Do you remember playing the word
association game? What is the first thing that comes to mind in response to
'creativity?' For most people it is probably 'art' or something similar, it is
probably never 'business.'
Creativity is not simply the preserve of
the artist. It is something built into everyone, even the businessperson!
Thinking creatively is a powerful business tool that can help businesses exploit
new opportunities and solve problems, all of which can result in improved
profitability.
Mike Waddell of Adsidia offers tips on
creative thinking as a tool to help you generate new thinking in your business.
Edward de Bono, of 'lateral thinking' and
'Six Thinking Hats' fame, observed that the human mind is a very efficient
pattern making and matching system. The problem is that our minds are lazy.
This means that we tend to force fit new scenarios to old patterns instead of
making new ones. De Bono called this 'cliché thinking.' These clichés include
our responses and so we inherently limit our ability to exploit new
opportunities.
The question is how can we break through
the clichés to benefit our business? This in essence is what creative thinking
is about - it is the process of finding new perspectives and developing new
thinking.
Change the question!
As cliché thinking limits us, it is
important to find new ways of looking at problems within a business. Broadening
and rephrasing a problem is an important tool. For instance, a business problem
might be expressed as "we cannot cover our costs," which leads to a
demoralising cost cutting exercise. If you broaden the problem into: "we
are not making enough money to cover our costs," this leads to a
restatement such as: "how can we make more money?" A whole set of
optimistic questions then emerge to help deal with the situation. Broadening
and rephrasing problem statements are powerful cliché breaking actions.
'Object forcing' method helps you to think
outside the box
Having a good problem statement starts the
process but sometimes it is difficult to generate new thinking. 'Object
forcing' is one of a number of tools that helps to initiate and maintain
creative thinking.
The idea is to take any object and
consider how that object might affect the solution. Fun ideas are encouraged
because the exercise is about generating new thinking.
Problem: The company is using too many
elastic bands.
Unrelated object: A crab!
What solution could the crab create?
You can look at the characteristics of the
unrelated object and see how they may affect the situation, for example, the
crab has an armoured shell - so the elastic bands could be kept in a secure
container.
'Object forcing' is most effective in a
brain-storming mode, but remember not to evaluate or criticise ideas until the
session is completed. The ideas can then be reviewed and developed, and
associations can be investigated. Remember, this is not simply about the ideas
that arise from object forcing; it is about breaking the cliché. You can
develop fun new ways of looking at problems that energise your workforce and
stimulate creativity.
Try the above techniques for approaching
new opportunities within your business. Who knows, your business may become the
next Google.
Article published by University of
Bedfordshare
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