It may seem counter-intuitive to use a process to build new ideas, but Chris Thomason argues there are ways we can encourage the workforce to think more creatively.
Creativity will be one of the most sought-after traits in the future of work, according to the World Economic Forum. But creativity cannot be turned on like a tap. In my book, Freaky Thinking, I put forward a process that employees could follow that will help them to naturally think more creatively, rather than the ways they are traditionally encouraged to think in today’s work environment.
While “freaky thinking” follows the conventional flow of question and answer, the techniques used within the process are radically unconventional. Here are five steps for unleashing creative thinking among your teams.
Identify the killer question
A killer question is bold and powerful in scope and when answered well, will deliver significant value. It could be an issue that the organisation has so far been unable to address satisfactorily, but one staff feel could be possible to answer. If it lights a fire within them, that makes it worth the effort of solving.
Encourage employees to write down the killer question, or it can change or flex in their mind and therefore become more difficult to answer. This also prevents it from being too vague, clarifying the structure of the question.
Dissect the killer question
Get employees to consider both the target sector of specific people or things to be affected, and the scale of change (the size of improvement) they want to make. This could be a specific segment of people within an identifiable group, or a small group matching specific criteria.
People must actively work their imagination to make creativity happen, rather than waiting for a totally new idea
Then they need to think about the scale of change, as this will demonstrate how different the outcome is from the current situation. A moderate change could be a way to test the waters for something bigger; a sizable change could assess whether this kind of change might have mass adoption or rejection; and a radical change might be something that you haven’t done before that disrupts the status quo in any number of ways.
One strategy is to break down the killer question into tackling the issue through differing degrees of change, for example targeting a radical change at a large sector.
Free that creativity
Success in being creative is not about kicking back in a bean bag waiting for moments of serendipity, when a great idea suddenly appears.
People must actively work their imagination to make creativity happen, rather than waiting for a totally new idea. What does exist is an infinite number of interesting and new combinations of current ideas. So rather than look for an original idea itself, look for a new and novel combination of ideas that could be the solution you’re looking for.
One way to do this is through “ricochet thinking”. Using a deflection trigger, an unusual fact on a subject completely unrelated to your question, can achieve this. For example, looking at the differences in breathing between humans and insects can deflect someone’s thinking in a different direction; the thought of delivering oxygen in a new way inspiring thoughts on how to energise a team.
Combine the best ideas
The thoughts we capture are our raw ideas. These are interesting in some ways, novel in others, but sometimes they aren’t strong enough to stand on their own in their current form. Potentially, two or three different ideas can be merged and integrated to become something more interesting. Or maybe two ideas come together to spark a third idea, which is much better than each of the original ideas individually. Encourage teams to pool their best ideas and try re-combining them in different ways to create more value.
Build great concepts
At this stage, these concepts can be considered a work-in-progress at this stage and should be allowed to be shaped by others. Employees need to be open to being told why their ideas may be difficult to achieve. If people do this, ask them for ways to overcome that problem, and then incorporate those suggestions to build the idea into a more-robust concept. How it gets amended as it progresses is immaterial. Ultimately it is the killer question that is being discussed and will eventually be realised.
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