Frequently Asked Questions

Why did you pick the name Renaissance Teams?

We chose Renaissance Teams because we believe that today’s biggest challenges—whether in science, innovation, or business—are best solved by multidisciplinary, collaborative teams rather than lone revolutionary thinkers. While the Renaissance was driven by individual brilliance, the future of progress depends on interdisciplinary teams working together to push the boundaries of what’s possible. Just as Renaissance thinkers blended art, science, and philosophy to drive breakthroughs, we bring together different perspectives, harnessing structured creativity and strategic collaboration to help teams unlock their full potential and turn big ideas into reality.

Creative Problem Solving (CPS) is a structured approach to addressing complex challenges and generating innovative solutions. Developed by Alex Osborn in the 1950s and later refined by Sid Parnes, CPS provides a repeatable process for navigating ambiguity and fostering creative thinking within teams and organizations.

At its core, CPS is designed to balance divergent thinking (generating multiple possibilities) and convergent thinking (selecting and refining the best ideas). The process is commonly broken down into six key stages:

  1. Clarify – Identifying and defining the challenge or opportunity.
  2. Ideate – Generating a wide range of potential ideas.
  3. Develop – Refining and strengthening promising ideas.
  4. Implement – Creating a plan and executing solutions.
  5. Monitor & Evaluate – Assessing the effectiveness and impact of the solution.
  6. Repeat as Needed – Iterating based on feedback.

CPS is particularly valuable in organizations facing tough, ill-defined challenges that require novel solutions. It is used in various industries, from R&D and strategic planning to manufacturing and leadership development.

Renaissance Teams specializes in applying CPS to help businesses break through roadblocks, foster cross-functional collaboration, and drive strategic innovation. By leveraging the CPS framework along with the other tools in our toolbox, Renaissance Teams helps organizations develop actionable, high-impact solutions while strengthening their internal innovation capabilities.

Brainstorming is a great tool for generating ideas, but it’s often misused or applied in a limited way. What we do is Creative Problem Solving (CPS), a structured and facilitated process that goes beyond just idea generation. Here’s how it’s different and more effective:

1. Divergent AND Convergent Thinking
  • Most brainstorming sessions focus only on throwing out ideas (divergent thinking).
  • We ensure that ideas are refined, evaluated, and turned into actionable solutions through a structured process of convergent thinking.
2. A Structured, Multi-Step Process
  • Instead of just asking people to throw out ideas, we first clarify the real challenge, ensuring we’re solving the right problem.
  • Then, we use a variety of creative techniques beyond simple brainstorming to generate ideas.
  • Finally, we guide teams through evaluating, developing, and planning for implementation, so ideas don’t just stay on sticky notes.
3. Tools Beyond Brainstorming
  • We use evidence-based creativity tools like PPCo (Pluses, Potentials, Concerns, Overcome), Hits & Clusters, and Reframing to push thinking further and develop high-quality solutions.
  • These methods ensure that every idea is examined, strengthened, and aligned with business objectives.
4. Psychological Safety & Group Dynamics
  • Traditional brainstorming often gets dominated by a few voices or suffers from groupthink. Facilitating from within is really hard.
  • Our facilitated process ensures everyone contributes and that wild, unexpected ideas are encouraged, rather than defaulting to the “usual suspects.” 
5. From Ideas to Execution
  • Many brainstorming sessions end without clear next steps.
  • Our process moves from ideation to implementation, with teams leaving energized, aligned, and ready to execute solutions they believe in.

Bottom Line:

Your team already has the creativity—our process unlocks and focuses it to deliver real results, not just ideas.

You absolutely could have an internal person facilitate, but there are several key reasons why an external facilitator brings a greater level of impact and effectiveness to the process:

1. Neutrality & Objectivity
  • Internal facilitators often carry biases or unintentional influence due to their role, relationships, or company culture.
  • As external facilitators, we have no stake in office politics, hierarchies, or preconceived solutions, allowing us to create an environment where everyone feels safe sharing bold ideas.
2. Full Participation for Your Team
  • If someone from your team facilitates, they can’t fully participate in the problem-solving process.
  • Our approach ensures that everyone, including leadership and key stakeholders, is free to contribute rather than being split between leading the session and engaging in the discussion.
3. Deep Expertise in the Process
  • Our facilitators specialize in Creative Problem Solving (CPS) and have trained in methodologies beyond traditional brainstorming, including Design Thinking, Strategic Doing, and Appreciative Inquiry.
  • We bring a toolkit of tested techniques that go far beyond what’s typically used in internal meetings, ensuring better engagement and more effective solutions.
4. Proven Techniques to Overcome Common Challenges
  • Groupthink, dominant voices, resistance to change, and idea fatigue are common roadblocks in internal discussions.
  • We design our sessions to overcome these obstacles, ensuring that diverse perspectives are heard and ideas are not just generated, but also refined and implemented.
5. Accountability & Focus on Outcomes
  • Internal workshops often lose momentum after the session ends. Without external accountability, ideas can fade away.
  • We structure our sessions to drive real implementation, ensuring teams leave with clear next steps, ownership, and a commitment to action.

Bottom Line:

Having an internal person facilitate may seem cost-effective, but an experienced external facilitator maximizes engagement, removes bias, and drives real change.

KAI (Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation Inventory) is a psychometric tool that measures how individuals prefer to solve problems and approach change—on a spectrum from Adaptive to Innovative thinking styles. It was developed by Dr. Michael Kirton and is widely used in business, research, and organizational development.

KAI Measures Thinking Style, Not Ability

KAI doesn’t measure intelligence or creativity level, but rather how people prefer to engage in problem-solving, decision-making, and change.

The Adaption-Innovation Continuum

  • Adaptive Thinkers

    • Prefer structure, incremental improvements, and solutions that fit within existing frameworks.
    • They thrive in structured environments and focus on efficiency, stability, and risk mitigation.
    • Example: Someone refining an existing process to make it more effective.

  • Innovative Thinkers

    • Prefer breaking rules, disrupting norms, and thinking outside traditional frameworks.
    • They thrive in ambiguous situations and focus on radical new ideas and unconventional approaches.
    • Example: Someone proposing an entirely new way of operating instead of improving the old one.
Why KAI Matters for Teams
  • Helps teams understand their problem-solving diversity and leverage different thinking styles.
  • Reduces conflict by helping team members recognize differences as strengths, rather than as barriers.
  • Helps leaders assign roles more effectively based on preferred problem-solving approaches.
  • Supports innovation efforts by ensuring the right balance between creative disruption and structured execution.
How Renaissance Teams Uses KAI

We use KAI to help organizations:
✅ Build more effective teams by understanding thinking preferences.
✅ Optimize collaboration between adaptive and innovative thinkers.
✅ Facilitate change by ensuring both structured and disruptive perspectives are integrated.

🚀 Want to explore how KAI could improve your team’s problem-solving effectiveness? Let’s talk!

FourSight is an assessment tool that measures an individual’s preference for different phases of the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process. It helps teams understand how they naturally engage with problem-solving and innovation.

The FourSight Thinking Preferences

FourSight has identified four types of thinking that play a role in problem-solving. This leads 15 unique profiles highlighting individual peak preferences. 

  1. Clarifiers – Love to define and understand the problem before jumping into solutions. They ask, “Are we solving the right problem?”

    • Strengths: Analytical, detail-oriented, ensure clear goals.
    • Challenges: Can get stuck in overanalyzing and not move forward quickly.

  2. Ideators – Thrive on generating lots of ideas and exploring possibilities. They ask, “What are all the ways we could solve this?”

    • Strengths: Creative, big-picture thinkers, love brainstorming.
    • Challenges: Can lose focus or struggle with details and implementation.

  3. Developers – Enjoy refining, improving, and strengthening ideas. They ask, “How do we make this idea better and more practical?”

    • Strengths: Logical, strategic, love to perfect solutions.
    • Challenges: Can overcomplicate and delay execution.

  4. Implementers – Focus on taking action and making things happen. They ask, “What are the next steps, and how do we get this done?”

    • Strengths: Action-oriented, decisive, focused on execution.
    • Challenges: May rush ahead without fully evaluating ideas.
Why FourSight Matters for Teams
  • Helps teams balance strengths and avoid getting stuck in any one phase.
  • Improves collaboration by helping members appreciate different problem-solving styles.
  • Supports innovation efforts by ensuring a mix of clarity, ideation, refinement, and execution.
  • Reduces frustration and inefficiencies by helping teams understand why problem-solving efforts stall.
How Renaissance Teams Uses FourSight

We use FourSight to help teams:
✅ Identify gaps in their problem-solving approach.
✅ Improve collaboration by understanding diverse thinking styles.
✅ Develop strategies to move through the CPS process efficiently.

🚀 Curious about your team’s problem-solving preferences? Let’s assess your FourSight profiles!

At Renaissance Teams (RT), we focus on helping teams solve complex challenges through structured creativity and collaboration. To do this effectively, we need tools that:
✔ Help teams understand how they think and work together
✔ Improve communication and problem-solving efficiency
✔ Bridge the gap between creativity and implementation

We chose KAI (Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation Inventory) and FourSight because they align perfectly with our approach to Creative Problem Solving (CPS) and our work with teams in R&D, strategy, distressed sites, and project execution.

1. Why KAI? (Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation Inventory)

KAI helps us understand how people prefer to solve problems and engage with change.
🔹 Adaptive Thinkers prefer structure, efficiency, and incremental improvements.
🔹 Innovative Thinkers prefer breaking rules, thinking outside the box, and radical change.

💡 Why It Matters to RT:
✅ Teams solving problems often clash due to different thinking styles. KAI helps them see these differences as strengths, not obstacles.
✅ It helps leaders balance teams—pairing innovative thinkers (who push boundaries) with adaptive thinkers (who refine and implement ideas).
✅ Many of our clients work in structured environments like manufacturing, logistics, and R&D. KAI helps them integrate creative problem-solving into these structured spaces without disrupting core operations.

2. Why FourSight?

FourSight helps teams identify their natural preferences within the Creative Problem Solving process:
✔ Clarifiers → Define the problem
✔ Ideators → Generate new ideas
✔ Developers → Strengthen and refine ideas
✔ Implementers → Put ideas into action

💡 Why It Matters to RT:
✅ In CPS, some teams get stuck because they over-focus on one phase (e.g., endless brainstorming without execution). FourSight helps diagnose and fix this.
✅ It ensures that teams balance all phases of problem-solving and don’t leave gaps.
✅ It reduces frustration and speeds up decision-making by helping teams recognize why some members want to move faster while others want more detail.

The Power of KAI + FourSight Together

Individually, both tools are powerful. But together, they give us a complete picture of how a team thinks, solves problems, and interacts with change.
✔ KAI helps us understand how a team prefers to approach change and structure.
✔ FourSight helps us understand where a team gets stuck in the problem-solving process.

🎯 This combination makes our interventions more effective because we can tailor strategies that match your team’s natural strengths and challenges.

🚀 Want to see how KAI and FourSight can help your team solve problems faster and collaborate better? Let’s talk!

At Renaissance Teams, we help organizations navigate both creativity and innovation, but they are not the same thing. Understanding their differences (and their relationship) is key to unlocking your team’s full potential.

James C. Kaufman’s framework (2009) provides a helpful way to understand the Process of Innovation by breaking it down into three key components:

  1. Creativity (Generating Ideas)
  2. Innovation (Developing and Refining Ideas)
  3. Entrepreneurship/Intrapreneurship (Implementing and Scaling Ideas)
1. Creativity = Idea Generation (The First Step) 🎨💡

Creativity is where ideation and sense-making happen. It’s about generating novel, useful ideas that could lead to potential innovations.

🔹 Key Traits of Creativity:
✔ Focuses on imagination and exploration
✔ Requires divergent thinking (expanding possibilities)
✔ Can be spontaneous or structured
✔ Measured by originality and usefulness

🛠 Example:
A team brainstorming ways to improve customer experience is engaging in creativity—whether or not the ideas get used.

2. Innovation = Developing and Refining Ideas 🚀🔧

Innovation as the process where ideas take shape—moving from abstract concepts to tangible solutions. This phase includes prototyping, refining, and testing ideas to ensure they are feasible and effective.

🔹 Key Traits of Innovation:
✔ Bridges creativity and execution
✔ Can require both divergent and convergent thinking (narrowing down ideas)
✔ Uses creativity for problem-solving and iteration
✔ Measured by impact, usability, and scalability

🛠 Example:
If the brainstorming team selects an idea, refines it, and creates a prototype for a new customer service process, that’s innovation—moving beyond raw ideas to something usable.

3. Entrepreneurship/Intrapreneurship = Implementing and Scaling 📈💰

This third component focuses on bringing innovations to market or implementing them within an organization. This phase is about commercializing, deploying, or integrating the idea into a real-world context.

🔹 Key Traits of Entrepreneurship/Intrapreneurship:
✔ Focuses on execution and market adoption
✔ Requires strategic planning, funding, and leadership buy-in
✔ Turns refined innovations into products, services, or internal initiatives
✔ Uses creativity for problem-solving and iteration
✔ Measured by ROI, market impact, and long-term sustainability

🛠 Example:
Rolling out the new customer service process across all company locations, training employees, and tracking performance improvements is entrepreneurship/intrapreneurship.

The Relationship Between Creativity, Innovation & Execution

Creativity fuels innovation, which in turn drives execution and impact. But each phase requires different mindsets and skill sets:

  • Creativity thrives on exploration and possibilities.
  • Innovation requires problem-solving, iteration, and refinement.
  • Entrepreneurship/Intrapreneurship ensures real-world application and scalability.

💡 At Renaissance Teams, we help organizations maximize their creativity (ideas) to enable innovation (impact), no matter where in the process of innovation it is needed.