Creativity, innovation and invention are different but related concepts but we use them interchangeably.
Where do these workplace Newtons, Robert Maxwells, Wangaris, Galileos etcetera? What do researchers say gives birth to the ingenious lot?
The most remarkable method towards actualising ingenuity is questioning everything on the planet. The strategic benefits of asking questions are transcending self-limitations, assumptions and beliefs that keep us prisoners of obsolete and indolent thinking.
Let us call this the Socratic Method. It encompasses asking queries even to long-held customs and facts. Socrates is the philosopher who was compelled to partake in the hemlock because he was asking troubling questions.
There is a certain discomfort that emanates from questioning long-held “truths”. We can also call this modus operandi the 5Ws and H.
Supposing a poet called an anaconda a shiny rope or road or river? That is metaphorical thinking. Metaphorical thinking is a comparative technique.
Supposing your small organisation is compared to a humongous establishment? By comparing thought processes to another thing we create connections.
Soon we will start thinking like the gargantuan giants. We can stand on the shoulders of behemoths.
Albert Einstein told us that imagination is better and higher than knowledge. Imaginative powers can also be called visualisation.
When visualising something increase the details. Accumulation of facts can be constraining. Imagine!
Brainstorming is another avenue for fertilising new designs. It is riveting synergy when handled with a lot of dexterity. Group members are inspired to plant as many ideas as possible.
It doesn’t matter whether the ideas are quite bonkers, the weirder the proposals the better. There is no criticism during these sessions.
It is abundance that is being appreciated. The more the merrier. Brainstorming is the acknowledgement of diversity and inclusion.
Employees have different prisms of looking at a challenge. Their seeds originate from a myriad of experiences and educational backgrounds.
You know people read and learn from a multiplicity of sources. In essence, this is a contribution and collaboration towards solving a problem from a wider range of sources.
The team leader has to make sure that everyone participates without gagging. The beauty is, original ideas will be birthed.
The buzz session will experience an abundance of ideas from which to elect from.
Let us imagine a product development executive who decides to think like the CEO. Role-playing will stretch the imagination of the executive to the limit until state-of-the-art and practical concepts are germinated.
As you notice I am deploying farming metaphors. Let us visualise ourselves sitting in a CEO’s chair or automobile. Chances are even our manners, etiquette and dressing will change.
What if you slept in the presidential suite? Will that make us more ambitious and productive?
During the Second World War, the team guarding Churchill asked themselves supposing I want to kill Churchill what will I do? This is the reversal method of creative thinking.
Let us visualise our eulogies. Will that influence our thinking and behaviour? There is a stoic concept called memento mori. It is scary to think about one’s demise.
However, it can lead to self-transformation. Researchers say that near-death experiences can alter our thought processes.
We can use this method in our work, services and products to transform. Imagine you losing your job or customers. Very fresh ideas will pop up.
I can’t remember where I read that Sigmund Freud used to discreetly listen to people’s conversations in the streets and restaurants in order to learn something.
This method is called social listening. Active listening can predict and determine freshness. This is stretching one’s antennae in order to pick valuable ideas.
If you hit the writer’s block button do social listening. A single word or sentence from someone can lead to a floodgate of propositions.
Thinking outside the box also known as lateral thinking is a roadmap to looking at situations with a different set of looking glasses.
We are conditioned to think in a straight linear fashion. What about Zigzag? The limitless possibilities will be astounding.
Some challenges are complex and hence transcend linear cogitations. There are occasions where logical processing can’t yield much.
It could be a stumbling block. If we jump into established patterns we will stay with the challenge for days on end. Before hitching to the next possible answers create an ambience for alternatives.
Go home using an indirect route. This is seducing design using the indirect approach.
We can use humour, learning, opportunity exploration and discovery to reframe. This is relooking into the problem with different eyes.
How can we reframe customer rejection or cold calling? How can we reframe anger management issues? How can we reframe toxic situations?
