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Puzzles for employee newsletters1/7/2023 Word problems are particularly good for this. They also provide a rich opportunity to collaborate with other people. Our brains work through connections, and puzzles strengthen our ability to make links, see patterns, and piece things together. Puzzle 7: 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, 5, ? What’s next in this numeric code – and why? Puzzles With Words Puzzle 6: Which substance is represented by the letters HIJKLMNO? Puzzle 5: Where in the world does Friday come before Thursday? Sometimes, like Sherlock Holmes playing his violin, you’ll need to go away and do something else to cut loose your creativity and make the breakthrough. See what happens when you ask friends and family for their ideas. But, if that doesn’t work, find a different plan of attack. Use some more of mine to put yourself to the test.įor each of the following questions, choose a strategy to start with. In that way, you train yourself to take a strategic, energetic, and resilient approach to solving problems. As you work out exactly what a question is asking, discard any “red herrings,” and try various positive tactics until one works. Puzzles are a great way to build confidence, and strengthen persistence, open-mindedness, and flexibility. Think about whether you ever make the same mistakes with real-life problems! Positive Problem-Solving StrategiesĪs well as avoiding the traps laid by puzzles writers, you also need to have a range of effective thinking strategies if you’re going to find the answers. When the time comes to check the answers, notice any thinking traps you fell into. How come? (You’ll only solve this puzzle if you can take a seemingly impossible situation, and find a new way of looking at it.) Puzzle 4: Bob and Ben were born on the same day, to the same parents, but they aren’t twins. This one wrong by overlooking the obvious.) Puzzle 3: If a plane crashes exactly on the border between FranceĪnd Germany, in which country should the survivors be buried? (Many people get The bale of hay 15 feet away? (This question tempts you to make assumptions – whichĪre so often the enemies of creative problem-solving.) Puzzle 2: A horse is tied to a 10-foot rope, so how does it reach In fact, many of the best puzzles are designed to tempt you into these thinking “traps.” It’s particularly important to notice which styles of thinking help you to find answers, and which get in the way. In puzzles, as in life, you often learn more from your mistakes. And by leading creative-thinking teams, youĬan make your whole organization more exciting, more innovative, and more And the more alert you are to what’s going on in your brain when you’re in puzzle-solving mode, the more you’ll gain, and the faster you’ll grow. You also get a taste of metacognition – “thinking about thinking.” If you let them, puzzles will give you valuable insights into the way you approach problems. By doing that, you develop a much richer understanding of any situation, and get your “creative juices” flowing. They force you to challenge the idea that there’s only one way of doing things, and they train you to explore a range of options. Puzzles get you thinking and learning in new ways. It’s like resistance training for your brain, building strength to tackle the real-life problems that crop up every day. But try to resist the temptation to look too soon! You’ve got a lot to gain from stretching your thinking skills, and persisting even if your first attempt fails. In case you don’t crack it, the answer to this and all my other puzzles are at the end of the blog. And try to recognize how you tackle this puzzle – because your strategies here should reveal a lot about your approach to problem solving as a whole. Have a go – it’s not as easy as it looks! If you’re stuck, see if someone nearby has any ideas. So try to match wits with me – and, in the process, see how you can start to think better, and achieve more, wherever you work. Now, after moving back into a business environment, I realize that these skills are more important in the workplace than ever. As the kids grappled with intriguing problems, they gained the confidence to take risks, to keep going, and to be creative as part of a team. Griffiths shows what a difference it can make when we develop a robust creative process – as individuals, teams and entire organizations.īefore writing, I spent 10 years as a teacher, and I often used puzzles to stretch my students’ thinking. It’s sprinkled with puzzles that illustrate the dos and don’ts of problem solving. I was reminded of this when I read “The Creative Thinking Handbook,” the new book from creativity guru Chris Griffiths. But they also reveal the serious professional benefits that come from learning how to think creatively. They’re fun challenges, perfect for sharing, and a great way to test a range of thinking skills. I love puzzles, and I’ve included lots of them in this blog.
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