Give employees valuable creative breaks
An employee quiz can add variety to the working day and provide a deliberate break from the task at hand. Short knowledge questions or brief prompts work particularly well as a break between periods of focused work.
A quiz does not generate creativity in itself. However, a short mental break can help employees change perspective and return to the task with fresh eyes.
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Models of the creative process
Creative processes are often divided into several phases. The following models illustrate in simplified form why reflection, stepping back and subsequent evaluation are treated as separate phases.
The three-phase model
- Analytical phase: The problem and objective are clarified.
- Intuitive phase: Ideas emerge, are collected and are not evaluated at first.
- Critical phase: The ideas are reviewed and selected.
The intuitive phase in particular shows why short breaks can be useful: not every solution emerges from continuously working on the same task.
The four-phase model
Another well-known model distinguishes between preparation, incubation, insight and verification. Here too, the process includes a phase during which the problem is not being worked on continuously.
An employee quiz cannot replace or systematically create such a break. It can, however, provide a deliberate change of focus before employees return to the original task.
As a simple mnemonic, the steps can also be summarised using the German acronym B-I-L-D:
- Beschreibung (description): What is the issue?
- Informationen (information): What information and approaches are available?
- Lösung (solution): Which idea offers a suitable approach?
- Darstellung (presentation): How is the idea developed and communicated?
The acronym deliberately simplifies the creative process. It can help people keep the individual steps in mind more easily at work.
Example questions for an employee quiz as a creative break
The questions do not need to be directly related to the task at hand. Short knowledge questions, estimation questions or brief prompts that can be answered in just a few minutes are all suitable.
Example 1: Which everyday product was originally developed for a completely different purpose?
Example 2: Which of three unusual ideas has actually been patented?
Example 3: How many different uses can you think of for a simple object such as a paper clip in one minute?
What matters is not so much the level of difficulty as the brief change of perspective.
