4. Brainstorming Rules
• No Critical Judgement
• Quantity not Quality
• The Wilder the Better
• Hitch Hike or Combine (Bunch)

5. Problem Definition
• This is the first step to solving any problem.
• Use a “How to…” statement to define a
problem
• Clarify your objective by adding “So that…”
• The final format should look like: “How to…So
that…”
• Develop as many such statements as possible

6. Systemic Thinking
• Analytical Thinking: Breaks things apart
• Synthetical Thinking: Puts things back together
• Systemic Thinking: (Look for Patterns)
Analytical + Synthetical Thinking

7. 5 Whys-Cause & Effect
• Take the final effect and ask why to get to its
cause
• Taking the answer as an effect, ask why again to
find its cause
• Repeat till the answer you get is “That’s the way it
is.”

8. Fishbone Diagram
EFFECT
Main Cause
Main Cause
Main Cause
Sub-Cause
Sub-Cause
Sub-Cause
Sub-Cause Sub-Cause
Sub-Cause

9. 6 Thinking Hats-Lateral Thinking
• White Hat
– Objective fact finding
or data gathering
• Yellow Hat
– Positive aspects
• Green Hat
– Possibilities,
Generative Thinking
• Red Hat
– Feelings & Emotions
• Black Hat
– Negative & gloomy
• Blue Hat
– Organizing your
thinking

10. Problem Solving & Decision Making Cycle
Define Problem
Generate Alternatives
Review
Implement Solution
Evaluate Alternatives