Alternative scenarios 

When to use: 

• When your mentee is stuck.  
• When they need non-standard solutions.  

Props: 

• Large sheet of paper  
• Small Post-it notes  
• Colored markers/highlighters  
• Virtual board for remote work (e.g. Miro, Mural)  
• Additional props are described in detail in technique #2.  

Instruction:  

This technique is meant to stimulate your mentee's creativity. 

There are many ways to do this, and you can combine them freely. 

• Cartesian model of change 
• Other perspectives, working with different identities 
• Opening/stimulating questions, provocative  

Other perspectives, working with different identities  

1. Suggest to your mentee to use props that they feel comfortable with. Often, these are hats (or other head coverings), but we know from experience that this can be a problem for mentees. Therefore, you can choose other props, such as pens, different cups/glasses, and books with various themes and sizes.  
2. After selecting the type of props, give your mentee time to gather and place them next to each other.  
3. In the next step, ask your mentee to take one of the props (e.g. a book they are currently reading) in their hand and name the identity associated with that book for them.  
4. Then, ask your mentee the following questions from the list below:  
   1. Who is the person with this book?  
   2. What do you think when holding this book?  
   3. What do you feel when holding this book?  
   4. What can you do?  
   5. What is possible to achieve when holding this book?  
   6. How would this person cope with being in the same situation as you? 
   7. Where would they start?  
5. Give your mentee the space to take several props (in this case, different books) and encourage them to adopt a new identity with each prop they pick up and gain new perspectives.  
6. If the mentee feels the need, they can briefly write down the generated ideas.  
7. In the end, ask the mentee to return to the identity they felt most comfortable with.  
8. Allow the mentee to write down/collect their best ideas generated at each iteration.  
9. Summarize the exercise with your conclusions and observations. 

Questions to stimulate creativity and generate new ideas: 

1. What other solutions do you have for this problem? 
2. And what else? 
3. What else? 
4. How else can you approach this? 
5. Do you have any more ideas? 
6. What alternative solutions can you propose in case this one is not accepted? 
7. And what else? 
8. What solution could lead to failure for you? 
9. What solution could be a chance for success?  

Don't be afraid to ask, "And what else?" It's a short but effective question. Even if the mentee generates two new options and says that's it, try asking this question again. If the mentee responds with silence, don't push it. In this silence, the mentee is working. If, after some time, the mentee still doesn't say anything or says they can't come up with any more ideas, ask if you can share your perspective and any ideas that come to mind in this situation.