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New Ideas – Strategies and Techniques
Inspiring Innovation Through Creative Thinking
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Mykola_Sosiukin
Fire upwards your inventiveness and unlock new ideas.
You can't use upward creativity. The more you use, the more than you accept.– Maya Angelou, American author.
An open up mind is a valuable resource. When you lot're interested in new possibilities and able to think creatively, y'all're more probable to stay energized in your office – and keep your team or business i stride alee of the contest.
And sometimes, the success of a project depends on more than but small tweaks or suggestions for new ways forward. It needs someone to come up with a big, radical, innovative idea.
This article shows you how that "someone" could be you!
The Ability of New Ideas
You don't have to exist creative to be creative. Everyone can learn to generate assuming, groundbreaking ideas by adopting a creative approach and applying the best thinking tools.
There are 3 central approaches to generating new ideas:
- Breaking former thinking patterns.
- Making new connections.
- Getting fresh perspectives.
Nosotros'll look at each of these elements in turn. So, we'll outline five ways to foster the best environment for creative thinking to flourish.
Note:
It's important to take a solid understanding of the problem that you want to solve before trying these techniques. You lot can use tools like 5 Whys or The Problem-Definition Process to get to the root of the issue. That way, yous can be confident that the new ideas you produce will take real affect.
one. Breaking Erstwhile Thinking Patterns
We can all go stuck in certain "tracks" of thought and fall victim to groupthink. These ideas may exist so comfy that nosotros don't even realize that they're belongings us back! Then, to have fresh ideas, nosotros need to intermission away from established patterns of thought and start to see new paths ahead.
Hither are some of the all-time ways to practise it:
Challenge Your Assumptions
You lot likely bring a prepare of assumptions to each and every state of affairs. Many of them may turn out to be true, but challenging your preconceptions tin also open up up some heady possibilities.
For example, mayhap you'd like to extend your domicile office. You know information technology's a good investment but you don't pursue the idea because yous assume that you lot tin't afford information technology. Challenge that supposition! You lot might not accept the money in the bank right now, but could you sell another assets to enhance the cash? Could y'all accept out a loan and work overtime to make the payments?
Tip:
See our article on Blindspot Analysis for more than advice on stepping away from your assumptions. Bold new ideas frequently arise when yous practice!
Rephrase the Trouble
The manner y'all define or frame your problem can limit your creativity. If you depict the issue you're trying to solve in a different way, or await at it from a different angle, new solutions can emerge.
For example, when Uber founder Garrett Camp wanted to start a transport service, he could have focused simply on buying and managing enough vehicles to make a profit. Instead, he reframed the trouble in terms of how he could best address passengers' needs.
This led to the development of a powerful app, rather than a fleet of cars – and an innovative business was born.
Think in Reverse
If you're finding it difficult to think of a new approach, try turning the trouble upside-downwards!
Flip the question and explore the exact opposite of what you want to achieve. This can present yous with innovative means to tackle the existent outcome.
To come up with a new design for your website, for example, think about how yous'd create the worst expect possible. Trying to arrive boring, frustrating and forgettable may give you lot some bold ideas for how to exercise the contrary. (You tin larn more almost this approach in our article on Reverse Brainstorming.)
Mix Your Media
Radical ideas tin ascend from tackling problems in unusual means. A neat way to exercise this is to apply different types of creativity – don't only talk or write about your plans, explore them through music, painting, photography, sculpture… whatever enables you to express yourself. Fresh thinking can emerge when y'all permit your artistic juices flow!
Interior designers, for case, often create "mood boards" fabricated up of scraps of textile, dabs of paint, photographs, sketches, typefaces, or even small objects. This process of visualization can produce original designs that wouldn't have occurred to them otherwise.
2. Making New Connections
Another way to generate new ideas is to brand new and unexpected connections. Some of the best ideas seem to occur almost by chance – you see or hear something unconnected with the situation yous're trying to resolve, and a lightbulb goes on in your caput!
For instance, inventor George de Mestral was inspired to invent Velcro® by the burdock burrs that got stuck to his dog'due south fur during a countryside walk. [one] And architect Mick Pearce adult a groundbreaking climate-command organisation based on the cocky-cooling mounds congenital by termites. [2]
Attempt some of the following strategies for forging artistic connections:
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Random words. Pick a discussion at random from whatsoever document, then look for novel associations betwixt that word and your problem.
For example, if you lot were exploring ways to reduce ill leave in your company, and your random give-and-take was "ball," you might hit on the idea of organizing a monthly softball game, to heighten morale and motivate people to stay healthy.
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Picture prompts. Images can be a not bad way to inspire creative thinking. Option whatsoever image, find a connection with your trouble – all the same tenuous – and notice whatsoever new possibilities that open upward.
A film of a behemothic redwood, for instance, might propose new ways to organize the teams and "branches" within your business.
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Objects of interest. How about asking your squad members to bring a small object of their pick to your next ideas meeting? Yous could generate new ideas past request questions such as, "How is this object like the trouble we're trying to solve?" or "How could we use this object to meet our claiming?"
A stapler, say, might prompt you lot to consider whether people on your team are condign disconnected. Maybe you could set up a new communications channel to "fasten" them back together?
Tip:
See our article on Mind Maps® for another useful technique for making unexpected connections.
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3. Finding Fresh Perspectives
Finally, you can add together extra dynamism to your thinking by taking a pace back from your usual standpoint and viewing a problem through "fresh eyes."
You'll frequently get a surprising new accept on an outcome by talking to someone with a different perspective, mayhap because of their age, life experience, or cultural groundwork.
Or, try playing the "If I Were" game. Ask yourself, how would I address this challenge "if I were…?" Y'all could be an athlete, a successful entrepreneur, Abraham Lincoln… anyone!
Consider how the person y'all've called would approach the problem, and run across if that gives you whatsoever new ideas. Identify that person'southward distinguishing characteristics, and use them to accost the challenge. The entrepreneur, for instance, might take bigger risks, while the athlete would focus on achieving success through intensive training.
Tip:
Our article, The Reframing Matrix, explores another useful method for seeing a problem from a range of unlike perspectives.
Five Means to Encourage Artistic Thinking
The strategies we've outlined in a higher place work best in an atmosphere of positivity and possibility. The following ideas may help you lot to establish the best weather for creativity:
- Believe in yourself. Take faith that neat ideas will come! Try using techniques such as positive affirmations to keep your spirits high.
- Observe time for downtime. Some of the best ideas appear when you're thinking nearly something else – or non really thinking at all: maybe walking, listening to music, or playing with your kids.
Remainder, relaxation and sleep are all of import for recharging your creative batteries. But brand certain that you accept a notepad or device handy for capturing your brilliant thoughts, whatever yous're doing!
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Vary your environment. Changing your setting can transform your thinking, and offer new sources of inspiration – nosotros've already mentioned the ability of a country walk for the inventor George de Mestral.
Hold your meeting in a nearby coffee shop instead of the briefing room in your office, or ask your people to join y'all for an "ideas walk" in the park.
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Minimize interruptions. When y'all're focused on generating ideas, and feel "in the zone" – stay there! Exercise your thinking in a place where it's easy and enjoyable to work.
Spend some time with your phone and laptop turned off and your door closed, and then that goose egg – and no i – disrupts your train of thought.
- Have fun! Playfulness and sense of humor are essential ingredients of creativity, specially if you're exploring new ideas with a team. When the force per unit area's on to come upwardly with something radical, make sure that you're nonetheless relaxed and open-minded plenty for the very all-time ideas to emerge.
Fundamental Points
Creativity is important in many roles. But sometimes y'all need peculiarly bold ideas to solve a difficult problem or to move frontwards in completely new ways.
It'southward important to retrieve that anyone tin be creative, and that you tin improve your ability to generate innovative ideas. The primal techniques to do this are:
- Breaking out of onetime patterns of thinking. You can practice this past challenging your assumptions, rephrasing the problem, mixing your media, and thinking in opposite.
- Forging new connections. Utilize random words, movie prompts, or objects of involvement to force your mind to make new connections.
- Approaching issues from new perspectives. Talk to different people with different perspectives and backgrounds, and try playing the "If I Were..." game.
As well equally these techniques, employ "enabling" strategies – such as boosting your confidence, allowing for downtime, and varying your environment – to encourage creativity.
Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_88.htm