Why Creative Problem Solving is the Best Tool for Facilitators
Every facilitator needs tools and methods to help groups think better, work better, and make better decisions together. While there are many specialist frameworks like Design Thinking, Liberating Structures, Theory U, or Agile practices, Creative Problem Solving (CPS) should sit at the foundation of every facilitator’s practice. It is the thinking engine that powers everything else.
While humans have solved problems for millennia, Creative Problem Solving (CPS) was the first process to make creativity teachable and accessible through a structured, repeatable, and research-backed approach. Unlike methods rooted in specific disciplines like science, engineering, or design, CPS was created as a universal framework for solving any kind of challenge—strategic, operational, social, or creative.
Why Creative Problem Solving Is the Best Tool
What is CPS?
CPS developed by Alex Osborn and Sid Parnes in the 1950s was the first to codify creativity and problem-solving into a structured, repeatable, and teachable process, starting with brainstorming and evolving into a full multi-step process balancing divergent and convergent thinking. It was also the first process to be tested, taught, and researched in academic and organisational settings, through the Creative Education Foundation and the Creative Studies programme at Buffalo State University.
At its core, CPS teaches the essential structure of effective group process: balancing divergent and convergent thinking. Most meetings and workshops fail because these two modes of thinking are mixed up or skipped entirely; people rush to solutions without framing the right questions, or they evaluate ideas too soon and shut down creativity. CPS makes these thinking modes explicit, giving facilitators a clear structure to design and manage productive conversations at every stage.
CPS – The Best Tool for Workshop & Meeting Facilitators
- CPS works across all types of challenges; from strategy and culture to product development and team dynamics. It provides a universal, method-agnostic process that helps groups move from ambiguity to clarity, from ideas to actions, in a structured but flexible way. This makes it one of the most adaptable tools in a facilitator’s toolkit, whether you’re running a one-hour session or a multi-day sprint.
- CPS is designed to be inclusive and participative. It helps surface ideas and perspectives from all participants, not just the loudest or most senior voices in the room. This makes it an essential tool for facilitators who want to create safe, engaging, and high-impact sessions. CPS is a structured process designed to help anyone tackle challenges creatively, not just designers or experts, but whole teams, organisations, and communities.
- No process works if people don’t feel safe speaking up. Amy Edmondson’s research shows top-performing teams aren’t perfect; they’re simply more willing to admit mistakes. A shared process like CPS reduces the risk of disagreement: instead of contradicting a colleague, you’re simply exploring a step together.
- CPS is built on a simple but powerful insight: the best thinking happens when you balance two distinct mindsets—divergent thinking (opening up to new ideas) and convergent thinking (narrowing down to the best ones). Learning how to manage that balance is the single most important skill a facilitator can develop.
In short, CPS gives facilitators the ability to design better processes, manage better group dynamics, and deliver better outcomes irrespective of the brief. It builds the thinking skills that make other methods work better.
That’s why CPS should be the starting point for every facilitator, the tool they reach for when they need to help groups navigate complexity, unlock creativity, and move to action.
If you’re a facilitator looking to build your facilitation practice, start with Creative Problem Solving (CPS).
Wishing you happy and productive creative problem solving from Make Happy.
