Creative Problem Solving Institute 2026

Divergent and convergent thinking are fundamental steps in the Creative Problem Solving Process, yet many struggle with one or both. This session will explore how to harness the power of play and games to practice sitting in uncertainty and approach divergent and convergent thinking with ease.     

Takeaways

• Discuss the underlying skills for creative thinking.
• Identify and practice core game mechanics and dynamics connected to these skills.
• Reflect on play as an experiential learning tool for elevated problem-solving.

Have you ever gotten stuck when working on a challenging problem? Have you ever found yourself going back to the same solution, even though you know it didn’t quite work in the past? This workshop focuses on how to use creative techniques rooted in metaphors and analogies to define problems or/and to generate ideas for solutions. Many eminent creators have used analogies and metaphors as their way to keep their creative juices going. Join me to learn how to use their tricks to approach everyday problems in a creative way!


Takeaways

• identifying the role of focusing and expanding metaphors/analogies in create problem-solving;
• applying specific metaphors/analogies to analyze and understand a problem; 
• using metaphors/analogies to generate ideas; 
• learning how to use SYNECTICS, a CPS method that uses metaphors and analogies.

In this dynamic, hands-on session, participants will discover how human creativity and AI’s analytical power can work together to accelerate the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process. Leveraging the AI tool Sluice AI and CPS principles, attendees will engage in experiential exercises that demonstrate how AI can amplify ideation without replacing human insight. This workshop introduces a practical AI tool and frameworks for accelerating organizational innovation, enabling smarter, faster, and more impactful solutions. Participants will leave with actionable strategies to blend technology and creativity for breakthrough results.  

*If you have a laptop, it would be great for you to bring it to this session*

Takeaways

• Human-in-the-Loop Innovation: Understand how combining human judgment with AI-driven insights enhances creative problem solving in real-world contexts.
• Practical Tools: Learn to use Sluice AI and other tools to Explore Data, Clarify the Problem, Ideate, and Develop Solutions quickly and effectively.
• Integration Strategies: Gain strategies for embedding AI into creative workflows without sacrificing human perspective.

Creativity often gets a bad rap in corporate and educational settings, dismissed as frivolous or irrelevant. This interactive 90-minute session will explore how to reframe creativity as a vital, strategic tool for solving today’s complex challenges. Drawing on the principles of Positive Creativity, participants will learn to shift perceptions, build buy-in, and demonstrate the tangible value of creative thinking. Whether you’ve faced resistance from a client, manager, or colleague, this session will equip you with the tools to advocate for creativity with confidence and clarity.    

Takeaways

• Reframing Creativity: Learn to position creativity as a strategic, results-driven approach rather than a "soft skill."
• Positive Creativity Tools: Discover practical techniques to overcome resistance and build enthusiasm for creative thinking in the workplace.
• Actionable Advocacy: Leave with a personalized plan to communicate the value of creativity to skeptics in your organization or community.

This session reveals what we learned from a yearlong creative problem-solving journey that blended CPS with Design Thinking and Lean Discovery at the University of Richmond. We’ll share real student transformation data—from creative confidence gains to tested prototypes and ventures—and then guide participants through a condensed CPS sprint. The workshop highlights how structured creativity practices change mindsets and behaviors over time. Participants will leave inspired with tools they can immediately adapt in their own programs and organizations.    

Takeaways

• Understand how structured creative problem-solving pathways transform mindsets—including measurable gains in divergent thinking, convergent thinking, ambiguity tolerance, and action orientation.
• Experience a rapid CPS sprint using the same tools that drove student transformation in the Richmond Innovators program.
• Leave with adaptable frameworks and facilitation methods you can use to cultivate creative confidence and real-world problem-solving capacity in your own organization or learning environment.

Is it possible that when people say they don’t want to participate in a creative activity because “they’re not creative,” what they really mean is that they don’t know how to be creative? What if you had a few strategies or methods to engage them in creative activities before they even have a chance to say that? In this session, you will practice creative techniques such as using metaphors and analogies, storytelling, and improvisation to spark engagement and help others build the confidence to participate creatively.    

Takeaways
1. Participants will have creative engagement techniques and activities that will encourage creative confidence. 
2. Reflection prompts will help solidify participants’ commitments to apply what they tried and experienced in this session with others in their own social, educational, or work contexts. 
3. Participants will have opportunities to share ideas in community within the session    

Why do good ideas so often fail to become finished work?
This hands-on session explores the creative challenges of implementation, exploring five common reasons meaningful goals and projects stall—and what helps them move forward. Using Creative Problem Solving tools and guided reflection, you will reframe and rework a current goal in real time, building clarity, traction, and a more workable path toward action.

Takeaways:
Participants will:

• Identify why a current goal or idea is stalled and where implementation breaks down
• Apply Creative Problem Solving tools such as mind mapping, action planning, and assistors/resistors—to redesign a goal for traction and follow-through.
• Leave with a clearer, more workable path forward they can begin implementing immediately

What if your next breakthrough comes from a place you've never considered before? This hands-on workshop teaches the mindset and tools needed to systematically find creative ideas and solutions by recognizing patterns across unrelated domains. Through live exercises and real problem solving, participants will practice pattern recognition both with and without AI tools, experiencing firsthand how strategic "theft" produces solutions that pure brainstorming can't. This is a new approach to creative problem solving. You'll want an AI tool handy on your phone or laptop.

Takeaways:

• Learn a repeatable framework for finding creative solutions by recognizing patterns across unrelated industries and domains.
• Get firsthand experience using AI as a creative accelerant, expanding your "theft radius" far beyond your own knowledge and experience.
• Develop the mindet and skills needed for pattern recognition in a human-AI world that is effective and solves real problems.

We all have an innate sense of judgment, an ability to quickly decide what we like, what we don’t, and what feels “right.” While this helps us make sense of the world, it can also limit how openly we engage with new ideas. In this 90-minute, hands-on session, participants will explore how their sense of judgment manifests in creative work through a collaborative painting process. Guided by facilitators from KnowInnovation, a company dedicated to accelerating scientific innovation, participants will respond to the prompt “What does ‘innovate’ mean to you?” and practice noticing, reflecting on, and loosening their judgments as they create. No art experience needed; in fact, Donnalyn would say she’s scared of it.    

Takeaways

• Recognize how judgment naturally arises in ourselves and how it shapes what we see
• Intentional practices for noticing and managing judgment in order to stay open to new ideas.
• Leave with a visual keepsake and a renewed understanding of deferring judgment
• Bonus: A fun, collaborative experience