Creative thinking
By Thea O'Connor | smh.com.au | 26 April
Most businesses depend on creative thinking. Whether it's coming up with dazzling new product lines or better ways to manage finances, thinking outside the square can have significant financial benefits. The challenge is finding the time and mental space to think freely when everyone is busy, deadlines are looming and quotas must be met.
But academics and creativity consultants agree some strategies help bolster imaginative thought. Recognising good ideas from staff members, creating breathing space from work pressures and looking at problem-solving techniques can all help.
"You won't get a major change in growth with logical, linear thinking," says Dr Amantha Imber, a consultant who trains people to think more creatively. "Workplaces are starting to recognise that they can come up with good ideas faster and find better solutions to existing problems ... by [using] a creative-thinking approach."
Financial services firm Deloitte Australia has invested in an innovation program over the past three years.
"We realised there were a whole range of great ideas sitting inside our people's heads," says Matt McIntyre, Deloitte's innovation-program director. "We wanted to find effective ways of getting those ideas out of their heads and develop them into new products and services."
The company uses its "breakthrough cafe" as one technique to generate and harvest new ideas. Over a two-hour lunch, with lots of butcher's paper, workers from a range of disciplines toil in small groups on a specific theme or question.
"Diversity is a breeding ground for good ideas," McIntyre says, "It's the cornerstone of our innovation program."
McIntyre says the company's strategy seems to be paying off, with the better staff ideas generating significant revenue.
One example is Deloitte's online leadership academy, which gives clients access to e-content on leadership from organisations such as Harvard University.
But exactly how do companies encourage workers' brains to change lanes from logical to lateral?
One option is to engage creative-thinking specialists.
Deloitte used Imber's techniques, including a game called "fat chance".
"I give them an impossible problem, such as creating world peace by tonight, then ask them to come up with solutions," Imber says. "Because the problem can't be solved, this forces rational, logical thinking to give way to divergent thinking. It gives people permission to go a bit crazy and unrealistic, which is the right environment for creative thinking."
Simon Moss, senior lecturer in psychology at Monash University, says one of his favourite creativity-stimulating mental exercises is generating feelings of safety by thinking of someone supportive in his life.
"When you feel safe and supported and aren't worried about threats, you're more willing to take risks, which you need to if you want to be innovative," he says.
Risk-taking and permission to fail are critical for stimulating creative flow. They are also challenging to cultivate in a work environment, according to Joanna Maxwell, lawyer and lead facilitator of BlueWaterThinking, which runs creativity programs for workplaces.
"You can't be creative and have a perfect score card," Maxwell says. "That's why a supportive workplace culture is crucial for staff to feel [they're permitted] to exercise some innovation."
Maxwell says managers often fear the outcomes of creative processes can't be measured or take too much time.
"But once they are trained in using lateral-thinking tools and processes, meetings become much shorter and problems are solved in less time," she says. "Being creative doesn't take more man hours but it can require a different timetable to encourage people to start thinking about an issue early on, then to put it on the backburner for a while."
Even without any tools and techniques, managers can foster creativity by giving staff interesting work with more responsibility.
"The biggest predictor of creative thinking at work is having a challenging job," Imber says.
Challenge is stimulating but stress is not. Creative thinking was found to be 45 per cent less likely on high-pressure days, according to research into seven US companies conducted by the Harvard Business School. Creative thinking can still occur under pressure but only if workers have a strong sense of mission and can immerse themselves in their work uninterrupted, the research found.
Originality doesn't have to be hard work. In fact rest, relaxation and regular breaks can provide that fresh perspective you've been searching for. Sleeping on it or taking a short walk outside can be the smartest thing to do when stuck on a problem.
"When you return, the chances are you'll have something fresh," Imber says.
Recognition programs, where employees are acknowledged for the ideas they come up with, also help cultivate a culture that nurtures fresh ideas. Deloitte issues its annual Innovator of the Year Reward to formally recognise anyone who contributes an idea to its "innovation zone".
Maxwell says the most rewarding part of her work is the look of relief on people's faces when they're finally given permission to use their right brain as well as their left brain at work.
"There are many closet right-brainers out there," she says. "When they no longer have to hang up half their brain as well as their jacket when they arrive, they feel much happier and smarter and contribute more effectively."
Managing creativity
Consultants agree a range of strategies can help boost imaginative thought in the office:
*Encourage staff to take regular breaks and take them yourself.
*Formally recognise staff who contribute and develop new ideas.
*Integrate creative thinking time into business procedures, such as meetings and project planning.
*Try to minimise extended periods of extreme pressure.
*Allocate uninterrupted time for workers under pressure to generate creative solutions.
*Train your staff in innovative thinking tools, skills and processes.
First published by Smh.com.au on April 26 2008
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