Facilitators Guide

Challenge the
Assumptions
Challenge the Assumptions
is a creative tool designed to
help people to step out of their
‘river of thinking’ and look at a
challenge in a new way.
There are two stages to the
activity: challenging the
assumption and idea generating
around the result of this.
What to do
1. Recap the challenge your group has
been set and explain “We are going to
list all the assumptions we have about
this challenge, and all the rules and
conventions around it, and then look at
what we find to uncover new ideas. We
will then record these on idea generating
templates one at a time.”
2. Say “We should think about the way this
is done, or the way we think about this
challenge, at present”. Give the group
an example of what you mean, ideally
related to the challenge you are working
on.
3. Write their responses in the ‘Challenge
the Assumptions’ template.
4. Once you have 6-7 assumptions and
rules, (at least one from each participant
ideally), say “OK, looking at these
assumptions, which of these do you think
it would be interesting to challenge?”
5. Once the group has selected one,
turn over your sheet and write the
assumption in Challenge Box One.
6. Say “Now, how might we challenge this
assumption or break this rule? What
other potential ways of doing things
might exist?”
7. Write down the responses that come
in. If most of the responses seem like
opposites to the challenge (e.g. the
assumption is ‘we charge a day rate’,
the challenge is ‘we work for free’) say
“These are really great. Let’s keep going.
What other ways can we challenge this
assumption?” This is often when we start
moving towards ideas that are worth
exploring.
8. Once you have 4-5 challenges, say to the
group “Great. We’ve got some brilliant
challenges to this assumption. Now let’s
work a couple of them up into ideas.”
9. If you heard the nugget of an idea
emerging, play it back to the group. Ask
the group how this might work and once
they have outlined it verbally, record it on
an idea generating template
10. Once you have worked up the idea,
go back to the challenges to the first
assumption and ask if there are any
other ideas here.
11. If not, turn the sheet over and challenge
the assumptions for another rule,
repeating stages 6 to 10.
12. At the end of this activity, ask your
group to select their best idea to share
with the room. Give this one idea to the
Super Facilitator and place your other
completed ideas into your ‘Generated
Ideas Envelope’.