Guidelines for a Creativity Training Program

Here are some guidelines for designing a creativity training program. The program should:

• Be easy to disseminate to the creativity-challenged (e.g. inexpensive, any-time access)
• Teach a collective group of skills beneficial across all fields (domain general). There could be components of a modified program that would be domain specific
• Use divergent and convergent skills in conjunction with each other
• Teach creative thinking heuristics
• Teach problem-solving skills and tolerance for mistakes or unexpected results
• Encourage the development of conditions where creative solutions can be achieved, for example, serendipity, a stimulating environment
• Build support systems that do not emphasize extrinsic rewards
• Use repetition of skills so that they become automatic and are incorporated into a normal daily routine