Creative Thinking Strategy 6: Looking at the Other Side

If you have a preconceived perspective on a problem perhaps its best to reverse that perspective. Reversals break existing patterns of thought and provoke new ones. Reverse Assumptions is a technique used to do exactly that, provoke new and interesting thoughts or ideas.

Assumptions	Reverse Assumptions
1. Students want to work	Students don’t want to just work
2. Students want to be in a highly sought after business organization	Students want more than prestige
3. Students want to get paid	Students don’t want to get paid
4. Students want leadership development	Students don’t want leadership development
5. Students apply for CAPs	Students don’t apply

Results, lessons learned, identified solutions

·      Students don’t want to just workà idea: market more about how fun CAPs is as a program. Market the social aspect more.

·      Students want more than prestigeà idea: market  more the professional development side of the program

·      Students don’t want to get paidà idea: maybe pay students in scholarships or other monetary methods

·      Students don’t want leadership developmentà idea: Students just want the networking to get better jobs, to market that

·      Students don’t applyà idea: current mentors choose the next class of mentors

This creative thinking technique was good for coming up with different ways to market the other aspects of the role and of the program. I also really like the idea of choosing the next class of mentors. At the very least I think a select amount of students should receive emails from CAPs encouraging them to apply. Not everyone would receive these emails, which would mean students who do, would realize that they are highly sought after and should definitely apply.