Questions to Stimulate Curiosity and Creativity

Creative solutions often come from people who are willing to ask “Why?”

• Why has it always been done that way?
• Why can’t we try something different?
• Why did that work?
• Why do the majority feel that way?

To encourage my teammates and session participants to
​ask more why questions, I created a simple activity I call
The 5 Why’s Challenge. To grab attention I preface it with a short video clip of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge from a few years ago and explain that this will be much easier!. Then I share that everyone will be participating in a different type of challenge today. They are to ask 5 why questions at some point during the session. I encourage everyone to draw 5 check boxes on a sticky note or piece of paper and keep track of how often they ask a why question. To support them, I show a slide with some question stems that begin with why and model a few examples.

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Depending on your topic and desired outcome, it can also be helpful to provide your participants with a greater variety of question stems. You can download those here.

For more ideas on how to encourage creativity and curiosity, check out my session during the  ATD@Home Conference, August 29-September 1, or contact me directly to schedule something for your talent developers.