Episode #271: Five Phase Practical Creative Thinking

More, faster, better with less sounds ideal, but if you are continuing to do the same things, in the same way, then the sadly, results will be the same. That means we need to be introducing changes. The creative quotient in change has the capacity to really lift our game. Are we maximizing the total power of the group to come up with creative interventions, which will impact our performance? Usually the boss is barking out orders like a mad pirate or is shredding ideas from the group, as they begin to hatch. This destroys any individual motivation to put up any further ideas and plunges the future of the organisation into idea darkness. Not ideal.

We all know that the ability to think creatively, analyse problems and opportunities in new innovative ways are critical organisational skills, which are still underdeveloped here in most companies in Japan. We want new discoveries, better ways of doing things, reduced costs and improved performance, but we often defeat ourselves in trying to achieve these things through our poor methodologies. Here are five phases to get creative results.

1. Problem Identification
We need to have some mental picture of what we want, what is the outcome that will help drive the business? This needs to be as clear as possible, otherwise we will be spinning our wheels and getting nowhere, as we thrash around in contemplating various splintered directions. We need to define where do we want to be and where are we now, so we can encapsulate the scope of the gap. To understand where we are now, we need to take an inventory of what are the current facts of our situation.

For example, what is the problem, what are some possible causes, who is involved, who is not involved, what is wrong, what is not wrong, when did it happen, when did it not happen, where did it occur, where did it not occur, etc. The classic questions need to be focused upon- who, what, when, where and why. We are not making judgments at this point. We are just collecting valuable data points. We are looking at going beyond the symptoms, to the underlying causes.

2. Creative Thinking
The key is to begin the process with no evaluation of ideas. Sounds counterintuitive, but we want volume of ideas rather than quality of ideas in the initial stage. Most people get this wrong. They can’t help themselves and start to edit ideas on the fly, as they emerge. If you want to completely shut down all but the noisiest three members of your staff, keep filleting everyone’s ideas as they emerge. Alternatively, if you want to get diverse and rich ideas from everyone, don’t judge what you hear, as the ideas are put up in the first phase. Park your judgment phase for later.

3. Logical Analysis
This is where we judge the quality of the idea capture. We focus on recognising assumptions, drawing conclusions and thoroughly evaluating options. We apply practical thought processes, running the ruler over the raw ideas to see which makes sense and which look like they won’t work.

4. Decisions-Making
This is the tricky bit. We have filtered out what we think are the best ideas for execution, but we don’t have unlimited resources, so we have to make some choices and decisions, about where we need to place our emphasis. We could do it by consensus, after appreciating everyone’s views and opinions and come to a group decision. We could leave it to the boss to make the choice and then give us the budget to make the ideas a reality. We could be less dictatorial and allow the team to vote of ideas. We could apply a criteria methodology by determining what criteria the ideas have to fit in with, in order to be adopted. We could look at which criteria are counted as desirables and which are absolutes. This makes the selection process of ideas more objective and less prone to personal preference of a few strong willed individuals.

5. Coordination
Unless you are going to personally implement the solution, because you are such a big legend, you will probably need other people to help you. Involving other people means having to gain cooperation around timeframes, accountability, role clarification, expectations, reporting and responsibilities. This is where your people skills come into play. By the way, how good are your communication and people skills?

These five phases give you a road map to apply to the creative process in your workplace. If you are using this well and your rivals are not using it or are screwing it up, then expect that you can win in the marketplace.