What do employers look for when they select people into their teams? In the 1960’s NASA was in the midst of finding the best people for various teams. The director of NASA wanted to find a way to assign the best people in his teams. He was looking for a way to find people with the best creative ideas for teams that handle difficult problems. He approached George Land, the expert researcher in creative performance, for a solution. George Land formed a test to measure the creativity of NASA engineers and scientists.
The test worked impressively well at NASA. The test takers were supposed to derive new, diverse and innovative ideas to solve a given problem. George Land realised that it was a test that could be solved by anyone. So, he decided to give it to children. In 1968, he tried out the same test with 1,600 five year old children. He re-tested the same children when they reached the age of 10 years and later at 15 years. He tried out the same test with over one million adults as a follow up.
The percentage of people who scored at genius level differed among different age groups. 98% of those 5 year olds scored at genius level. However, as they grew older, their creativity and hence their score dropped rapidly at unimaginable levels.
What makes the thinking skills of children drop as they grow older?
The main reason for this rapid drop in imagination is the way we train our minds. There are two types of thinking: Convergent thinking and Divergent thinking.
- Divergent thinking focuses on coming up with new ideas without limiting the scope of the thinking horizon, without being judged .
- Convergent thinking limits the scope of thinking and often looks out for the well defined perfect answer for a problem.
At our schools, children are taught to produce the perfect answer for a problem. This limits their divergent thinking and problem solving skills.
But does it help? As per the IBM 2012 CEO study, which is based on inputs from 1700 CEOs from 64 countries, creativity is among the three traits that are critical for an employee’s success. As per a NACE survey among 160 employers, problem solving is among the top 4 skills employers are seek on a candidate.
These results bring up the key question: What is more important to you as a parent?– to bring up a child who scores well in their exams or to bring up a child who is capable enough to handle and solve problems in their professional and personal lives. Apparently it is the second type of children that future workforce would prefer to hold closer.
How you can help your child to maximise their thinking potential?
Allow opportunities for your child to grow their creative potential. If you want to be a parent of a child who retain their ability to be creative, encourage them to come up with ideas, allow them to express those ideas without judgment and provide them with opportunities to try out their ideas. This will not only ensure them a brighter future, they will also learn to be self-assured people.
You can find practical tips on how to encourage your child’s creative potential at
3 Tips to Boost Your Childs Creative Problem Solving Skills
The one thing must do to cultivate Critical Thinking in your child
Please visit our workshops on thinking skills here.
Share this article with your friends and colleagues, so that they too are aware of this amidst their busy schedules.
Do you have any insights or tips that you use? Would you like to share that? Please use the comments section below and let us know!
© 2016 – 2019, Sindu Sreebhavan. All rights reserved.
About Sindu Sreebhavan
Sindu Sreebhavan is the founder of As Many Minds Minds Pte Ltd and the founding Chief Editor of The Kidz Parade Edutainment magazine, Asia's premium publication for cultivating creativity and creative writing in children. Sindu is also the founder and the Chairperson of International Youth Leadership and Innovation Forum (IYLIF). Sindu is the author of 'Infinite Possibilities' and the lead co-author of Amazon bestseller 'Breakthrough'. With a passion to infuse innovation in education and inject growth mindset and innovative mindset in people and organisations, Sindu writes, speaks and consults on innovation and creativity in business and education. She says innovation does not start with invention, it starts with a mindset. “The best gift you can give a child is the power of Confidence, Creativity and Communication” is her tagline. She is passionate about educating educators, parents and children about youth development, youth leadership, education innovation and 21st century education. She supports children, parents, schools and several organisations in these areas.
