What's the problem?

Just at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and it inspired me to write about one of the critical elements of creative problem solving - making sure that you dig deep to find the real problem you need to solve, not the perceived problem.

Several years ago, NASA astronauts were struggling to make notes about he mission and their experiments because their pens did not work in zero gravity. Back on Earth, a team of NASA researchers set out to solve the problem of the pens not working in zero gravity. They spent millions of dollars on the task and tried many different solutions. Meanwhile, the Russian space programme embarked on the same problem solving task.

However, unlike NASA who were focusing on how to make pens work in zero gravity, the Russians defined the problem as how to write in space. Their solution...they gave their astronauts pencils!! Although space pens do now exist as a commercial product, NASA wasted time and money on trying to solve the perceived problem, not the real problem.

If you are trying to solve a problem, ask yourself if it's the real problem you have identified. If not, keep asking yourself questions about the problem until you find the real problem....then you can solve it.

Creative Magic

One of the biggest misunderstandings about creativity is that the initial idea is vital to creating an original concept. Having facilitated many ideation sessions with my clients over the years, many times the final idea selected originates from an idea that was initially thought of as a 'bad idea'. However, in the creative world, there is no such thing as a bad idea. What one person thinks is a bad idea is brain food for someone else who can see its potential.

As Ed Catmull explains, "If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they'll screw it up. But if you give a mediocre idea to a great team, they'll make it work", Ed is the cofounder and president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, and author of 'How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity', (Harvard Business Review, Sept 2008). Pixar believe that the key to creative success is to get great people, bet big on them, give them enormous leeway and support and an environment which encourages honest feedback from everyone.

At The Thinking Business, we believe that creative magic comes from a combination of creative people working in a creative culture using a creative process to generate creative ideas. This is the secret to creative success.

So think about this.....how can you inspire creative magic within your organisation?

Where do ideas come from?

I was chatting to a client yesterday about the topic of my last blog, 'Creative Minds', and he said, "Jayne, where do ideas come from within an organisation?" My answer: "Anywhere!"

Smart organisations know how to tap into the creative minds of their people. They know that it's absolutely critical during times of economic pressure, to proactively encourage creativity in order to be able to think differently about the challenges they might be facing. Rather than relying on one or two key people to do the thinking, they understand that new ideas are being thought of all the time, in all functions and at all levels of management. The key is to get to those ideas. How? By making sure that these ideas have a 'voice'. This means establishing a culture of creativity which includes having effective structures and systems in place to enable people to suggest their ideas and to be rewarded and recognised for their creative iniative.

Think about creating a process to capture the creative ideas of everybody within your organisation and consider how you will reward and recognise their creativity.

Creative Minds

Just read an article in the newspaper about Microsoft, one of my clients. Their chief executive, Steve Ballmer, was in Paris talking about opening research facilities in Europe. He's quoted as saying, "We need to draw on the world's smartest, most creative minds." Smart thinking!

With the current global economic climate affecting many individuals, families and businesses, now is the time to tap into our creative minds to think our way through these times.

The brain is an amazing organ and it's there to serve us....give it something to think about and it will set to work and come up with ideas. Remember though, to focus on what you want, not what you don't want! This is critical because the brain acts on the dominant thought. So if you think, 'I want to get rid of my debt', your brain will focus on the debt and find ways to give you more debt! Instead, create a more positive thought, e.g., 'I want to find new ways to increase my wealth' and your creative mind will think up ideas as to how you can become more wealthy.

Happy thinking!

Welcome to my Blog!

Are you interested in your amazing brain and how you can unleash your creativity? If so, watch this space!

This blog will feature fascinating facts and information about the creative brain and give you practical tips, tools and techniques about how you and your organisation can think more creatively.

...think your way to success!