what is creative in problem solving

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Creative Problem Solving

What is creative problem solving.

Creative problem solving (CPS) is a process that design teams use to generate ideas and solutions in their work. Designers and design teams apply an approach where they clarify a problem to understand it, ideate to generate good solutions, develop the most promising one, and implement it to create a successful solution for their brand’s users.  

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Why is Creative Problem Solving in UX Design Important?

Creative thinking and problem solving are core parts of user experience (UX) design. Note: the abbreviation “CPS” can also refer to cyber-physical systems. Creative problem solving might sound somewhat generic or broad. However, it’s an ideation approach that’s extremely useful across many industries.  

Not strictly a UX design-related approach, creative problem solving has its roots in psychology and education. Alex Osborn—who founded the Creative Education Foundation and devised brainstorming techniques—produced this approach to creative thinking in the 1940s. Along with Sid Parnes, he developed the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process. It was a new, systematic approach to problem solving and creativity fostering.  

Osborn’s CPS Process.

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The main focus of the creative problem solving model is to improve creative thinking and generate novel solutions to problems. An important distinction exists between it and a UX design process such as design thinking. It’s that designers consider user needs in creative problem solving techniques, but they don’t necessarily have to make their users’ needs the primary focus. For example, a design team might trigger totally novel ideas from random stimuli—as opposed to working systematically from the initial stages of empathizing with their users. Even so, creative problem solving methods still tend to follow a process with structured stages. 

What are 4 Stages of Creative Problem Solving?

The model, adapted from Osborn’s original, typically features these steps:  

Clarify: Design teams first explore the area they want to find a solution within. They work to spot the challenge, problem or even goal they want to identify. They also start to collect data or information about it. It’s vital to understand the exact nature of the problem at this stage. So, design teams must build a clear picture of the issue they seek to tackle creatively. When they define the problem like this, they can start to question it with potential solutions.  

Ideate: Now that the team has a grasp of the problem that faces them, they can start to work to come up with potential solutions. They think divergently in brainstorming sessions and other ways to solve problems creatively, and approach the problem from as many angles as they can.  

Develop: Once the team has explored the potential solutions, they evaluate these and find the strongest and weakest qualities in each. Then, they commit to the one they decide is the best option for the problem at hand.  

Implement: Once the team has decided on the best fit for what they want to use, they discuss how to put this solution into action. They gauge its acceptability for stakeholders. Plus, they develop an accurate understanding of the activities and resources necessary to see it become a real, bankable solution.  

What Else does CPS Involve?

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Two keys to the enterprise of creative problem solving are:  

Divergent Thinking

This is an ideation mode which designers leverage to widen their design space when they start to search for potential solutions. They generate as many new ideas as possible using various methods. For example, team members might use brainstorming or bad ideas to explore the vast area of possibilities. To think divergently means to go for:  

Quantity over quality: Teams generate ideas without fear of judgment (critically evaluating these ideas comes later). 

Novel ideas: Teams use disruptive and lateral thinking to break away from linear thinking and strive for truly original and extraordinary ideas.  

Choice creation: The freedom to explore the design space helps teams maximize their options, not only regarding potential solutions but also about how they understand the problem itself.  

Author and Human-Computer Interactivity Expert, Professor Alan Dix explains some techniques that are helpful for divergent thinking:  

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Convergent Thinking

This is the complementary half of the equation. In this ideation mode, designers analyze, filter, evaluate, clarify and modify the ideas they generated during divergent thinking. They use analytical, vertical and linear thinking to isolate novel and useful ideas, understand the design space possibilities and get nearer to potential solutions that will work best. The purpose with convergent thinking is to carefully and creatively:  

Look past logical norms (which people use in everyday critical thinking). 

Examine how an idea stands in relation to the problem.  

Understand the real dimensions of that problem.    

Professor Alan Dix explains convergent thinking in this video:  

What are the Benefits of Creative Problem Solving?

Design teams especially can benefit from this creative approach to problem solving because it:  

Empowers teams to arrive at a fine-grained definition of the problem they need to ideate over in a given situation.  

Gives a structured, learnable way to conduct problem-solving activities and direct them towards the most fruitful outcomes.  

Involves numerous techniques such as brainstorming and SCAMPER, so teams have more chances to explore the problem space more thoroughly.  

Can lead to large numbers of possible solutions thanks to a dedicated balance of divergent and convergent thinking.  

Values and nurtures designers and teams to create innovative design solutions in an accepting, respectful atmosphere.  

Is a collaborative approach that enables multiple participants to contribute—which makes for a positive environment with buy-in from those who participate.  

Enables teams to work out the most optimal solution available and examine all angles carefully before they put it into action.  

Is applicable in various contexts—such as business, arts and education—as well as in many areas of life in general.  

It’s especially crucial to see the value of creative problem solving in how it promotes out-of-the-box thinking as one of the valuable ingredients for teams to leverage.   

Watch as Professor Alan Dix explains how to think outside the box:  

How to Conduct Creative Problem Solving Best?

It’s important to point out that designers should consider—and stick to—some best practices when it comes to applying creative problem solving techniques. They should also adhere to some “house rules,” which the facilitator should define in no uncertain terms at the start of each session. So, designers and design teams should:  

Define the chief goal of the problem-solving activity: Everyone involved should be on the same page regarding their objective and what they want to achieve, why it’s essential to do it and how it aligns with the values of the brand. For example, SWOT analysis can help with this. Clarity is vital in this early stage.  Before team members can hope to work on ideating for potential solutions, they must recognize and clearly identify what the problem to tackle is.  

Have access to accurate information: A design team must be up to date with the realities that their brand faces, realities that their users and customers face, as well as what’s going on in the industry and facts about their competitors. A team must work to determine what the desired outcome is, as well as what the stakeholders’ needs and wants are. Another factor to consider in detail is what the benefits and risks of addressing a scenario or problem are—including the pros and cons that stakeholders and users would face if team members direct their attention on a particular area or problem.   

Suspend judgment: This is particularly important for two main reasons. For one, participants can challenge assumptions that might be blocking healthy ideation when they suggest ideas or elements of ideas that would otherwise seem of little value through a “traditional” lens. Second, if everyone’s free to suggest ideas without constraints, it promotes a calmer environment of acceptance—and so team members will be more likely to ideate better. Judgment will come later, in convergent thinking when the team works to tighten the net around the most effective solution. So, everyone should keep to positive language and encourage improvisational tactics—such as “yes…and”—so ideas can develop well.  

Balance divergent and convergent thinking: It’s important to know the difference between the two styles of thinking and when to practice them. This is why in a session like brainstorming, a facilitator must take control of proceedings and ensure the team engages in distinct divergent and convergent thinking sessions.  

Approach problems as questions: For example, “How Might We” questions can prompt team members to generate a great deal of ideas. That’s because they’re open-ended—as opposed to questions with “yes” or “no” answers. When a team frames a problem so freely, it permits them to explore far into the problem space so they can find the edges of the real matter at hand.  

UX Strategist and Consultant, William Hudson explains “How Might We” questions in this video:  

Use a variety of ideation methods: For example, in the divergent stage, teams can apply methods such as random metaphors or bad ideas to venture into a vast expanse of uncharted territory. With random metaphors, a team prompts innovation by drawing creative associations. With bad ideas, the point is to come up with ideas that are weird, wild and outrageous, as team members can then determine if valuable points exist in the idea—or a “bad” idea might even expose flaws in conventional ways of seeing problems and situations.  

Professor Alan Dix explains important points about bad ideas:  

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What Special Considerations Should Designers Have for CPS?

Creative problem solving isn’t the only process design teams consider when thinking of potential risks. Teams that involve themselves in ideation sessions can run into problems, especially if they aren’t aware of them. Here are the main areas to watch:  

Bias is natural and human. Unfortunately, it can get in the way of user research and prevent a team from being truly creative and innovative. What’s more, it can utterly hinder the iterative process that should drive creative ideas to the best destinations. Bias takes many forms. It can rear its head without a design team member even realizing it. So, it’s vital to remember this and check it. One team member may examine an angle of the problem at hand and unconsciously view it through a lens. Then, they might voice a suggestion without realizing how they might have framed it for team members to hear. Another risk is that other team members might, for example, apply confirmation bias and overlook important points about potential solutions because they’re not in line with what they’re looking for.  

Professor Alan Dix explains bias and fixation as obstacles in creative problem solving examples, and how to overcome them:  

Conventionalism

Even in the most hopeful ideation sessions, there’s the risk that some team members may slide back to conventional ways to address a problem. They might climb back inside “the box” and not even realize it. That’s why it’s important to mindfully explore new idea territories around the situation under scrutiny and not merely toy with the notion while clinging to a default “traditional” approach, just because it’s the way the brand or others have “always done things.”   

Dominant Personalities and Rank Pulling

As with any group discussion, it’s vital for the facilitator to ensure that everyone has the chance to contribute. Team members with “louder” personalities can dominate the discussions and keep quieter members from offering their thoughts. Plus, without a level playing field, it can be hard for more junior members to join in without feeling a sense of talking out of place or even a fear of reprisal for disagreeing with senior members.  

Another point is that ideation sessions naturally involve asking many questions, which can bring on two issues. First, some individuals may over-defend their ideas as they’re protective of them. Second, team members may feel self-conscious as they might think if they ask many questions that it makes them appear frivolous or unintelligent. So, it’s vital for facilitators to ensure that all team members can speak up and ask away, both in divergent thinking sessions when they can offer ideas and convergent thinking sessions when they analyze others’ ideas.  

Premature Commitment

Another potential risk to any creativity exercise is that once a team senses a solution is the “best” one, everyone can start to shut off and overlook the chance that an alternative may still arise. This could be a symptom of ideation fatigue or a false consensus that a proposed solution is infallible. So, it’s vital that team members keep open minds and try to catch potential issues with the best-looking solution as early as possible. The key is an understanding of the need for iteration—something that’s integral to the design thinking process, for example.   

Overall, creative problem solving can help give a design team the altitude—and attitude—they need to explore the problem and solution spaces thoroughly. Team members can leverage a range of techniques to trawl through the hordes of possibilities that exist for virtually any design scenario. As with any method or tool, though, it takes mindful application and awareness of potential hazards to wield it properly. The most effective creative problem-solving sessions will be ones that keep “creative,” “problem” and “solving” in sharp focus until what emerges for the target audience proves to be more than the sum of these parts.  

Learn More About Creative Problem Solving

Take our course, Creativity: Methods to Design Better Products and Services . 

Watch our Master Class Harness Your Creativity To Design Better Products with Alan Dix, Professor, Author and Creativity Expert. 

Read our piece, 10 Simple Ideas to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing . 

Go to Exploring the Art of Innovation: Design Thinking vs. Creative Problem Solving by Marcino Waas for further details. 

Consult Creative Problem Solving by Harrison Stamell for more insights.  

Read The Osborn Parnes Creative Problem-Solving Process by Leigh Espy for additional information.  

See History of the creative problem-solving process by Jo North for more on the history of Creative Problem Solving. 

Questions about Creative Problem Solving

To start with, work to understand the user’s needs and pain points. Do your user research—interviews, surveys and observations are helpful, for instance. Analyze this data so you can spot patterns and insights. Define the problem clearly—and it needs to be extremely clear for the solution to be able to address it—and make sure it lines up with the users’ goals and your project’s objectives. 

You and your design team might hold a brainstorming session. It could be a variation such as brainwalking—where you move about the room ideating—or brainwriting, where you write down ideas. Alternatively, you could try generating weird and wonderful notions in a bad ideas ideation session. 

There’s a wealth of techniques you can use. In any case, engage stakeholders in brainstorming sessions to bring different perspectives on board the team’s trains of thought. What’s more, you can use tools like a Problem Statement Template to articulate the problem concisely. 

Take our course, Creativity: Methods to Design Better Products and Services . 

Watch as Author and Human-Computer Interaction Expert, Professor Alan Dix explains important points about bad ideas:  

Some things you might try are:  1. Change your environment: A new setting can stimulate fresh ideas. So, take a walk, visit a different room, or work outside. 

2. Try to break the problem down into smaller parts: Focus on just one piece at a time—that should make the task far less overwhelming. Use techniques like mind mapping so you can start to visualize connections and come up with ideas. 

3. Step away from work and indulge in activities that relax your mind: Is it listening to music for you? Or how about drawing? Or exercising? Whatever it is, if you break out of your routine and get into a relaxation groove, it can spark new thoughts and perspectives. 

4. Collaborate with others: Discuss the problem with colleagues, stakeholders, or—as long as you don’t divulge sensitive information or company secrets—friends. It can help you to get different viewpoints, and sometimes those new angles and fresh perspectives can help unlock a solution. 

5. Set aside dedicated time for creative thinking: Take time to get intense with creativity; prevent distractions and just immerse yourself in the problem as fully as you can with your team. Use techniques like brainstorming or the "Six Thinking Hats" to travel around the problem space and explore a wealth of angles. 

Remember, a persistent spirit and an open mind are key; so, keep experimenting with different approaches until you get that breakthrough. 

Watch as Professor Alan Dix explains important aspects of creativity and how to handle creative blocks: 

Read our piece, 10 Simple Ideas to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing . 

Watch as Professor Alan Dix explains the Six Thinking Hats ideation technique. 

Creative thinking is about coming up with new and innovative ideas by looking at problems from different angles—and imagining solutions that are truly fresh and unique. It takes an emphasis on divergent thinking to get “out there” and be original in the problem space. You can use techniques like brainstorming, mind mapping and free association to explore hordes of possibilities, many of which might be “hiding” in obscure corners of your—or someone on your team’s—imagination. 

Critical thinking is at the other end of the scale. It’s the convergent half of the divergent-convergent thinking approach. In that approach, once the ideation team have hauled in a good catch of ideas, it’s time for team members to analyze and evaluate these ideas to see how valid and effective each is. Everyone strives to consider the evidence, draw logical connections and eliminate any biases that could be creeping in to cloud judgments. Accuracy, sifting and refining are watchwords here. 

Watch as Professor Alan Dix explains divergent and convergent thinking: 

The tools you can use are in no short supply, and they’re readily available and inexpensive, too. Here are a few examples: 

Tools like mind maps are great ways to help you visualize ideas and make connections between them and elements within them. Try sketching out your thoughts and see how they relate to each other—you might discover unexpected gems, or germs of an idea that can splinter into something better, with more thought and development. 

The SCAMPER technique is another one you can try. It can help you catapult your mind into a new idea space as you Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Reverse aspects of the problem you’re considering. 

The “5 Whys” technique is a good one to drill down to root causes with. Once you’ve spotted a problem, you can start working your way back to see what’s behind it. Then you do the same to work back to the cause of the cause. Keep going; usually five times will be enough to see what started the other problems as the root cause. 

Watch as the Father of UX Design, Don Norman explains the 5 Whys technique: 

Read all about SCAMPER in our topic definition of it. 

It’s natural for some things to get in the way of being creative in the face of a problem. It can be challenging enough to ideate creatively on your own, but it’s especially the case in group settings. Here are some common obstacles: 

1. Fear of failure or appearing “silly”: when people worry about making mistakes or sounding silly, they avoid taking risks and exploring new ideas. This fear stifles creativity. That’s why ideation sessions like bad ideas are so valuable—it turns this fear on its head. 

2. Rigid thinking: This can also raise itself as a high and thick barrier. If someone in an ideation session clings to established ways to approach problems (and potential solutions), it can hamper their ability to see different perspectives, let alone agree with them. They might even comment critically to dampen what might just be the brightest way forward. It takes an open mind and an awareness of one’s own bias to overcome this. 

3. Time pressure and resource scarcity: When a team has tight deadlines to work to, they may rush to the first workable solution and ignore a wide range of possibilities where the true best solution might be hiding. That’s why stakeholders and managers should give everyone enough time—as well as any needed tools, materials and support—to ideate and experiment. The best solution is in everybody’s interest, after all.  

It takes a few ingredients to get the environment just right for creative problem solving:  

Get in the mood for creativity: This could be a relaxing activity before you start your session, or a warm-up activity in the room. Then, later, encourage short breaks—they can rejuvenate the mind and help bring on fresh insights.  

Get the physical environment just right for creating problem solving: You and your team will want a comfortable and flexible workspace—preferably away from your workstations. Make sure the room is one where people can collaborate easily and also where they can work quietly. A meeting room is good as it will typically have room for whiteboards and comfortable space for group discussion. Note: you’ll also need sticky notes and other art supplies like markers. 

Make the atmosphere conducive for creative problem solving: Someone will need to play facilitator so everyone has some ground rules to work with. Encourage everyone to share ideas, that all ideas are valuable, and that egos and seniority have no place in the room. Of course, this may take some enforcement and repetition—especially as "louder" team members may try to dominate proceedings, anyway, and others may be self-conscious about sounding "ridiculous." 

Make sure you’ve got a diverse team: Diversity means different perspectives, which means richer and more innovative solutions can turn up. So, try to include individuals with different backgrounds, skills and viewpoints—sometimes, non-technical mindsets can spot ideas and points in a technical realm, which experienced programmers might miss, for instance. 

Watch our Master Class Harness Your Creativity To Design Better Products with Alan Dix, Professor, Author and Creativity Expert. 

Ideating alone? Watch as Professor Alan Dix gives valuable tips about how to nurture creativity: 

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Research plays a crucial role in any kind of creative problem solving, and in creative problem solving itself it’s about collecting information about the problem—and, by association, the users themselves. You and your team members need to have a well-defined grasp of what you’re facing before you can start reaching out into the wide expanses of the idea space.  

Research helps you lay down a foundation of knowledge and avoid reinventing the wheel. Also, if you study existing solutions and industry trends, you’ll be able to understand what has worked before and what hasn't.  

What’s more, research is what will validate the ideas that come out of your ideation efforts. From testing concepts and prototypes with real users, you’ll get precious input about your creative solutions so you can fine-tune them to be innovative and practical—and give users what they want in a way that’s fresh and successful. 

Watch as UX Strategist and Consultant, William Hudson explains important points about user research: 

First, it’s crucial for a facilitator to make sure the divergent stage of the creative problem solving is over and your team is on to the convergent stage. Only then should any analysis happen.  

If others are being critical of your creative solutions, listen carefully and stay open-minded. Look on it as a chance to improve, and don’t take it personally. Indeed, the session facilitator should moderate to make sure everyone understands the nature of constructive criticism.  

If something’s unclear, be sure to ask the team member to be more specific, so you can understand their points clearly. 

Then, reflect on what you’ve heard. Is it valid? Something you can improve or explain? For example, in a bad ideas session, there may be an aspect of your idea that you can develop among the “bad” parts surrounding it. 

So, if you can, clarify any misunderstandings and explain your thought process. Just stay positive and calm and explain things to your critic and other team member. The insights you’ve picked up may strengthen your solution and help to refine it. 

Last—but not least—make sure you hear multiple perspectives. When you hear from different team members, chances are you’ll get a balanced view. It can also help you spot common themes and actionable improvements you might make. 

Watch as Todd Zaki Warfel, Author, Speaker and Leadership Coach, explains how to present design ideas to clients, a valuable skill in light of discussing feedback from stakeholders. 

Lateral thinking is a technique where you approach problems from new and unexpected angles. It encourages you to put aside conventional step-by-step logic and get “out there” to explore creative and unorthodox solutions. Author, physician and commentator Edward de Bono developed lateral thinking as a way to help break free from traditional patterns of thought. 

In creative problem solving, you can use lateral thinking to come up with truly innovative ideas—ones that standard logical processes might overlook. It’s about bypassing these so you can challenge assumptions and explore alternatives that point you and your team to breakthrough solutions. 

You can use techniques like brainstorming to apply lateral thinking and access ideas that are truly “outside the box” and what your team, your brand and your target audience really need to work on. 

Professor Alan Dix explains lateral thinking in this video: 

1. Baer, J. (2012). Domain Specificity and The Limits of Creativity Theory . The Journal of Creative Behavior, 46(1), 16–29.   John Baer's influential paper challenged the notion of a domain-general theory of creativity and argued for the importance of considering domain-specific factors in creative problem solving. This work has been highly influential in shaping the understanding of creativity as a domain-specific phenomenon and has implications for the assessment and development of creativity in various domains. 

2. Runco, M. A., & Jaeger, G. J. (2012). The Standard Definition of Creativity . Creativity Research Journal, 24(1), 92–96.   Mark A. Runco and Gerard J. Jaeger's paper proposed a standard definition of creativity, which has been widely adopted in the field. They defined creativity as the production of original and effective ideas, products, or solutions that are appropriate to the task at hand. This definition has been influential in providing a common framework for creativity research and assessment. 

1. Fogler, H. S., LeBlanc, S. E., & Rizzo, B. (2014). Strategies for Creative Problem Solving (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall. 

This book focuses on developing creative problem-solving strategies, particularly in engineering and technical contexts. It introduces various heuristic problem-solving techniques, optimization methods, and design thinking principles. The authors provide a systematic framework for approaching ill-defined problems, generating and implementing solutions, and evaluating the outcomes. With its practical exercises and real-world examples, this book has been influential in equipping professionals and students with the skills to tackle complex challenges creatively. 

2. De Bono, E. (1985). Six Thinking Hats . Little, Brown and Company.   

Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats introduces a powerful technique for parallel thinking and decision-making. The book outlines six different "hats" or perspectives that individuals can adopt to approach a problem or situation from various angles. This structured approach encourages creative problem-solving by separating different modes of thinking, such as emotional, logical, and creative perspectives. De Bono's work has been highly influential in promoting lateral thinking and providing a practical framework for group problem solving. 

3. Osborn, A. F. (1963). Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Problem-Solving (3rd ed.). Charles Scribner's Sons.  

Alex F. Osborn's Applied Imagination is a pioneering work that introduced the concept of brainstorming and other creative problem-solving techniques. Osborn emphasized how important it is to defer judgment and generate a large quantity of ideas before evaluating them. This book laid the groundwork for many subsequent developments in the field of creative problem-solving, and it’s been influential in promoting the use of structured ideation processes in various domains. 

Answer a Short Quiz to Earn a Gift

What is the first stage in the creative problem-solving process?

• Implementation
• Idea Generation
• Problem Identification

Which technique is commonly used during the idea generation stage of creative problem-solving?

• Brainstorming
• Prototyping

What is the main purpose of the evaluation stage in creative problem-solving?

• To generate as many ideas as possible
• To implement the solution
• To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of ideas

In the creative problem-solving process, what often follows after implementing a solution?

• Testing and Refinement

Which stage in the creative problem-solving process focuses on generating multiple possible solutions?

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Literature on Creative Problem Solving

Here’s the entire UX literature on Creative Problem Solving by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about Creative Problem Solving

Take a deep dive into Creative Problem Solving with our course Creativity: Methods to Design Better Products and Services .

The overall goal of this course is to help you design better products, services and experiences by helping you and your team develop innovative and useful solutions. You’ll learn a human-focused, creative design process.

We’re going to show you what creativity is as well as a wealth of ideation methods ―both for generating new ideas and for developing your ideas further. You’ll learn skills and step-by-step methods you can use throughout the entire creative process. We’ll supply you with lots of templates and guides so by the end of the course you’ll have lots of hands-on methods you can use for your and your team’s ideation sessions. You’re also going to learn how to plan and time-manage a creative process effectively.

Most of us need to be creative in our work regardless of if we design user interfaces, write content for a website, work out appropriate workflows for an organization or program new algorithms for system backend. However, we all get those times when the creative step, which we so desperately need, simply does not come. That can seem scary—but trust us when we say that anyone can learn how to be creative­ on demand . This course will teach you ways to break the impasse of the empty page. We'll teach you methods which will help you find novel and useful solutions to a particular problem, be it in interaction design, graphics, code or something completely different. It’s not a magic creativity machine, but when you learn to put yourself in this creative mental state, new and exciting things will happen.

In the “Build Your Portfolio: Ideation Project” , you’ll find a series of practical exercises which together form a complete ideation project so you can get your hands dirty right away. If you want to complete these optional exercises, you will get hands-on experience with the methods you learn and in the process you’ll create a case study for your portfolio which you can show your future employer or freelance customers.

Your instructor is Alan Dix . He’s a creativity expert, professor and co-author of the most popular and impactful textbook in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. Alan has worked with creativity for the last 30+ years, and he’ll teach you his favorite techniques as well as show you how to make room for creativity in your everyday work and life.

You earn a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you’ve completed the course. You can highlight it on your resume , your LinkedIn profile or your website .

All open-source articles on Creative Problem Solving

10 simple ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

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Unleash Your Greatest Leadership Potential

What is Creative Problem Solving?

“Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.” — John Adams

Imagine if you come up with new ideas and solve problems better, faster, easier?

Imagine if you could easily leverage the thinking from multiple experts and different points of view?

That’s the promise and the premise of Creative Problem Solving.

As Einstein put it, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

Creative problem solving is a systematic approach that empowers individuals and teams to unleash their imagination , explore diverse perspectives, and generate innovative solutions to complex challenges.

Throughout my years at Microsoft, I’ve used variations of Creative Problem Solving to tackle big, audacious challenges and create new opportunities for innovation.

I this article, I walkthrough the original Creative Problem Solving process and variations so that you can more fully appreciate the power of the process and how it’s evolved over the years.

On This Page

Innovation is a Team Sport What is Creative Problem Solving? What is the Creative Problem Solving Process? Variations of Creative Problem Solving Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Criticisms of Creative Problem Solving Creative Problem Solving 21st Century FourSight Thinking Profiles Basadur’s Innovative Process Synetics SCAMPER Design Thinking

Innovation is a Team Sport

Recognizing that innovation is a team sport , I understood the importance of equipping myself and my teams with the right tools for the job.

By leveraging different problem-solving approaches, I have been able to navigate complex landscapes , think outside the box, and find unique solutions.

Creative Problem Solving has served as a valuable compass , guiding me to explore uncharted territories and unlock the potential for groundbreaking ideas.

With a diverse set of tools in my toolbox, I’ve been better prepared to navigate the dynamic world of innovation and contribute to the success and amplify impact for many teams and many orgs for many years.

By learning and teaching Creative Problem Solving we empower diverse teams to appreciate and embrace cognitive diversity to solve problems and create new opportunities with skill.

Creative problem solving is a mental process used to find original and effective solutions to problems.

It involves going beyond traditional methods and thinking outside the box to come up with new and innovative approaches.

Here are some key aspects of creative problem solving:

• Divergent Thinking : This involves exploring a wide range of possibilities and generating a large number of ideas, even if they seem unconventional at first.
• Convergent Thinking : Once you have a pool of ideas, you need to narrow them down and select the most promising ones. This requires critical thinking and evaluation skills.
• Process : There are various frameworks and techniques that can guide you through the creative problem-solving process. These can help you structure your thinking and increase your chances of finding innovative solutions.

Benefits of Creative Problem Solving:

• Finding New Solutions : It allows you to overcome challenges and achieve goals in ways that traditional methods might miss.
• Enhancing Innovation : It fosters a culture of innovation and helps organizations stay ahead of the curve.
• Improved Adaptability : It equips you to handle unexpected situations and adapt to changing circumstances.
• Boosts Confidence: Successfully solving problems with creative solutions can build confidence and motivation.

Here are some common techniques used in creative problem solving:

• Brainstorming : This is a classic technique where you generate as many ideas as possible in a short period of time.
• SCAMPER: This is a framework that prompts you to consider different ways to Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Magnify/Minify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, and Rearrange elements of the problem.
• Mind Mapping: This technique involves visually organizing your ideas and connections between them.
• Lateral Thinking: This approach challenges you to look at the problem from different angles and consider unconventional solutions.

Creative problem solving is a valuable skill for everyone, not just artists or designers.

You can apply it to all aspects of life, from personal challenges to professional endeavors.

What is the Creative Problem Solving Process?

The Creative Problem Solving (CPS) framework is a systematic approach for generating innovative solutions to complex problems.

It’s effectively a process framework.

It provides a structured process that helps individuals and teams think creatively, explore possibilities, and develop practical solutions.

The Creative Problem Solving process framework typically consists of the following stages:

• Clarify : In this stage, the problem or challenge is clearly defined, ensuring a shared understanding among participants. The key objectives, constraints, and desired outcomes are identified.
• Generate Ideas : During this stage, participants engage in divergent thinking to generate a wide range of ideas and potential solutions. The focus is on quantity and deferring judgment, encouraging free-flowing creativity.
• Develop Solutions : In this stage, the generated ideas are evaluated, refined, and developed into viable solutions. Participants explore the feasibility, practicality, and potential impact of each idea, considering the resources and constraints at hand.
• Implement : Once a solution or set of solutions is selected, an action plan is developed to guide the implementation process. This includes defining specific steps, assigning responsibilities, setting timelines, and identifying the necessary resources.
• Evaluate : After implementing the solution, the outcomes and results are evaluated to assess the effectiveness and impact. Lessons learned are captured to inform future problem-solving efforts and improve the process.

Throughout the Creative Problem Solving framework, various creativity techniques and tools can be employed to stimulate idea generation, such as brainstorming, mind mapping, SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, Reverse), and others.

These techniques help break through traditional thinking patterns and encourage novel approaches to problem-solving.

What are Variations of the Creative Problem Solving Process?

There are several variations of the Creative Problem Solving process, each emphasizing different steps or stages.

Here are five variations that are commonly referenced:

• Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving : This is one of the earliest and most widely used versions of Creative Problem Solving. It consists of six stages: Objective Finding, Fact Finding, Problem Finding, Idea Finding, Solution Finding, and Acceptance Finding. It follows a systematic approach to identify and solve problems creatively.
• Creative Problem Solving 21st Century : Creative Problem Solving 21st Century, developed by Roger Firestien, is an innovative approach that empowers individuals to identify and take action towards achieving their goals, wishes, or challenges by providing a structured process to generate ideas, develop solutions, and create a plan of action.
• FourSight Thinking Profiles : This model introduces four stages in the Creative Problem Solving process: Clarify, Ideate, Develop, and Implement. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the problem, generating a range of ideas, developing and evaluating those ideas, and finally implementing the best solution.
• Basadur’s Innovative Process : Basadur’s Innovative Process, developed by Min Basadur, is a systematic and iterative process that guides teams through eight steps to effectively identify, define, generate ideas, evaluate, and implement solutions, resulting in creative and innovative outcomes.
• Synectics : Synectics is a Creative Problem Solving variation that focuses on creating new connections and insights. It involves stages such as Problem Clarification, Idea Generation, Evaluation, and Action Planning. Synectics encourages thinking from diverse perspectives and applying analogical reasoning.
• SCAMPER : SCAMPER is an acronym representing different creative thinking techniques to stimulate idea generation. Each letter stands for a strategy: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Rearrange. SCAMPER is used as a tool within the Creative Problem Solving process to generate innovative ideas by applying these strategies.
• Design Thinking : While not strictly a variation of Creative Problem Solving, Design Thinking is a problem-solving approach that shares similarities with Creative Problem Solving. It typically includes stages such as Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Design Thinking focuses on understanding users’ needs, ideating and prototyping solutions, and iterating based on feedback.

These are just a few examples of variations within the Creative Problem Solving framework. Each variation provides a unique perspective on the problem-solving process, allowing individuals and teams to approach challenges in different ways.

Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving (CPS)

The original Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process, developed by Alex Osborn and Sidney Parnes, consists of the following steps:

• Objective Finding : In this step, the problem or challenge is clearly defined, and the objectives and goals are established. It involves understanding the problem from different perspectives, gathering relevant information, and identifying the desired outcomes.
• Fact Finding : The objective of this step is to gather information, data, and facts related to the problem. It involves conducting research, analyzing the current situation, and seeking a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing the problem.
• Problem Finding : In this step, the focus is on identifying the root causes and underlying issues contributing to the problem. It involves reframing the problem, exploring it from different angles, and asking probing questions to uncover insights and uncover potential areas for improvement.
• Idea Finding : This step involves generating a wide range of ideas and potential solutions. Participants engage in divergent thinking techniques, such as brainstorming, to produce as many ideas as possible without judgment or evaluation. The aim is to encourage creativity and explore novel possibilities.
• Solution Finding : After generating a pool of ideas, the next step is to evaluate and select the most promising solutions. This involves convergent thinking, where participants assess the feasibility, desirability, and viability of each idea. Criteria are established to assess and rank the solutions based on their potential effectiveness.
• Acceptance Finding : In this step, the selected solution is refined, developed, and adapted to fit the specific context and constraints. Strategies are identified to overcome potential obstacles and challenges. Participants work to gain acceptance and support for the chosen solution from stakeholders.
• Solution Implementation : Once the solution is finalized, an action plan is developed to guide its implementation. This includes defining specific steps, assigning responsibilities, setting timelines, and securing the necessary resources. The solution is put into action, and progress is monitored to ensure successful execution.
• Monitoring and Evaluation : The final step involves tracking the progress and evaluating the outcomes of the implemented solution. Lessons learned are captured, and feedback is gathered to inform future problem-solving efforts. This step helps refine the process and improve future problem-solving endeavors.

The CPS process is designed to be iterative and flexible, allowing for feedback loops and refinement at each stage. It encourages collaboration, open-mindedness, and the exploration of diverse perspectives to foster creative problem-solving and innovation.

Criticisms of the Original Creative Problem Solving Approach

While Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving is a widely used and effective problem-solving framework, it does have some criticisms, challenges, and limitations.

These include:

• Linear Process : CPS follows a structured and linear process, which may not fully capture the dynamic and non-linear nature of complex problems.
• Overemphasis on Rationality : CPS primarily focuses on logical and rational thinking, potentially overlooking the value of intuitive or emotional insights in the problem-solving process.
• Limited Cultural Diversity : The CPS framework may not adequately address the cultural and contextual differences that influence problem-solving approaches across diverse groups and regions.
• Time and Resource Intensive : Implementing the CPS process can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, requiring significant commitment and investment from participants and organizations.
• Lack of Flexibility : The structured nature of CPS may restrict the exploration of alternative problem-solving methods, limiting adaptability to different situations or contexts.
• Limited Emphasis on Collaboration : Although CPS encourages group participation, it may not fully leverage the collective intelligence and diverse perspectives of teams, potentially limiting the effectiveness of collaborative problem-solving.
• Potential Resistance to Change : Organizations or individuals accustomed to traditional problem-solving approaches may encounter resistance or difficulty in embracing the CPS methodology and its associated mindset shift.

Despite these criticisms and challenges, the CPS framework remains a valuable tool for systematic problem-solving.

Adapting and supplementing it with other methodologies and approaches can help overcome some of its limitations and enhance overall effectiveness.

Creative Problem Solving 21st Century

Roger Firestien is a master facilitator of the Creative Problem Solving process. He has been using it, studying it, researching it, and teaching it for 40 years.

According to him, the 21st century requires a new approach to problem-solving that is more creative and innovative.

He has developed a program that focuses on assisting facilitators of the Creative Problem Solving Process to smoothly and confidently transition from one stage to the next in the Creative Problem Solving process as well as learn how to talk less and accomplish more while facilitating Creative Problem Solving.

Creative Problem Solving empowers individuals to identify and take action towards achieving their goals, manifesting their aspirations, or addressing challenges they wish to overcome.

Unlike approaches that solely focus on problem-solving, CPS recognizes that the user’s objective may not necessarily be framed as a problem. Instead, CPS supports users in realizing their goals and desires, providing a versatile framework to guide them towards success.

Why Creative Problem Solving 21st Century?

Creative Problem Solving 21st Century addresses challenges with the original Creative Problem Solving method by adapting it to the demands of the modern era. Roger Firestien recognized that the 21st century requires a new approach to problem-solving that is more creative and innovative.

The Creative Problem Solving 21st Century program focuses on helping facilitators smoothly transition between different stages of the problem-solving process. It also teaches them how to be more efficient and productive in their facilitation by talking less and achieving more results.

Unlike approaches that solely focus on problem-solving, Creative Problem Solving 21st Century acknowledges that users may not always frame their objectives as problems. It recognizes that individuals have goals, wishes, and challenges they want to address or achieve. Creative Problem Solving provides a flexible framework to guide users towards success in realizing their aspirations.

Creative Problem Solving 21st Century builds upon the foundational work of pioneers such as Osborn, Parnes, Miller, and Firestien. It incorporates practical techniques like PPC (Pluses, Potentials, Concerns) and emphasizes the importance of creative leadership skills in driving change.

Stages of the Creative Problem Solving 21st Century

• Clarify the Problem
• Generate Ideas
• Develop Solutions
• Plan for Action

Steps of the Creative Problem Solving 21st Century

Here are stages and steps of the Creative Problem Solving 21st Century per Roger Firestien:

CLARIFY THE PROBLEM

Start here when you are looking to improve, create, or solve something. You want to explore the facts,  feelings and data around it. You want to find the best problem to solve.

IDENTIFY GOAL, WISH OR CHALLENGE Start with a goal, wish or challenge that begins with the phrase: “I wish…” or “It would be great if…”

Diverge : If you are not quite clear on a goal then create, invent, solve or improve.

Converge : Select the goal, wish or challenge on which you have Ownership, Motivation and a need for Imagination.

GATHER DATA

Diverge : What is a brief history of your goal, wish or challenge? What have you already thought of or tried? What might be your ideal goal?

Converge : Select the key data that reveals a new insight into the situation or that is important to consider throughout the remainder of the process.

Diverge : Generate many questions about your goal, wish or challenge. Phrase your questions beginning with: “How to…?” “How might…?” “What might be all the ways to…?” Try turning your key data into questions that redefine the goal, wish or challenge.

• Mark the “HITS” : New insight. Promising direction. Nails it! Feels good in your gut.
• Group the related “HITS” together.
• Restate the cluster . “How to…” “What might be all the…”

GENERATE IDEAS

Start here when you have a clearly defined problem and you need ideas to solve it. The best way to create great ideas is to generate LOTS of ideas. Defer judgment. Strive for quantity. Seek wild & unusual ideas. Build on other ideas.

Diverge : Come up with at least 40 ideas for solving your problem. Come up with 40 more. Keep going. Even as you see good ideas emerge, keep pushing for novelty. Stretch!

• Mark the “HITS”: Interesting, Intriguing, Useful, Solves the problem. Sparkles at you.
• Restate the cluster with a verb phrase.

DEVELOP SOLUTIONS

Start here when you want to turn promising ideas into workable solutions.

DEVELOP YOUR SOLUTION Review your clusters of ideas and blend them into a “story.” Imagine in detail what your solution would look like when it is implemented.

Begin your solution story with the phrase, “What I see myself doing is…”

PPCo EVALUATION

PPCo stands for Pluses, Potentials, Concerns and Overcome concerns

Review your solution story .

• List the PLUSES or specific strengths of your solution.
• List the POTENTIALS of your solution. What might be the result if you were to implement your idea?
• Finally, list your CONCERNS about the solution. Phrase your concerns beginning with “How to…”
• Diverge and generate ideas to OVERCOME your concerns one at a time until they have all been overcome
• Converge and select the best ideas to overcome your concerns. Use these ideas to improve your solution.

PLAN FOR ACTION

Start here when you have a solution and need buy-in from others. You want to create a detailed plan of action to follow.

Diverge : List all of the actions you might take to implement your solution.

• What might you do to make your solution easy to understand?
• What might you do to demonstrate the advantages of your solution?
• How might you gain acceptance of your solution?
• What steps might you take to put your solution into action?

Converge : Select the key actions to implement your solution. Create a plan, detailing who does what by when.

Credits for the Creative Problem Solving 21st Century

Creative Problem Solving – 21st Century is based on the work of: Osborn, A.F..(1953). Applied Imagination: Principles and procedures of Creative Problem Solving. New York: Scribner’s. Parnes, S.J, Noller, R.B & Biondi, A. (1977). Guide to Creative Action. New York: Scribner’s. Miller, B., Firestien, R., Vehar, J. Plain language Creative Problem-Solving Model, 1997. Puccio, G.J., Mance, M., Murdock, M.C. (2010) Creative Leadership: Skills that drive change. (Second Edition), Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. Miller, B., Vehar J., Firestien, R., Thurber, S. Nielsen, D. (2011) Creativity Unbound: An introduction to creative process. (Fifth Edition), Foursight, LLC., Evanston, IL. PPC (Pluses, Potentials & Concerns) was invented by Diane Foucar-Szocki, Bill Shepard & Roger Firestien in 1982

Where to Go for More on Creative Problem Solving 21st Century

Here are incredible free resources to ramp up on Creative Problem Solving 21st Century:

• PDF of Creative Problem Solving 21st Edition (RogerFirestien.com)
• PDF Worksheets for Creative Problem Solving (RogerFirestien.com)
• Video: Roger Firestien on 40 Years of Creative Problem Solving

Video Walkthroughs

• Video 1: Introduction to Creative Problem Solving
• Video 2: Identify your Goal/Wish/Challenge
• Video 3: Gather Data
• Video 4: Clarify the Problem: Creative Questions
• Video 5: Clarify the Problem: Why? What’s Stopping Me?
• Video 6: Selecting the Best Problem
• Video 7: How to do a Warm-up
• Video 8: Generate Ideas: Sticky Notes + Forced Connections
• Video 9: Generate Ideas: Brainwriting
• Video 10: Selecting the Best Ideas
• Video 11: Develop Solutions: PPCO
• Video 12: Generating Action Steps
• Video 13: Create Your Action Plan
• Video 14: CPS: The Whole Process

FourSight Thinking Profiles

The FourSight Thinking Skills Profile is an assessment tool designed to measure an individual’s thinking preferences and skills.

It focuses on four key thinking styles or stages that contribute to the creative problem-solving process.

The assessment helps individuals and teams understand their strengths and areas for development in each of these stages.

Why FourSight Thinking Profiles?

The FourSight method was necessary to address certain limitations or challenges that were identified in the original CPS method.

• Thinking Preferences : The FourSight model recognizes that individuals have different thinking preferences or cognitive styles. By understanding and leveraging these preferences, the FourSight method aims to optimize idea generation and problem-solving processes within teams and organizations.
• Overemphasis on Ideation : While ideation is a critical aspect of CPS, the original method sometimes focused too heavily on generating ideas without adequate attention to other stages, such as problem clarification, solution development, and implementation. FourSight offers a more balanced approach across all stages of the CPS process.
• Enhanced Problem Definition : FourSight places a particular emphasis on the Clarify stage, which involves defining the problem or challenge. This is an important step to ensure that the problem is well-understood and properly framed before proceeding to ideation and solution development.
• Research-Based Approach : The development of FourSight was influenced by extensive research on thinking styles and creativity. By incorporating these research insights into the CPS process, FourSight provides a more evidence-based and comprehensive approach to creative problem-solving.

Stages of FourSight Creative Problem Solving

FourSight Creative Problem Solving consists of four thinking stages, each associated with a specific thinking preference:

• Clarify : In this stage, the focus is on gaining a clear understanding of the problem or challenge. Participants define the problem statement, gather relevant information, and identify the key objectives and desired outcomes. This stage involves analytical thinking and careful examination of the problem’s context and scope.
• Ideate : The ideation stage involves generating a broad range of ideas and potential solutions. Participants engage in divergent thinking, allowing for a free flow of creativity and encouraging the exploration of unconventional possibilities. Various brainstorming techniques and creativity tools can be utilized to stimulate idea generation.
• Develop : Once a pool of ideas has been generated, the next stage is to develop and refine the selected ideas. Participants shift into a convergent thinking mode, evaluating and analyzing the feasibility, practicality, and potential impact of each idea. The emphasis is on refining and shaping the ideas into viable solutions.
• Implement : The final stage is focused on implementing the chosen solution. Participants develop an action plan, define specific steps and timelines, assign responsibilities, and identify the necessary resources. This stage requires practical thinking and attention to detail to ensure the successful execution of the solution.

Throughout the FourSight framework, it is recognized that individuals have different thinking preferences. Some individuals naturally excel in the Clarify stage, while others thrive in Ideate, Develop, or Implement.

By understanding these preferences, the FourSight framework encourages collaboration and diversity of thinking styles, ensuring a well-rounded approach to problem-solving and innovation.

The FourSight process can be iterative, allowing for feedback loops and revisiting previous stages as needed. It emphasizes the importance of open communication, respect for different perspectives, and leveraging the collective intelligence of a team to achieve optimal results.

4 Thinking Profiles in FourSight

In the FourSight model, there are four preferences that individuals can exhibit. These preferences reflect where individuals tend to focus their energy and time within the creative problem-solving process.

The four preferences in FourSight are:

• Clarifier : Individuals with a Clarifier preference excel in the first stage of the creative problem-solving process, which is about gaining clarity and understanding the problem. They are skilled at asking questions, gathering information, and analyzing data to define the problem accurately.
• Ideator : Individuals with an Ideator preference thrive in the second stage, which involves generating a wide range of ideas. They are imaginative thinkers who excel at brainstorming, thinking outside the box, and generating creative solutions. Ideators are known for their ability to explore multiple perspectives and come up with diverse ideas.
• Developer : Individuals with a Developer preference excel in the third stage of the process, which focuses on refining and developing ideas. They are skilled at evaluating ideas, analyzing their feasibility, and transforming them into actionable plans or solutions. Developers excel in taking promising ideas and shaping them into practical and effective strategies.
• Implementer : Individuals with an Implementer preference shine in the final stage of the process, which is about planning for action and executing the chosen solution. Implementers are skilled at organizing tasks, creating action plans, and ensuring successful implementation. They focus on turning ideas into tangible outcomes and are known for their ability to execute projects efficiently.

It’s important to note that while individuals may have a primary preference, everyone is capable of participating in all stages of the creative problem-solving process.

However, the FourSight model suggests that individuals tend to have a natural inclination or preference towards one or more of these stages. Understanding one’s preferences can help individuals leverage their strengths and work effectively in a team by appreciating the diversity of thinking preferences.

Right Hand vs. Left Hand

The FourSight model is a way to understand how people approach the creative process. It measures our preferences for different stages of creativity.

A good analogy for this is writing with your right or left hand. Think about writing with your right or left hand. Most of us have a dominant hand that we use for writing. It’s the hand we’re most comfortable with and it comes naturally to us. But it doesn’t mean we can’t write with our non-dominant hand. We can still do it, but it requires more effort and focus.

Similarly, in the creative process, we have preferred stages or parts that we enjoy and feel comfortable in. These are our peak preferences. However, it doesn’t mean we can’t work on the other stages. We can make a conscious effort to spend time and work on those stages, even if they don’t come as naturally to us.

Combinations of FourSight Profiles

Your FourSight profile is determined by four scores that represent your preferences in the creative process. Your profile reveals where you feel most energized and where you may struggle.

If you have a single peak in your profile, refer back to the description of that preference. If you have two or more peaks, continue reading to understand your tendencies when engaging in any kind of innovation.

Here are how the combinations show up, along with their labels:

2-Way Combinations

• High Clarifier & High Ideator = “Early Bird
• High Clarifier & High Developer = “Analyst”
• High Clarifier & High Implementer = “Accelerator”
• High Ideator & High Developer = “Theorist”
• High Ideator & High Implementer = “Driver”
• High Developer & High Implementer = “Finisher”

3-Way Combinations

• High Clarifier, Ideator & Developer = “Hare”
• High Clarifier, Ideator & Implementer = “Idea Broker”
• High Clarifier, Developer & Implementer = “Realist”
• High Ideator, Developer & Implementer = “Optimist”

4-Way Combination Nearly Equal for All Four Preferences = “Integrator”

Where to Go for More On FourSight

• FourSight Home
• FourSight Thinking Profile Interpretive Guide PDF
• FourSight Technical Manual PDF

Basadur’s Innovative Process

The Simplex Process, developed by management and creativity expert Min Basadur, gained recognition through his influential book “The Power of Innovation” published in 1995.

It consists of a sequence of eight steps organized into three distinct stages:

• Problem Formulation
• Solution Formulation
• Solution Implementation

You might hear Bsadur’s Innovative Process referred to by a few variations:

• Simplex Creative Problem Solving
• Basadur SIMPLEX Problem Solving Process
• Basadur System of innovation and creative problem solving
• Simplexity Thinking Process

What is Basadur’s Innovative Process

Here is how Basadur.com explains Basadur’s Innovation Process :

“The Basadur Innovation Process is an innovative thinking & creative problem solving process that separates innovation into clearly-defined steps, to take you from initial problem-finding right through to implementing the solutions you’ve created.

Its beauty is that it enables everyone to participate in an unbiased, open-minded way.

In the absence of negativity, people can think clearly and logically, building innovation confidence. A wide range of ideas can be proposed and the best ones selected, refined and executed in a spirit of openness and collaboration.

“That’s a great idea, but…”

How often have you heard this phrase? In most group decision-making processes, ideas are killed off before they’ve even got off the ground. With The Basadur Process on the other hand, judgment is deferred. Put simply, opinions on ideas don’t get in the way of ideas.”

3 Phases and 8 Steps of Basadur’s Innovative Process

The Basadur’s Innovative Process consists of three phases, subdivided into eight steps:

Phase 1: Problem Formulation

Problem Formulation : This phase focuses on understanding and defining the problem accurately. It involves the following steps:

• Step 1 : Problem Finding . Actively anticipate and seek out problems, opportunities, and possibilities. Maintain an open mind and view problems as opportunities for proactive resolution. Identify fuzzy situations and recognize that they can open new doors.
• Step 2 : Fact Finding . Gather relevant information and facts related to the fuzzy situation. Seek multiple viewpoints, challenge assumptions, listen to others, and focus on finding the truth rather than personal opinions. Utilize different lines of questioning to clarify the situation.
• Step 3 : Problem Definition . Define the problem accurately and objectively. View the problem from different angles and consider new perspectives. Uncover fresh challenges and recognize that the perceived problem might not be the real issue.

Phase 2: Solution Formulation

Solution Formulation . Once the problem is well-defined, this phase revolves around generating and evaluating potential solutions.  The steps involved are:

• Step 4 : Idea Finding . Generate ideas to solve the defined problem. Continuously seek more and better ideas, build upon half-formed ideas, and consider ideas from others. Fine-tune seemingly radical or impossible ideas to make them workable solutions.
• Step 5 : Evaluate & Select . Evaluate and select the most promising ideas to convert them into practical solutions. Consider multiple criteria in an unbiased manner, creatively improve imperfect solutions, and re-evaluate them.

Phase 3: Solution Implementation

Solution Implementation . In the final phase, the focus shifts to implementing and executing the selected solution effectively. The steps in this phase include:

• Step 6 : Plan Devise specific measures and create a concrete plan for implementing the chosen solution. Visualize the end result and motivate others to participate and support the plan.
• Step 7 : Acceptance Gain acceptance for the solutions and plans. Communicate the benefits of the solution to others, address potential concerns, and continuously revise and improve the solution to minimize resistance to change.
• Step 8 : Action Implement the solutions and put the plan into action. Avoid getting stuck in unimportant details, adapt the solutions to specific circumstances, and garner support for the change. Emphasize the need for follow-up to ensure lasting and permanent changes.

The SIMPLEX process recognizes that implementing a solution can reveal new problems, opportunities, and possibilities, leading back to Step 1 and initiating the iterative problem-solving and innovation cycle again.

Where to Go for More on Basadur’s Innovation Process

• Basadur’s Innovative Process Home
• Simplexity Thinking Explained
• Ambasadur Affiliate Program

Synectics is a problem-solving and creative thinking approach that emphasizes the power of collaboration, analogy, and metaphorical thinking. It was developed in the 1960s by George M. Prince and William J.J. Gordon.

Synectics is based on the belief that the most innovative ideas and solutions arise from the integration of diverse perspectives and the ability to make connections between seemingly unrelated concepts.

The Story of Synetics

Here is the story of Syentics according to SyneticsWorld.com:

“Back in the 1950s, our founders Bill Gordon, George Prince and their team studied thousands of hours of tape recorded innovation sessions to find the answer to

‘What is really going on between the people in the group to help them create and implement successfully?’

They called the answer the Synectics Creative-Problem-Solving Methodology, which has expanded into the Synecticsworld’s expertise on how people work creatively and collaboratively to create innovative solutions to some of the world’s most difficult challenges.

The unique Synecticsworld innovation process to the art of problem solving has taken us to many different destinations. We have worked on assignments in both the public and private sectors, in product and service innovation, business process improvement, cost reduction and the reinvention of business models and strategies.

It is our on-going goal to guide and inspire our clients to engage the Synectics innovation process to create innovative ideas, innovative solutions, and activate new, powerful, and innovative solutions.”

Why Synetics?

Synectics addresses challenges of the original Creative Problem Solving process by introducing a unique set of tools and techniques that foster creative thinking and overcome mental barriers.

Here’s how Synectics addresses some common challenges of the original Creative Problem Solving process:

• Breaking Mental Barriers : Synectics recognizes that individuals often have mental blocks and preconceived notions that limit their thinking. It tackles this challenge by encouraging the use of analogies, metaphors, and connections to break through these barriers. By exploring unrelated concepts and drawing parallels, participants can generate fresh perspectives and innovative solutions.
• Promoting Divergent Thinking : The original CPS process may sometimes struggle to foster a truly divergent thinking environment where participants feel comfortable expressing unconventional ideas. Synectics creates a safe and non-judgmental space for participants to freely explore and share their thoughts, regardless of how unusual or unconventional they may seem. This encourages a wider range of ideas and increases the potential for breakthrough solutions.
• Enhancing Collaboration : Synectics emphasizes the power of collaboration and the integration of diverse perspectives. It recognizes that innovation often emerges through the interaction of different viewpoints and experiences. By actively engaging participants in collaborative brainstorming sessions and encouraging them to build upon each other’s ideas, Synectics enhances teamwork and collective problem-solving.
• Stimulating Creative Connections : While the original CPS process focuses on logical problem-solving techniques, Synectics introduces the use of analogy and metaphorical thinking. By encouraging participants to find connections between seemingly unrelated concepts, Synectics stimulates creative thinking and opens up new possibilities. This approach helps overcome fixed thinking patterns and encourages participants to explore alternative perspectives and solutions.
• Encouraging Unconventional Solutions : Synectics acknowledges that unconventional ideas can lead to breakthrough solutions. It provides a framework that supports the exploration of unorthodox approaches and encourages participants to think beyond traditional boundaries. By challenging the status quo and embracing innovative thinking, Synectics enables the generation of unique and impactful solutions.

Synectics complements and expands upon the original CPS process by offering additional tools and techniques that specifically address challenges related to mental barriers, divergent thinking, collaboration, creative connections, and unconventional solutions.

It provides a structured approach to enhance creativity and problem-solving in a collaborative setting.

Synetic Sessions

In the Synectics process, individuals or teams engage in structured brainstorming sessions, often referred to as “synectic sessions.”

These sessions encourage participants to think beyond conventional boundaries and explore novel ways of approaching a problem or challenge.

The approach involves creating an open and non-judgmental environment where participants feel free to express their ideas and build upon each other’s contributions.

Synectics incorporates the use of analogies and metaphors to stimulate creative thinking. Participants are encouraged to make connections between unrelated concepts, draw parallels from different domains, and explore alternative perspectives.

This approach helps to break mental barriers, unlock new insights, and generate innovative ideas.

Steps of the Synetics Process

The Synectics process typically involves the following steps:

• Problem Identification : Clearly defining the problem or challenge that needs to be addressed.
• Idea Generation: Engaging in brainstorming sessions to generate a wide range of ideas, including both conventional and unconventional ones.
• Analogy and Metaphor Exploration : Encouraging participants to explore analogies, metaphors, and connections to stimulate new ways of thinking about the problem.
• Idea Development: Refining and developing the most promising ideas generated during the brainstorming process.
• Solution Evaluation : Assessing and evaluating the potential feasibility, effectiveness, and practicality of the developed ideas.
• Implementation Planning : Creating a detailed action plan to implement the chosen solution or ideas.

Synectics has been used in various fields, including business, design, education, and innovation. It is particularly effective when addressing complex problems that require a fresh perspective and the integration of diverse viewpoints.

Example of How Synetics Explores Analogies and Metaphors

Here’s an example of how Synectics utilizes analogy and metaphor exploration to stimulate new ways of thinking about a problem:

Let’s say a team is tasked with improving customer service in a retail store. During a Synectics session, participants may be encouraged to explore analogies and metaphors related to customer service. For example:

• Analogy : The participants might be asked to think of customer service in terms of a restaurant experience. They can draw parallels between the interactions between waitstaff and customers in a restaurant and the interactions between retail associates and shoppers. By exploring this analogy, participants may uncover insights and ideas for enhancing the customer experience in the retail store, such as personalized attention, prompt service, or creating a welcoming ambiance.
• Metaphor : Participants could be prompted to imagine customer service as a journey or a road trip. They can explore how different stages of the journey, such as initial contact, assistance during the shopping process, and follow-up after purchase, can be improved to create a seamless and satisfying experience. This metaphorical exploration may lead to ideas like providing clear signage, offering assistance at every step, or implementing effective post-purchase support.

Through analogy and metaphor exploration, Synectics encourages participants to think beyond the immediate context and draw inspiration from different domains .

By connecting disparate ideas and concepts , new perspectives and innovative solutions can emerge.

These analogies and metaphors serve as creative triggers that unlock fresh insights and generate ideas that may not have been considered within the confines of the original problem statement.

SCAMPER is a creative thinking technique that provides a set of prompts or questions to stimulate idea generation and innovation. It was developed by Bob Eberle and is widely used in problem-solving, product development, and brainstorming sessions.

SCAMPER provides a structured framework for creatively examining and challenging existing ideas, products, or processes.

Recognizing the value of Alex Osterman’s original checklist, Bob Eberle skillfully organized it into meaningful and repeatable categories. This thoughtful refinement by Eberle has made SCAMPER a practical and highly effective tool for expanding possibilities, breaking through creative blocks, and sparking new insights.

By systematically applying each prompt, individuals or teams can generate a wide range of possibilities and discover innovative solutions to problems or opportunities.

What Does SCAMPER Stand For?

Each letter in the word “SCAMPER” represents a different prompt to encourage creative thinking and exploration of ideas.

Here’s what each letter stands for:

• S – Substitute : Consider substituting a component, material, process, or element with something different to generate new ideas.
• C – Combine : Explore possibilities by combining or merging different elements, ideas, or features to create something unique.
• A – Adapt : Identify ways to adapt or modify existing ideas, products, or processes to fit new contexts or purposes.
• M – Modify : Examine how you can modify or change various attributes, characteristics, or aspects of an idea or solution to enhance its functionality or performance.
• P – Put to another use : Explore alternative uses or applications for an existing idea, object, or resource to uncover new possibilities.
• E – Eliminate : Consider what elements, features, or processes can be eliminated or removed to simplify or streamline an idea or solution.
• R – Reverse or Rearrange : Think about reversing or rearranging the order, sequence, or arrangement of components or processes to generate fresh perspectives and uncover innovative solutions.

Example of SCAMPER

Let’s take a simple and relatable challenge of improving the process of making breakfast sandwiches. We can use SCAMPER to generate ideas for enhancing this routine:

• S – Substitute : What can we substitute in the breakfast sandwich-making process? For example, we could substitute the traditional bread with a croissant or a tortilla wrap to add variety.
• C – Combine : How can we combine different ingredients or flavors to create unique breakfast sandwiches? We could combine eggs, bacon, and avocado to create a delicious and satisfying combination.
• A – Adapt: How can we adapt the breakfast sandwich-making process to fit different dietary preferences? We could offer options for gluten-free bread or create a vegan breakfast sandwich using plant-based ingredients.
• M – Modify : How can we modify the cooking method or preparation techniques for the breakfast sandwich? We could experiment with different cooking techniques like grilling or toasting the bread to add a crispy texture.
• P – Put to another use : How can we repurpose breakfast sandwich ingredients for other meals or snacks? We could use the same ingredients to create a breakfast burrito or use the bread to make croutons for a salad.
• E – Eliminate : What unnecessary steps or ingredients can we eliminate to simplify the breakfast sandwich-making process? We could eliminate the need for butter by using a non-stick pan or omit certain condiments to streamline the assembly process.
• R – Reverse or Rearrange : How can we reverse or rearrange the order of ingredients for a unique twist? We could reverse the order of ingredients by placing the cheese on the outside of the sandwich to create a crispy cheese crust.

These are just a few examples of how SCAMPER prompts can spark ideas for improving the breakfast sandwich-making process.

The key is to think creatively and explore possibilities within each prompt to generate innovative solutions to the challenge at hand.

Design Thinking

Design thinking provides a structured framework for creative problem-solving, with an emphasis on human needs and aspirations .

It’s an iterative process that allows for continuous learning , adaptation , and improvement based on user feedback and insights.

Here are some key ways to think about Design Thinking:

• Design thinking is an iterative and human-centered approach to problem-solving and innovation. It’s a methodology that draws inspiration from the design process to address complex challenges and create innovative solutions.
• Design thinking places a strong emphasis on understanding the needs and perspectives of the end-users or customers throughout the problem-solving journey.
• Design thinking is a collaborative and interdisciplinary process . It encourages diverse perspectives and cross-functional collaboration to foster innovation. It can be applied to a wide range of challenges, from product design and service delivery to organizational processes and social issues.

What is the Origin of Design Thinking

The origin of Design Thinking can be traced back to the work of various scholars and practitioners over several decades.

While it has evolved and been influenced by multiple sources, the following key influences are often associated with the development of Design Thinking:

• Herbert A. Simon : In the 1960s, Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon emphasized the importance of “satisficing” in decision-making and problem-solving. His work focused on the iterative nature of problem-solving and the need for designers to explore various alternatives before arriving at the optimal solution.
• Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber : In the 1970s, Rittel and Webber introduced the concept of “wicked problems,” which are complex and ill-defined challenges that do not have clear solutions. They highlighted the need for a collaborative and iterative approach to tackling these wicked problems, which aligns with the principles of Design Thinking.
• David Kelley and IDEO : Design firm IDEO, co-founded by David Kelley, played a significant role in popularizing Design Thinking. IDEO embraced an interdisciplinary and human-centered approach to design, focusing on empathy, rapid prototyping, and iteration. IDEO’s successful design projects and methodologies have influenced the development and adoption of Design Thinking across various industries.
• Stanford University : Stanford University’s d.school (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) has been instrumental in advancing Design Thinking. The d.school has developed educational programs and frameworks that emphasize hands-on experiential learning, collaboration, and empathy in problem-solving. It has played a significant role in spreading the principles of Design Thinking globally.

While these influences have contributed to the emergence and development of Design Thinking, it’s important to note that Design Thinking is an evolving and multidisciplinary approach.

It continues to be shaped by practitioners, scholars, and organizations who contribute new ideas and insights to its principles and methodologies.

Key Principles of Design Thinking

Here are key principles of Design Thinking:

• Empathy : Design thinking begins with developing a deep understanding of the needs, emotions, and experiences of the people for whom you are designing solutions. Empathy involves active listening, observation, and engaging with users to gain insights and uncover unmet needs.
• Define the Problem : In this phase, the problem is defined and reframed based on the insights gained through empathy. The focus is on creating a clear problem statement that addresses the users’ needs and aspirations.
• Ideation : The ideation phase involves generating a wide range of ideas without judgment or criticism. It encourages divergent thinking, creativity, and the exploration of various possibilities to solve the defined problem.
• Prototyping : In this phase, ideas are translated into tangible prototypes or representations that can be tested and evaluated. Prototypes can be physical objects, mock-ups, or even digital simulations. The goal is to quickly and cost-effectively bring ideas to life for feedback and iteration.
• Testing and Iteration : Prototypes are tested with end-users to gather feedback, insights, and validation. The feedback received is used to refine and iterate the design, making improvements based on real-world observations and user input.
• Implementation : Once the design has been refined and validated through testing, it is implemented and brought to life. This phase involves planning for execution, scaling up, and integrating the solution into the intended context.

Where to Go for More on Design Thinking

There are numerous resources available to learn more about design thinking. Here are three highly regarded resources that can provide a solid foundation and deeper understanding of the subject:

• “Design Thinking: Understanding How Designers Think and Work” (Book) – Nigel Cross: This book offers a comprehensive overview of design thinking, exploring its history, principles, and methodologies. Nigel Cross, a renowned design researcher, delves into the mindset and processes of designers, providing insights into their approaches to problem-solving and creativity.
• IDEO U : IDEO U is an online learning platform created by IDEO, a leading design and innovation firm. IDEO U offers a range of courses and resources focused on design thinking and innovation. Their courses provide practical guidance, case studies, and interactive exercises to deepen your understanding and application of design thinking principles.
• Stanford d.school Virtual Crash Course : The Stanford d.school offers a free Virtual Crash Course in design thinking. This online resource provides an introduction to the principles and process of design thinking through a series of videos and activities. It covers topics such as empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing. The Virtual Crash Course is a great starting point for beginners and offers hands-on learning experiences.

These resources offer diverse perspectives and practical insights into design thinking, equipping learners with the knowledge and tools to apply design thinking principles to their own projects and challenges.

Additionally, exploring case studies and real-life examples of design thinking applications in various industries can further enhance your understanding of its effectiveness and potential impact.

Dr. John Martin on “Psychological” vs. “Procedural” Approach

Dr. John Martin of the Open University in the UK offers an insightful perspective on how various Creative Problem Solving and Brainstorming techniques differ.

In his notes for the Creative Management module of their MBA Course in 1997, he states:

“In practice, different schools of creativity training borrow from one another. The more elaborate forms of creative problem-solving, such as the Buffalo CPS method (basically brainstorming), incorporate quite a number of features found in Synectics.

However there is still a discernible split between the ‘psychological’ approaches such as Synectics that emphasize metaphor, imagery, emotion, energy etc. and ‘procedural’ approaches that concentrate on private listings, round robins etc.. Of course practitioners can combine these techniques, but there is often a discernible bias towards one or other end of the spectrum”

Brainstorming was the original Creative Problem-solving Technique, developed in the 1930s by Alex Osborn (the O of the advertising agency BBDO) and further developed by Professor Sidney Parnes of the Buffalo Institute.

The Osborn-Parnes model is the most widely practised form of brainstorming, though the word has become a generic term for any attempt to generate new ideas in an environment of suspending judgement. It may include elements of other techniques, such as de Bono’s Lateral Thinking.”

Creative Problem Solving vs. Brainstorming vs. Lateral Thinking

Creative Problem Solving, brainstorming, and lateral thinking are distinct approaches to generating ideas and solving problems. Here’s a summary of their differences:

Creative Problem Solving:

• Involves a systematic approach to problem-solving, typically following stages such as problem identification, idea generation, solution development, and implementation planning.
• Focuses on understanding the problem deeply, analyzing data, and generating a wide range of potential solutions.
• Encourages both convergent thinking (evaluating and selecting the best ideas) and divergent thinking (generating multiple ideas).
• Incorporates structured techniques and frameworks to guide the problem-solving process, such as the Osborn-Parnes model.

Brainstorming:

• A specific technique within Creative Problem Solving, developed by Alex Osborn, which aims to generate a large quantity of ideas in a short amount of time.
• Involves a group of individuals openly sharing ideas without judgment or criticism.
• Emphasizes quantity over quality, encouraging participants to build upon each other’s ideas and think creatively.
• Typically involves following guidelines, such as deferring judgment, encouraging wild ideas, and combining and improving upon suggestions.

Lateral Thinking (Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking):

• Introduced by Edward de Bono, lateral thinking is a deliberate and structured approach to thinking differently and generating innovative ideas.
• Involves deliberately challenging traditional thinking patterns and assumptions to arrive at unconventional solutions.
• Encourages the use of techniques like random stimulation, provocative statements, and deliberate provocation to shift perspectives and break fixed thought patterns.
• Focuses on generating out-of-the-box ideas that may not arise through traditional problem-solving methods.

While there can be overlaps and combinations of these approaches in practice, each approach has its distinct emphasis and techniques.

Creative Problem Solving provides a structured framework for problem-solving, brainstorming emphasizes idea generation within a group setting, and lateral thinking promotes thinking outside the box to arrive at unconventional solutions.

Creative Problem Solving Empowers You to Change Your World

The Creative Problem Solving process is a valuable framework that enables individuals and teams to approach complex problems with a structured and creative mindset.

By following the stages of clarifying the problem, generating ideas, developing solutions, implementing the chosen solution, and evaluating the outcomes, the process guides participants through a systematic and iterative journey of problem-solving.

Throughout this deep dive, we’ve explored the essence of Creative Problem Solving, its key stages, and variations. We’ve seen how different methodologies, such as Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving, FourSight Thinking Profiles, Basadur’s Innovative Process, Synectics, SCAMPER, and Design Thinking, offer unique perspectives and techniques to enhance the creative problem-solving experience.

By embracing these frameworks and techniques, individuals and teams can tap into their creative potential , break free from conventional thinking patterns, and unlock innovative solutions.

Creative Problem Solving empowers us to approach challenges with curiosity, open-mindedness, and a collaborative spirit , fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

Remember, creative problem solving is a skill that can be developed and honed over time. By adopting a flexible and adaptable mindset , embracing diverse perspectives, and applying various creativity tools, we can navigate the complexities of problem-solving and uncover solutions that drive positive change.

Let’s enjoy our creative problem-solving journey by embracing the unknown and transforming challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation.

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What is creative problem-solving?

Table of Contents

An introduction to creative problem-solving.

Creative problem-solving is an essential skill that goes beyond basic brainstorming . It entails a holistic approach to challenges, melding logical processes with imaginative techniques to conceive innovative solutions. As our world becomes increasingly complex and interconnected, the ability to think creatively and solve problems with fresh perspectives becomes invaluable for individuals, businesses, and communities alike.

Importance of divergent and convergent thinking

At the heart of creative problem-solving lies the balance between divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking encourages free-flowing, unrestricted ideation, leading to a plethora of potential solutions. Convergent thinking, on the other hand, is about narrowing down those options to find the most viable solution. This dual approach ensures both breadth and depth in the problem-solving process.

Emphasis on collaboration and diverse perspectives

No single perspective has a monopoly on insight. Collaborating with individuals from different backgrounds, experiences, and areas of expertise offers a richer tapestry of ideas. Embracing diverse perspectives not only broadens the pool of solutions but also ensures more holistic and well-rounded outcomes.

Nurturing a risk-taking and experimental mindset

The fear of failure can be the most significant barrier to any undertaking. It's essential to foster an environment where risk-taking and experimentation are celebrated. This involves viewing failures not as setbacks but as invaluable learning experiences that pave the way for eventual success.

The role of intuition and lateral thinking

Sometimes, the path to a solution is not linear. Lateral thinking and intuition allow for making connections between seemingly unrelated elements. These 'eureka' moments often lead to breakthrough solutions that conventional methods might overlook.

Stages of the creative problem-solving process

The creative problem-solving process is typically broken down into several stages. Each stage plays a crucial role in understanding, addressing, and resolving challenges in innovative ways.

Clarifying: Understanding the real problem or challenge

Before diving into solutions, one must first understand the problem at its core. This involves asking probing questions, gathering data, and viewing the challenge from various angles. A clear comprehension of the problem ensures that effort and resources are channeled correctly.

Ideating: Generating diverse and multiple solutions

Once the problem is clarified, the focus shifts to generating as many solutions as possible. This stage champions quantity over quality, as the aim is to explore the breadth of possibilities without immediately passing judgment.

Developing: Refining and honing promising solutions

With a list of potential solutions in hand, it's time to refine and develop the most promising ones. This involves evaluating each idea's feasibility, potential impact, and any associated risks, then enhancing or combining solutions to maximize effectiveness.

Implementing: Acting on the best solutions

Once a solution has been honed, it's time to put it into action. This involves planning, allocating resources, and monitoring the results to ensure the solution is effectively addressing the problem.

Techniques for creative problem-solving

Solving complex problems in a fresh way can be a daunting task to start on. Here are a few techniques that can help kickstart the process:

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a widely-used technique that involves generating as many ideas as possible within a set timeframe. Variants like brainwriting (where ideas are written down rather than spoken) and reverse brainstorming (thinking of ways to cause the problem) can offer fresh perspectives and ensure broader participation.

Mind mapping

Mind mapping is a visual tool that helps structure information, making connections between disparate pieces of data. It is particularly useful in organizing thoughts, visualizing relationships, and ensuring a comprehensive approach to a problem.

SCAMPER technique

SCAMPER stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Reverse. This technique prompts individuals to look at existing products, services, or processes in new ways, leading to innovative solutions.

Benefits of creative problem-solving

Creative problem-solving offers numerous benefits, both at the individual and organizational levels. Some of the most prominent advantages include:

Finding novel solutions to old problems

Traditional problems that have resisted conventional solutions often succumb to creative approaches. By looking at challenges from fresh angles and blending different techniques, we can unlock novel solutions previously deemed impossible.

Enhanced adaptability in changing environments

In our rapidly evolving world, the ability to adapt is critical. Creative problem-solving equips individuals and organizations with the agility to pivot and adapt to changing circumstances, ensuring resilience and longevity.

Building collaborative and innovative teams

Teams that embrace creative problem-solving tend to be more collaborative and innovative. They value diversity of thought, are open to experimentation, and are more likely to challenge the status quo, leading to groundbreaking results.

Fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement

Creative problem-solving is not just about finding solutions; it's also about continuous learning and improvement. By encouraging an environment of curiosity and exploration, organizations can ensure that they are always at the cutting edge, ready to tackle future challenges head-on.

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How to Be a More Creative Problem-Solver at Work: 8 Tips

• 01 Mar 2022

The importance of creativity in the workplace—particularly when problem-solving—is undeniable. Business leaders can’t approach new problems with old solutions and expect the same result.

This is where innovation-based processes need to guide problem-solving. Here’s an overview of what creative problem-solving is, along with tips on how to use it in conjunction with design thinking.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Creative Problem-Solving?

Encountering problems with no clear cause can be frustrating. This occurs when there’s disagreement around a defined problem or research yields unclear results. In such situations, creative problem-solving helps develop solutions, despite a lack of clarity.

While creative problem-solving is less structured than other forms of innovation, it encourages exploring open-ended ideas and shifting perspectives—thereby fostering innovation and easier adaptation in the workplace. It also works best when paired with other innovation-based processes, such as design thinking .

Creative Problem-Solving and Design Thinking

Design thinking is a solutions-based mentality that encourages innovation and problem-solving. It’s guided by an iterative process that Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar outlines in four stages in the online course Design Thinking and Innovation :

• Clarify: This stage involves researching a problem through empathic observation and insights.
• Ideate: This stage focuses on generating ideas and asking open-ended questions based on observations made during the clarification stage.
• Develop: The development stage involves exploring possible solutions based on the ideas you generate. Experimentation and prototyping are both encouraged.
• Implement: The final stage is a culmination of the previous three. It involves finalizing a solution’s development and communicating its value to stakeholders.

Although user research is an essential first step in the design thinking process, there are times when it can’t identify a problem’s root cause. Creative problem-solving addresses this challenge by promoting the development of new perspectives.

Leveraging tools like design thinking and creativity at work can further your problem-solving abilities. Here are eight tips for doing so.

8 Creative Problem-Solving Tips

1. empathize with your audience.

A fundamental practice of design thinking’s clarify stage is empathy. Understanding your target audience can help you find creative and relevant solutions for their pain points through observing them and asking questions.

Practice empathy by paying attention to others’ needs and avoiding personal comparisons. The more you understand your audience, the more effective your solutions will be.

2. Reframe Problems as Questions

If a problem is difficult to define, reframe it as a question rather than a statement. For example, instead of saying, "The problem is," try framing around a question like, "How might we?" Think creatively by shifting your focus from the problem to potential solutions.

Consider this hypothetical case study: You’re the owner of a local coffee shop trying to fill your tip jar. Approaching the situation with a problem-focused mindset frames this as: "We need to find a way to get customers to tip more." If you reframe this as a question, however, you can explore: "How might we make it easier for customers to tip?" When you shift your focus from the shop to the customer, you empathize with your audience. You can take this train of thought one step further and consider questions such as: "How might we provide a tipping method for customers who don't carry cash?"

Whether you work at a coffee shop, a startup, or a Fortune 500 company, reframing can help surface creative solutions to problems that are difficult to define.

3. Defer Judgment of Ideas

If you encounter an idea that seems outlandish or unreasonable, a natural response would be to reject it. This instant judgment impedes creativity. Even if ideas seem implausible, they can play a huge part in ideation. It's important to permit the exploration of original ideas.

While judgment can be perceived as negative, it’s crucial to avoid accepting ideas too quickly. If you love an idea, don’t immediately pursue it. Give equal consideration to each proposal and build on different concepts instead of acting on them immediately.

4. Overcome Cognitive Fixedness

Cognitive fixedness is a state of mind that prevents you from recognizing a situation’s alternative solutions or interpretations instead of considering every situation through the lens of past experiences.

Although it's efficient in the short-term, cognitive fixedness interferes with creative thinking because it prevents you from approaching situations unbiased. It's important to be aware of this tendency so you can avoid it.

5. Balance Divergent and Convergent Thinking

One of the key principles of creative problem-solving is the balance of divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is the process of brainstorming multiple ideas without limitation; open-ended creativity is encouraged. It’s an effective tool for generating ideas, but not every idea can be explored. Divergent thinking eventually needs to be grounded in reality.

Convergent thinking, on the other hand, is the process of narrowing ideas down into a few options. While converging ideas too quickly stifles creativity, it’s an important step that bridges the gap between ideation and development. It's important to strike a healthy balance between both to allow for the ideation and exploration of creative ideas.

6. Use Creative Tools

Using creative tools is another way to foster innovation. Without a clear cause for a problem, such tools can help you avoid cognitive fixedness and abrupt decision-making. Here are several examples:

Problem Stories

Creating a problem story requires identifying undesired phenomena (UDP) and taking note of events that precede and result from them. The goal is to reframe the situations to visualize their cause and effect.

To start, identify a UDP. Then, discover what events led to it. Observe and ask questions of your consumer base to determine the UDP’s cause.

Next, identify why the UDP is a problem. What effect does the UDP have that necessitates changing the status quo? It's helpful to visualize each event in boxes adjacent to one another when answering such questions.

The problem story can be extended in either direction, as long as there are additional cause-and-effect relationships. Once complete, focus on breaking the chains connecting two subsequent events by disrupting the cause-and-effect relationship between them.

Alternate Worlds

The alternate worlds tool encourages you to consider how people from different backgrounds would approach similar situations. For instance, how would someone in hospitality versus manufacturing approach the same problem? This tool isn't intended to instantly solve problems but, rather, to encourage idea generation and creativity.

7. Use Positive Language

It's vital to maintain a positive mindset when problem-solving and avoid negative words that interfere with creativity. Positive language prevents quick judgments and overcomes cognitive fixedness. Instead of "no, but," use words like "yes, and."

Positive language makes others feel heard and valued rather than shut down. This practice doesn’t necessitate agreeing with every idea but instead approaching each from a positive perspective.

Using “yes, and” as a tool for further idea exploration is also effective. If someone presents an idea, build upon it using “yes, and.” What additional features could improve it? How could it benefit consumers beyond its intended purpose?

While it may not seem essential, this small adjustment can make a big difference in encouraging creativity.

8. Practice Design Thinking

Practicing design thinking can make you a more creative problem-solver. While commonly associated with the workplace, adopting a design thinking mentality can also improve your everyday life. Here are several ways you can practice design thinking:

• Learn from others: There are many examples of design thinking in business . Review case studies to learn from others’ successes, research problems companies haven't addressed, and consider alternative solutions using the design thinking process.
• Approach everyday problems with a design thinking mentality: One of the best ways to practice design thinking is to apply it to your daily life. Approach everyday problems using design thinking’s four-stage framework to uncover what solutions it yields.
• Study design thinking: While learning design thinking independently is a great place to start, taking an online course can offer more insight and practical experience. The right course can teach you important skills , increase your marketability, and provide valuable networking opportunities.

Ready to Become a Creative Problem-Solver?

Though creativity comes naturally to some, it's an acquired skill for many. Regardless of which category you're in, improving your ability to innovate is a valuable endeavor. Whether you want to bolster your creativity or expand your professional skill set, taking an innovation-based course can enhance your problem-solving.

If you're ready to become a more creative problem-solver, explore Design Thinking and Innovation , one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses . If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

About the Author

What Is Creative Problem-Solving and How to Master It with These 8 Strategies

• Post author: Kirstie Pursey
• Post published: May 17, 2018
• Reading time: 5 mins read
• Post category: Brain Power / Self-Improvement / Success Skills

Often when we have a problem, we try to solve it in the same way we did before. However, some issues cannot be solved with existing ideas and solutions. In this case, we need to turn to our creative side for problem-solving strategies.

Creative problem-solving is a way of moving beyond predictable and obvious solutions to problems . When we have a creative approach to problem-solving, we expand our thinking out from what we already know about a problem, and from solutions that we have used in the past, to generate innovative and effective solutions.

Here are 8 creative problem-solving strategies you could try to bring creativity and fresh ideas to bear on any problem you might have.

1. counterfactual thinking.

Counterfactual thinking involves considering what would have happened if the events in the past had happened slightly differently. In essence, it is asking ‘what if’ questions about the past.

So for example, you might ask ‘ What would have happened if I had moved to San Francisco instead of New York ?’ This helps you to break free of current constraints and consider the paths not taken.

2. Creativity of Constraints

We often think that constraints inhibit creativity because they reduce the number of possible solutions. However, constraints can actually generate new creative ideas as we have to be more creative to overcome the limitations. For example, creating a meal for less than $5 dollars reduces the potential ingredients you can use but may encourage you to use basic ingredients in more innovative ways.

The painter Pablo Picasso used constraints in his Blue Period between 1901 and 1904 when he painted almost entirely in shades of blue and green. Within these constraints, he found new ways to represent the world in paint.

3. Brainstorming

Most of us need no introduction to brainstorming. The key element of this strategy is to remove inhibitions that normally cause people to edit their creative ideas and dismiss them before they have really had a chance to examine them. When brainstorming, the most essential feature is that no idea is too ridiculous for consideration.

4. Questioning Assumptions

We all have assumptions about just about everything. We make assumptions about what is and isn’t possible and what things can and can’t be. This strategy asks you to think about all the assumptions made about a product or idea and then to question whether these are really true. This can spark truly innovative ideas.

5. Thought Experiment

A thought experiment is when you consider in the imagination a hypothesis that cannot easily be tested. For example, Einstein’s thought experiment ‘what would happen if you chased a beam of light as it moved through space’ led to the development of his special theory of relativity.

It is not necessary for the experiment to be impossible to perform – it is just that the experiment takes place only in the mind.

6. Forced Connections

Using forced connections can create new ideas. You simply bring two objects together to create an entirely new product or concept. Examples include the sofa-bed and the Apple watch which both combined two existing products to create something new. Genres in fiction often use this approach of combining two genres to create a new one such as in historical romance or comic fantasy.

To practice this technique, simply place some random objects or a list of random objects in a bag and pull out two, then try to make connections between them and see how they could be combined to create a new idea.

Using this technique allows your imagination to run riot. Think of the most outlandish and unattainable and impractical solutions. This is the opposite of the constraints strategy, but it can also work surprisingly well.

Once you have come up with a few ‘ wishes ,’ you can try to create a solution by scaling back these ideas into something more attainable.

8. Creative Intuition

Often creative thinking happens when we least expect it and doesn’t feel like ‘thinking’ at all. This is the flash of insight that comes when we stop thinking about a problem and are doing something else that doesn’t require much conscious attention, such as taking a shower or driving.

The most famous example is Archimedes’ ‘Eureka’ moment when in a sudden flash of inspiration he worked out how to work out if the King’s crown was made entirely of gold. When he found his solution he famously cried “Eureka” from Greek heurēka meaning ‘ I have found it ‘.

So next time you are stuck on a problem, take a break and a bath.

Closing thoughts

In our modern ever-changing world, often old-style solutions simply don’t work. Practising using creative problem-solving strategies can keep you ahead in a fast-changing environment.

We’d love to hear if you rely on your creative thinking and what problem-solving strategies you use. Please share them with us in the comments below.

References :

• wikipedia.org

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The simple fact is that many people try doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. Doesn’t work that way. All of these 8 ideas are well thought out and should be considered when confronted with a problem. It seems that when you solve one problem, two more come along. Life is, in some ways, a problem we all have to solve. Some resolutions work better than other. Looking for new solutions to old problems is what makes us human.

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Creative Problem-Solving Approach: Skills, Framework, 3 Real-life Examples

What is creative problem-solving, creative problem-solving framework, 3 real-life examples of creative problem solving:, skills to develop for creative problem-solving.

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• Identifying the Real Problem : Imagine you wake up to a cold shower. The obvious problem? No hot water! But before you start dismantling the showerhead, take a step back. Is it a faulty heating element, a low thermostat setting, or a bigger issue with the building’s plumbing? This initial step is crucial. Ask yourself questions like “What are the symptoms?” and “When did this problem start?”. In our shower scenario, identifying the root cause (a faulty heating element) saves you time and unnecessary tinkering.
• Generating Wild Ideas : Now, it’s time to unleash your creativity! Remember that brainstorming session in school where every idea, no matter how wacky, was welcome? That’s the spirit! Back to our chilly shower situation, ideas might include: boiling water on the stove for a makeshift bath (not ideal!), calling the landlord for repairs (the most likely solution!), or – if you’re feeling adventurous – installing a solar water heater (hey, it could work!).
• Evaluating Ideas: Okay, so you have a list of ideas, from the practical to the downright peculiar. Here comes the filter. Evaluate each idea based on realistic criteria. For the shower scenario, fixing the heating element is likely the most feasible and impactful solution. While a solar water heater might be innovative, the cost and practicality might not make it the best choice at this moment.
• From Idea to Action Plan: We’ve identified the best course of action (fixing the heating element). Now, it’s time to develop a concrete solution. This might involve calling a plumber, gathering the necessary tools, or researching DIY repair tutorials (if you’re handy!). The key is to create a clear plan that addresses the problem directly.
• Putting Your Solution to the Test : The plan is in place, it’s time to implement! In our case, this means calling the plumber and getting that heating element fixed. Once the repair is done, take a celebratory hot shower! But remember, even the best plans can have hiccups. If the hot water issue persists, you might need to re-evaluate your initial diagnosis or call the plumber back for further troubleshooting.
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• Netflix:  The company revolutionized how we watch TV shows and movies. However, when the company started, it faced a big challenge – getting people to watch their content when they were not a well-known brand. Instead of relying on traditional advertising, Netflix used creative problem-solving to develop a unique solution. They created an algorithm recommending TV shows and movies based on a user’s viewing history, leading to a highly personalized viewing experience. This recommendation engine became a critical factor in the company’s success, helping them attract and retain customers.
• NASA:  NASA had to devise an instant solution to save the Apollo 13 mission and their team. Their spacecraft was damaged, and they needed a solution to bring their astronauts safely back to Earth. The team fitted a square CO2 filter into a round hole using available materials on the spacecraft; the team used creative problem-solving to develop this approach. This innovative solution allowed the astronauts to return safely to Earth and set this incident as a classic creative solving example.
• IKEA:  IKEA makes stylish and affordable furniture and is a well-versed company. However, they faced significant challenges entering the Japanese market. Japanese apartments are comparatively smaller than the rest of the world, so the regular product range was irrelevant to Japanese customers. So, IKEA used creative problem-solving to develop a solution appealing to the Japanese market. They launched a variety of products specially created for smaller spaces that are easy to assemble and disassemble—they also introduced a range of futons designed to look like beds, appealing to Japanese customers who prefer sleeping on the floor. This innovative and creative approach helped IKEA successfully enter the Japanese market.

• Flexibility:  Being able to adapt to changing circumstances and consider multiple perspectives.
• Open-mindedness:  Being open to new ideas and willing to challenge assumptions.
• Curiosity:  Seek more information by questioning and better understanding the problem.
• Persistence:  If a solution does not work, apply another solution, but continue until the problem is solved.
• Divergent thinking:  Generating multiple ideas and exploring different possibilities.
• Convergent thinking:  Evaluating and selecting the best ideas based on specific criteria.
• Visualization:  Using mental imagery to explore solutions and ideas.
• Collaboration:  Working with others to combine different perspectives and knowledge.
• Risk-taking:  Being willing to take calculated risks and try new approaches.
• Innovation:  Combining ideas and approaches in novel ways to create new solutions.

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Creative Thinking Definition

Creative thinking examples, why is creative thinking important, how to include creative thinking skills in a job application, how to build creativity, what is creative thinking definition and examples.

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Table of Contents

Creative thinking is the ability to come up with unique, original solutions. Also known as creative problem-solving, creative thinking is a valuable and marketable soft skill in a wide variety of careers. Here’s what you need to know about creative thinking at work and how to use it to land a job. 

Creative thinking is all about developing innovative solutions to problems. Creative thinkers brainstorm not only a large number of ideas but also a variety and range of them. In the workplace, creative thinking is highly valuable because employers look to hire innovative employees who can help them solve the company’s problems.

So, what does creative thinking in the workplace look like? First, a creative person brainstorms their ideas, then they’ll experiment with them. They look at ideas from multiple perspectives and examine how their solutions fit into the scope of what they’re working on. Creative thinkers aren’t afraid to take risks and try new ideas. In fact, this ability to develop, test, and implement original solutions makes them a valuable asset to just about any workplace. 

Creative thinking in the workplace might look like:

• Holding an interactive brainstorm to gather initial thoughts on a project
• Evaluating a current process and offering suggestions on how to improve it
• Researching other ways to market a product and leading experiments on new marketing channels
• Developing an innovative way to reach out to prospective clients
• Identifying a unique opportunity to promote the company brand and developing a strategy to do so
• Discovering a new way to measure a product initiative’s success and using learnings to iterate on the next version

Finding patterns in a company’s revenue growth and using data trends to strategize a new sales plan  

Creative thinking includes the process of innovative problem-solving — from analyzing the facts to brainstorming to working with others. Creative thinking examples include analytical skills, innovation, and collaboration.

Analytical Skills

Analytical skills are problem-solving skills that help you sort through facts, data, and information to develop rational solutions. These skills aid you in the first part of the creative thinking process as you brainstorm and start to generate ideas. 

Analytical skills include:

• Data analysis
• Forecasting
• Interpreting
• Communication

Innovation is the ability to come up with something new; however, you don’t need to develop the first flying car to be an innovative thinker. “Something new” at work might mean a method you haven’t tried before or experimenting with an unfamiliar process. Innovators in the workplace aren’t afraid to step away from tradition and explore something original, even if it might fail. 

Innovation skills include:

• Risk-taking
• Brainstorming
• Critical thinking

Collaboration

Creative thinking doesn’t have to happen alone; you might have your most creative ideas when bouncing your work off others. Collaboration skills ensure you consider multiple perspectives and ways of thinking when you develop and refine ideas.

Collaboration skills include:

• Written and verbal communication
• Active listening
• Inclusivity

A soft skill like creative thinking will always be valuable to employers, whether you’re looking for a marketing job or trying to land a career in finance . Employers need employees who can develop and experiment with new ideas to help them solve complex problems. 

“Many employers seek candidates that are analytical and outside-the-box thinkers which are iterations of creative thinking skills,” says Alejandra Garcia, manager, alumni college and career success at Code2College and Forage content development partner. “Thus, creative thinking, creative problem solving, innovative thinking, and analytical skills are all valuable in the current workplace — these skills are especially important in our ever-changing workplaces with new emerging technologies.”

The data supports this idea, too. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs report , creative thinking is the second most important skill for workers in 2023, preceded only by analytical skills. Other top skills include soft skills like resilience, flexibility and agility, motivation and self-awareness, and curiosity and lifelong learning .

“The ability to navigate new challenges quickly can benefit any workplace!” Laura Fontenot, resume writing expert, ACRW, and CPRW, says. “The current world of work is fast-paced, technically driven, and constantly changing. Being intuitive, creative, driven, and a problem solver are key.”

If creative thinking is one of the top soft skills employers look for, how do you show you have it in a job application? The key is to prove these skills through examples of how you’ve used them rather than just naming them.

On a Resume

While creative thinking is a skill employers might look for, you don’t necessarily need to write “creative thinking” on your resume to show you have this skill. Instead, it’s better to demonstrate how you’ve used creative thinking skills to drive results.

“Think of your best mental strengths,” says Fontenot. “Are you a great problem solver? Do you understand how to phrase things differently? Can you learn a new skill quickly? Those questions can help you find great words for the resume . Consider adding things like problem-solving, intuition, collaboration, fast learner, organized, or communication.”

Log in to view and download a customizable resume template with examples of how to include creative thinking skills:

On Your Professional Profiles

You can show these skills outside of your resume in creative ways — including on your LinkedIn profile and website (if you have one!).

“Early professionals can make creative thinking a part of their professional brand by explicitly adding creative thinking or creative problem solving to their list of skills on their resumes and LinkedIn profiles — this will help with ATS optimizations,” Garcia advises. 

Yet beyond just listing this skill, Garcia adds that you can provide real proof of your creativity online, too.

“Consider adding projects or an online portfolio website link to your resume and LinkedIn where you can showcase projects you’ve worked on that demonstrate their problem-solving skills.”

In the Interview

In the interview , make sure you can describe your workflow and process for these projects or any other situation when you’ve used creative thinking. Elaborate how you brainstormed ideas, what range of ideas you had, how you tested and experimented, and how you decided on a final solution. 

It’s best to use the STAR method to structure your answers. This will ensure you clearly explain the situation and the results you brought by using your creative thinking skills.

>>MORE: Prepare to speak about your soft skills by practicing answers to commonly asked behavioral interview questions .

1. Put Yourself in a Box

Creative thinking is about “thinking outside the box,” but putting limitations on your problem-solving can help you think more freely and innovatively. For example, if someone tells you to make dinner, you may struggle to come up with a meal you don’t always cook. Yet if they ask you to make a hot dinner with three specific ingredients and two spices, you’ll more likely come up with something original. 

Putting yourself inside a box can help expand your thinking, whether that’s by telling yourself you need to include three charts in your presentation or giving yourself a strict word count for an article.

2. Switch up Your Routine

Routine can be a great productivity booster, but it also can get in the way of your creativity. So, switch up your routine for one project, day, or even an hour. This can be something as small as where you’re physically sitting when you do your work or something as big as your process for approaching projects. Challenging yourself to do something different will help you find creative ways to adapt to your new environment.

3. Challenge What’s Currently Working

Think about how you might expand or improve upon a current process. What would you do if you had more resources, whether that’s time, money, or another expert? What would you do if you had fewer resources? If this project was taking place at a different time of year? If the target audience was different? Imagining these different potential scenarios will force you to problem-solve and adjust for various (very possible!) circumstances. 

4. Find Inspiration

Creative thinking doesn’t happen in a bubble. It’s vital to ask for others’ opinions and ideas. Creative thinkers consider multiple perspectives and are curious about how others think. Ask your colleague about their work processes, whether it’s how they research for a client deliverable or how they approach meeting an external buyer. 

5. Ask for Feedback

The best way to improve a skill is to get feedback from others on how you’re using it — and you don’t need to set up a formal feedback session to do so. Instead, ask questions when you’re working with others about your work. Keep these questions open-ended and lead with curiosity instead of looking for a specific answer. What did they think of how you led the brainstorm? What would they have done differently? What strikes them about the final product? Keep an open mind and remember not to take the feedback personally. It’s an opportunity to grow, and growing those skills might just help you land your next job!

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CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

What is creative problem solving.

Creative Problem Solving (CPS) is a structured process for solving problems or finding opportunities, used when you want to go beyond conventional thinking and arrive at creative (novel and useful) solutions.

You can, of course, choose to solve problems in conventional ways. Indeed, most problems are solved using known solutions. Creativity is solving problems in new and better ways. Creativity is how your organization becomes truly innovative, and how it and uncovers new, different, and market-making opportunities.

WHAT DOES THE CPS MODEL LOOK LIKE?

Here's a quick description of the process, as illustrated. Someone will facilitate the process, making process-related decisions, an oversight function that is used throughout the process. The first stage is to imagine the future state that is wanted, in statements that begin with "I wish...," "I want...," "I will...," or "It would be great if...." Once a vision is decided upon, we find the questions that must be answered (or, problems that need to be solved) in order for the imagined future to come true. These questions will begin with "How to...," "How might...," "In what ways might...," and "What might be all the...." Once we select a question we will work on, we generate ideas that will answer the question. Ideas tend to be rough notions - that is, not implementable solutions - so we select the best ideas and use them to craft solutions . We explore acceptance for our solutions, so that we will know who will assist and who will resist, and what to do about it. Finally, we plan for action, which takes us to the doorway of implementation: creating the future we imagined at the beginning of the process.

IS CPS A CREATIVE WAY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS?

The word "creative" in the title refers to the results you seek: novel and useful solutions, not just tried and true and traditional ones. But is CPS itself creative? Well, while it is no longer novel per se - it has been is use since the 1950s - it is novel when compared to other problem-solving models. On the surface, CPS looks similar, but what is novel about CPS is this: CPS uses both divergent and convergent thinking at every stage of the process. Most other processes reserve the divergent thinking for the generating ideas stage, but use it nowhere else. CPS multiplies the power of divergent thinking by making it part of the entire process.

Thus, we have to confess that using CPS has an interesting side effect: it makes you re-think the way you thiink, and not just when you are solving problems.

IS CPS RIGHT FOR YOU?

First, let's consider problems and opportunities. CPS is a great choice if you want new thinking, new ideas, new solutions. It's a great choice if you find you are stuck, if you can't solve a certain problem (or problems ), even if - especially if - you're not sure what the problem is. CPS is a great choice if you are missing opportunities, or if you want to take advantage of the opportunities before you.

Second, let's consider leadership. Creative thinking and innovative vision are core leadership competencies. CPS provides a structured way for leaders to harness creative thinking, to lead the way to breakthrough innovations, to envision desired future states, and to determine how to get there.

Discover it. Right here, you can uncover the basics of Creative Problem Solving and CPS facilitation. Click the model above, or click here to get started .

Experience it. OmniSkills can facilitate the CPS process in your organization. Have a problem, situation, issue, or opportunity that's ready for new thinking? Let us show you how the process can work for you. Learn about facilitation of CPS here .

Learn it. There are many places to learn how to use and how to facilitate CPS, including: OmniSkills , the host of this site; the Creative Problem Solving Institute ; the International Center for Studies in Creativity ; and others.

Download it. We have free quick reference guides and worksheets, which you can download right here .

Use it. Try things out, and see how it goes. What's the worst that could happen?

Talk to us. OmniSkills is available to answer your questions and help you in whatever way you need. Email us here .

Creative Problem-Solving

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Life and work in the beginning of the twenty-first century has been described as volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. In this fast changing, innovation-driven environment, Creative Problem-Solving has been identified as a fundamental skill for success. In contrast to routine problem-solving, with straightforward and repeatable solution paths, today’s problems are described as being complex and wicked. To generate the possibilities that can effectively address complex problems, individuals need to draw on the highest level of human thought – creativity. Creative Problem-Solving explicitly draws on, and promotes, effective creative thinking. The purpose of this entry is to describe and distinguish Creative Problem-Solving from other forms of problems-solving. Moreover, as Creative Problem-Solving is a deliberate creativity methodology, this chapter also provides a description of the more specific thinking skills that are embodied by the higher-order skill of creative thinking and are explicitly called on in Creative Problem-Solving. Complex problems require complex thinking, and Creative Problem-Solving provides a structured process that allows individuals to more easily and efficiently deploy their creative thinking skills.

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Puccio, G.J., Klarman, B., Szalay, P.A. (2022). Creative Problem-Solving. In: Glăveanu, V.P. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90913-0_41

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Creative Problem Solving (CPS) is a key idea generation technique. Currently, though better service quality is important, it is not enough on its own. Without combining it with innovation and creativity, one cannot expect to achieve lasting success at the international level. Reading this article, you’ll learn these aspects about CPS: 1) definition , 2) Osborn-Parnes CPS , 3) stages and models of creative problem solving (CPS) , and 4) some techniques .

In simple words, Creative Problem Solving may be defined as a problem solving technique that addresses a challenge or problem in a creative manner. The solution is creative because it is not obvious. To meet the criteria for solving a problem in a creative manner, the solution should resolve the declared problem in an original manner with the solution being reached independently. This idea generation strategy usually incorporates a team approach. This is owing to the fact that people inside the workplace are allowed to engage in the process of change in their search for creative solutions.

Coming to the more specific use of the term, Creative Problem Solving refers to the trademark Osborn-Parnes (CPS) process of creatively solving problems. The process was crafted by Dr. Sidney J. Parnes and Alex Osborn in the 1950s. The difference between this process and other CPS strategies is that there is utilization of both convergent and divergent thinking in the course of each process step, and not only when coming up with ideas to fix the problem. Each step starts with divergent thinking, an extensive search for multiple alternatives. After this comes convergent thinking that involves evaluating and selecting. This strategy is taught at the Creative Problem Solving Institute, the International Center for Studies in Creativity, and the CREA conference. It is particularly recognized as an important influence on the Productive Thinking Model.

OSBORN-PARNES CPS – A FEW MODELS

When describing the Osborne-Parnes process of Creative Problem Solving, one can think of no less than four models. Here, three are discussed.

In the linear model, each of the six stages of the Creative Problem Solving process is represented by a diamond shape. This shape signifies first, generating or diverging options, followed by a selection of a refreshed focus and then, moving on. Thinking was in straight lines, moving just one step at a time for the sake of maintaining order, channeling freedom. This model came out in the 1970s.

In the 1990s, the diamond shapes changed into connected bubbles representing attitude shifts towards directed and meaningful connectedness. Channeled freedom gets wider birth. There are three unique stages in the bubble model. Visually, this indicates authorization to enter not solely at the first stage (as was the case in the 1970s model), but at any stage of the process. The linear model has diamond shapes with smoother edges, and there are arrows to give directions. The three bubbles in the bubble model let you know exactly what you should do.

3. Systemic

The Thinking Skills Model is a system with many entry points determined by the task at hand (center hub) or situation. The construction in this model is in agreement with our current web-like interrelated view of the world. It depicts the distinctive core of each stage by renaming. While the bubble and accordion (diamond) CPS models offer rational, logical approaches to CPS, providing an overt course of action, this model tells you what happens. It outlines the three key phases and charts the thinking processes utilized for each. You can see the diamonds remain, the three key focus points join in fluid colors with the beginning point varying with the situational requirement.

STAGES AND MODELS OF CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING (CPS)

There are six stages in the Osborn-Parnes process of creative-problem solving. Here, the six stages are described with two examples of questions for some of the stages, to stimulate your thinking.

1. Objective Finding

Pinpointing the challenge or goal and delineating your preferred output is the basis of the CPS strategy. At times, people pay no heed to certain essential aspects about the problem or take something for granted to solve it rapidly. This causes an obscurement of the thought process, and the person fails to take note of the big picture. Delineating the goal or objective provides a lucid idea pertaining to the problem that facilitates the investigation of various possible solutions to it.

Questions : What bottlenecks or barriers exist? What is it that you wish to be better organized?

2. Fact Finding

Collecting information pertaining to the problem and associated data is essential for comprehending the problem. At this stage, make a list of key details such as what and who is involved, assumptions and perceptions, viewpoints of interested parties, feelings and facts, and so on so that you may begin the process of crafting ideas.

Questions : Who should be or is already involved? Why doesn’t/does it happen?

3. Problem Finding

Using the problem objective and gathered data as a basis, determine possible challenges that may come about and the possible opportunities that are present inside of it. This would assist you with concentrating on the problem. It is so simple to move your attention away from the aim and to come up with answers to the incorrect problems.

Questions : What is the actual problem? What is the key objective?

4. Idea Finding

Reusing a solution when we come across a problem that we possibly encountered before, is a very easy process. Our mind detects ‘conceptual blocks’ that comprise hurdles such as commitment, complacency, compression, and constancy. These hinder us from thinking creatively and developing fresh concepts or ideas. Thus, it is essential to investigate, brainstorm and determine as many probable solutions as you can.

5. Solution Finding

After you’ve done with coming up with new ideas and noting down probable solutions in list fashion, assess them to determine whether they meet your specification for success and can be executed. Improvise, reinforce and select the best idea. Make sure that the solutions are not only creative, but also useful. At times, will power is the sole solution.

Questions : Will it work? Are the technology and materials available?

6. Acceptance Finding

You have selected the best probable solution that is both actionable and satisfies the requirements for success. The next thing to do is to plan your steps for action by lucidly describing responsibilities and determining the best method to utilize the available resources. The calls for action that you put out should be comprehended by all associated with the problem solving process so that it becomes an accepted solution.

SOME TECHNIQUES

1. synectics.

Synectics is usually classified as a Creative Problem-Solving (CPS) Technique along with Brainstorming and Lateral Thinking. This problem solving methodology inspires thought processes that the subject might not be aware of. The credit for developing the technique that had its beginnings in the 1950s in the Arthur D. Little Invention Design Unit goes to George M. Prince and William J.J. Gordon.

The process was gathered from tape recorded (starting with audio with video coming later) meetings, assessment of the outcomes, and experiments with other methods of coping with the barriers to achievements, in the meeting.

The term “Synectics” has its origins from the Greek language and means the combining of different and supposedly irrelevant elements. Though Synectics is a trademarked name, it has turned into a standard word for delineating Creative Problem Solving that takes place in groups. This idea generation technique approaches problem solving and creativity in a rational manner.

In Gordon’s opinion, Synectics research has to do with three key assumptions:

• It is possible to describe and teach the creative process;
• Invention processes in science and arts are analogous and propelled by the same “psychic” processes;
• Creativity at the level of individual and group is analogous.

In short, if people comprehend the working of creativity, they can improve their ability to be creative.

2. TRIZ methodology

TRIZ (or TIPS – Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) was created by Genrich Altshuller and his coworkers. It is a Russian method of problem solving. This strategy is meant to cultivate the creation of patentable inventions. However, the technique is also helpful for developing non-product solutions.

In the beginning, following the invention of bulletproof glass, a trade off happened. Though the glass would prevent the bullet from entering, the former would crack to such an extent that the vision of the pilot or driver behind the glass would be obscured. TRIZ has a considerable list of principles for settling trade offs. In this particular case, the pertinent principle was segmentation for which the solution was to create a huge pane of glass from smaller panes. This was to ensure that the cracks were limited to the one small pane. If you are capable of articulating your trade off, the chances are high that TRIZ has methods to triumph over it that have proved successful with respect to other problems.

3. Brainstorming

Brainstorming is an individual or group activity by which attempts are made to determine a conclusion for a particular problem by collecting a list of ideas that its members spontaneously contributed. Alex Faickney Osborn popularized the term in Applied Imagination, a 1953 book.

4. Mindmapping

This creativity technique both reframes the situation and cultivates creativity. A mind map is a representation of concepts and ideas in a graphical manner. This visual thinking tool assists with structuring information, assisting with better analysis, synthesis, comprehension, recall and engendering of new ideas. The power of the mind map is traceable to its simplicity.

5. Reversal of problem

This approach is about coming up with ideas to solve problems by way of a different/opposite perspective (turning it around: upside-down, inside-out or back to front).

6. Look beyond something’s common function

Split an object into all its individual parts. If you have a description suggesting a function (just like the function of a prong is transporting electricity), describe it in a more generic manner by way of shape, size and the make-up of the material (such as rectangular, flat, small piece of metal). If you call an item an electric plug’s prong, the description may conceal the fact that the item could also turn into a screwdriver if required.

Here’s an example of looking beyond a thing’s common function: Imagine that the passengers of the luxury liner Titanic had considered the iceberg to be a huge floating surface instead of an object that hits ships. If they had thought so, perhaps many lives could have been saved by using the ship as a lifeboat because the iceberg would not sink.

7. Lateral thinking

Lateral thinking is a manner of thinking that looks for a solution to an obstinate issue through unorthodox elements or methods that would usually be disregarded by logical thinking. To be more precise, “lateral thinking” may be defined as a way to solve problems by a creative or indirect approach, utilizing reasoning that may not be obvious straight away or incorporating ideas that cannot be gathered by utilizing only conventional step-by-step logic. The term was coined by Edward de Bono , a foremost creativity practitioner, in 1967. De Bono created two different models pertaining to creativity thinking namely “parallel thinking” and lateral thinking. The creativity practitioner created the two models over many years with “Mechanism of the Mind” – his book, coming out in print in 1969.

Parallel thinking has to do with pondering over an issue in a single state of mind at a time as against confusing ourselves by attempting to process several issues differently in a single go. Coming back to lateral thinking, the concept makes you realize that coming up with breakthrough ideas doesn’t necessarily have to spring from a shotgun effort or luck. The method provides a systematic and most importantly, deliberate process for which the outcome is innovative thinking.

Creative thinking is no talent but rather, a learnable skill. It empowers those who adopt it by strengthening their natural abilities, which enhances innovation and creativity, which in turn leads to a boost in efficiency and profit.

Challenge, alternatives, and provocation and movement are three examples of lateral thinking techniques.

The basis for SCAMPER is the belief that everything new is a variation of something already in existence. SCAMPER is an acronym, and each letter indicates a different method by which the person can toy around with the features of whatsoever it is that is challenging him to come out with new ideas. The letters and their full forms are as follows:

S  = S ubstitute

C  = C ombine

A  = A dapt

M  = M agnify

P  = P ut to Other Uses

E  = E liminate (alternative is Minify)

R  = R earrange (alternative is Reverse)

To utilize the SCAMPER technique, start by stating the problem you wish to solve or the thought you wish to develop. This thought/idea can be anything: a product, process or service you wish to improve, a challenge in business, or other problem. Once you have identified the challenge, you need to come up with questions. Utilize the SCAMPER checklist for guidance. Here’s a sample:

S : What to substitute in my process of selling?

C : How do I blend selling with other activities?

A : What to copy or adapt the selling process of another person or company?

M : What do I put more weight on or magnify when selling?

P : What other uses can I put my selling to?

E : What do I eliminate or make easier in my process of selling?

R : How do I change, reverse or reorder my manner of selling?

With the help of these questions, you are pushed to a different viewpoint with respect to your problem and ultimately come up with original solutions.

Whether at business or in your personal life, Creative Problem Solving can help you see aspects and solutions that you may never have realized when you only permitted your mind to move the conventional path. So embrace it!

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Brain Power

What are creative problem solving skills (and how to improve yours).

I think we’re all familiar with that feeling of needing to solve a problem, trying way too hard, getting frustrated, and then throwing our hands up in defeat. For example, when my editor assigned me this topic, the structure and concept of the piece weren’t instantly clear to me. I had to problem-solve to figure out how to even begin. But problem-solving isn’t quite so linear. It’s not just a matter of brute force. You can’t just muscle your way through. This is where creative problem solving comes in.

Creative problem solving is about using what we know about how the brain works to come up with outside-the-box solutions to creative problems. Sure, we can do things the same way we’ve always done them. Or we can try creative problem solving, which means we spend time ideating (a.k.a. brainstorming), collaborating, ruminating, and refining to land on better and more novel solutions than we could have if we tried to force or rush a solution.

Table of Contents

1. ideating/brainstorming, 2. collaboration, an example of creative problem solving, bottom line, more about creative problem solving, stages of creative problem solving.

There’s no right or wrong way to try creative problem solving, but there are some stages that can help you integrate it into your creative process. Here are the 4 stages of creative problem solving

If we’re using creative problem solving, we’re not just going with the first idea that pops into our heads. Brainstorming is crucial to come up with more novel solutions.

One of the most important things to keep in mind during brainstorming is that this is not the time to evaluate or judge ideas. The goal of ideating is to come up with as many ideas as possible.

There’s an improvisation rule called “Yes, And” or the rule of agreement that can help you get the most out of your brainstorming sessions. [1] The idea is simple. If you’re brainstorming in a group and someone tells you an idea, you need to go along with that idea. That’s the “Yes” part of “Yes, And.” Then, you can take it a step further by trying to add to that person’s idea.

Let’s say you and your team are trying to figure out how to rebrand your shoe company. Your colleague says you could use a mascot. If you’re using improv’s “Yes, And” rule, you might agree and say that the mascot could be a shoe or a sock or a lonely sock looking for a shoe.

During the ideation stage, no one should be worried about which ideas are good and which are bad. Everyone is trying to come up with as many ideas as possible, and everyone should be trying to make the most of everyone else’s ideas.

“Yes, And” can also work if you’re creative problem solving alone. Instead of discarding ideas, you should be saying yes to your ideas, writing them all down, and trying to make all of them as workable as possible. But before you get too far in your creative process, it’s important to run your ideas by someone else.

I know sometimes you don’t want to share your ideas with other people. Maybe you’re self-conscious or you just don’t think that your idea is ready for prime time. However, it’s important to step out of your comfort zone and let other people join your creative process if you want to reach the best possible creative solution.

When we’re working in a team, it’s important to not judge each other’s ideas until we’re safely in the final stage of the creative problem-solving process. That means no critiques, no evaluations, and no snarky comments. Not yet, at least.

The reason to hold off on evaluating ideas at this stage is that some people tend to shut down if their ideas are judged too early. There’s a concept called creative suppression that occurs when people stop a creative pursuit temporarily due to feeling judged, shamed, or embarrassed. [2] Even worse, creative mortification is when judgment, shame, or embarrassment makes you quit your creative pursuit altogether.

When you’re collaborating with others while creative problem solving, you don’t want to shut anyone down. The more people who are actively engaged in the creative process the better.

In improv, there’s something called “group mind.” The basic idea is that a group can come up with a better solution than any single individual. It makes sense since each person in the group enters the creative process with their own strengths, knowledge, background, experience, and ideas. That means that when the group is working harmoniously, the best contributions of each individual will be reflected in the team’s solution, making that solution far better than what any individual could have come up on their own.

So, find someone you trust and lay the ground rules for your collaboration. Tell each other that you won’t be judging each other’s work just yet to bring out the best and make it as creative and effective as possible.

It can seem counterintuitive to pause during the creative process. But to tap into the creative unconscious parts of your brain, you need to stop forcing it and let your mind wander.

The part of your brain that you’re using to understand this article right now is not necessarily the part that’s going to come up with the most novel solution to your problem. To start using your creative unconscious brain , you need to take a break.

Have you ever had that experience of struggling with a problem and then effortlessly figuring it out while you were showering or walking the dog? That’s your unconscious brain doing the heavy lifting.

This part of the brain can’t be forced into creative problem solving, so stop consciously obsessing about your problem for a while. Take a walk. Go for a drive. Let your mind wander. Dream. This gives your unconscious mind a chance to sort information and come up with some truly novel solutions.

The bonus to letting your unconscious take over is that it’s effortless. Conscious thought requires you to burn lots of energy, while unconscious doesn’t. So, stop trying so hard and let ideas come to you.

At some point, you’re going to have to start evaluating, eliminating, and refining your ideas to get to the best solution. But if you’ve brainstormed, collaborated, and ruminated enough, you should have plenty of material to work with.

I think it’s helpful to walk through an example of creative problem-solving in action. Let’s go back to the example of me writing this article.

First, I was presented with the problem, so I started brainstorming and “Yes, And”-ing myself. I thought about everything I already know about creative problem solving and did some preliminary research, but I still didn’t have a structure or theme to tie my ideas together.

Once the problem was marinating in my mind, I started talking to people. I talked to an old friend about my initial ideas about the article, but I still didn’t have any words on the page just yet.

Then, one morning, the article seemed to come fully formed while I was showering. I could see which examples would work best and how to structure the article. So, I sat down to write and refine the ideas. During the refining stage, I swung back to the collaboration stage when my editor further refined and improved my ideas.

It’s important to remember that these four stages of creative problem solving aren’t linear. They’re circular. After I refine an idea, I can go back to brainstorming, collaborating, and pausing as needed to develop and improve that idea.

Creative problem solving is, first and foremost, creative. You have to give yourself time and space to be able to reflect and ruminate. It’s also important to collaborate as necessary to improve your ideas with the help of other people.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you can’t force creative problem-solving. Forcing it only leads to frustration and failure, so give yourself some time and a team you trust to come up with the best possible solution to your problem.

• Creative Problem Solving: Create Meaning from Contradictory Ideas
• 30 Tips to Rejuvenate Your Creativity
• 6 Effective Ways To Train Your Creative Mind
• How to Be Creative When You’ve Hit a Creative Block

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creativiteach

Creativity for 21st century classrooms, creative problem solving.

Because CPS is complex, teachers of young children may wish to teach and use single parts of the process separately or to use them in a simplified fashion. Students of any age will need many varied experiences with CPS to master the stages and be able to apply them to varied situations. But the time and trouble required to teach CPS can be worth the effort. With CPS, students have a powerful process for attacking school, social, and personal problems from elementary grades into adulthood. Although early practice activities may focus on fantasy situations or fairy tales, CPS is most potent when used to interact with the real world.

Remember, the following brief overview of the components of CPS is not intended to suggest they should all be used, or that they should be used in order, but to present the tools available.

Exploring the Challenge involves selecting a broad goal, opportunity, or challenge and setting the principal direction for work. It has three sub-components, with names that vary slightly depending on whose version of the process you are using. See the Creative Education Foundation for another popular option.

Explori ng the Challenge

Objective Finding ( also called Constructing Opportunities). In this stage, students identify a problem or opportunity to address. One of my favorite CPS experiences started with a student who discovered, on reading a historical marker, that we were approaching the town’s 250 th anniversary. It was not a “problem” in the sense that there was any difficulty, but it was an opportunity. One of the benefits of teaching CPS is that students can be taught to look for problems and opportunities that will allow them to take action.

Fact Finding (E xploring D a t a) In Fact Finding, students learn as much about the situation as possible. For the 250th anniversary group, the curious students read town history, talked to local officials about planned celebrations (there were none), and spoke to community members about town activities during the 1976 national bicentennial.

Problem Finding (F r amin g P r ob l ems) Problem finding in CPS has a very particular definition, as opposed to the more global use of the same term. In CPS, problem finding is a stage in which problem solvers identify potential sub- problems in their challenge. Problems usually start with IWWMW (“In what ways might we?”). Students should list as many problem statements as possible before choosing the one (or a combination) that best expresses the dilemma they choose to address. The anniversary group’s problem was something like “In what ways might we celebrate the town’s 250th anniversary so that it will be remembered?”

Ge n e r a ting Ideas

In the Generating Ideas stage, problem solvers generate as many varied and unusual ideas as possible for solving the problem. At this stage of the CPS process, many other tools for divergent thinking can be useful. Attribute listing, SCAMPER, morphological synthesis, metaphorical thinking, and others all can be used to increase the number and diversity of solutions put forth. After the group has produced as many ideas as needed, a smaller number of ideas usually is selected to continue the CPS process. The 250th anniversary group suggested numerous ideas for a community celebration: a town festival, articles in the paper, commemorative souvenirs, a new time capsule, and a variety of school projects.

Preparing fo r Action

Solution Finding (De v e l opin g S olut i o ns) In Solution Finding, the short list of ideas is evaluated using criteria determined by the group. The number of criteria and the sophistication of the evaluation will vary with grade level. If students use CPS in real-world contexts, they probably will soon determine that the point totals may not always identify the best idea. Sometimes an idea may rank high but be impossible to carry out. For example, if the 250th anniversary group had an idea that was ranked high on every criterion except “Will the principal let us do it?” the high rankings probably will not be sufficient to make it a viable idea.

In other cases, students may realize that they omitted an important criterion (e.g., money or time available), or that some criteria simply are more important than others. In the actual 250th anniversary group, building a time capsule did not outrank all other ideas, especially those concern- ing community involvement, but the group really wanted to build a time capsule. The enthusiasm of many class members was much greater for that project idea than for any other. They determined that for this project, class interest was particularly important, so they gave it additional weight.

Ideas do not have to be mutually exclusive. The 250th anniversary group demonstrated this diversity. They divided in half, with one half planning to build and bury the time capsule while the other half, who had been studying the stock market, decided to create a business to produce and market commemorative souvenirs. They planned to market company stock to finance their venture and, rather than plan a town celebration, to incorporate sale of their souvenirs into the town’s annual spring festival.

Acceptance Finding (Bu il din g Acceptance)   The final stage of the CPS process asks problem solvers to create a plan of action. They are to determine what needs to be done, decide who will be responsible for each task, and plan reasonable time frame. In addition, those involved in planning attempt to identify in advance what the major stumbling blocks might be. These barriers could be difficult parts of the plan or they could be individuals or groups who oppose the plan. If planners can identify the problem are as in advance and develop strategies for avoiding or minimizing them, their chances of success are increased.

In real-world applications of CPS, Building Acceptance becomes particularly important. The 250th anniversary group needed detailed plans to realize their ideas. This stage of the process, in which they thought about the details of cost, timing, and responsibilities for each project, allowed them to plan ahead, thus avoiding many difficulties later on.

If you’d like to pursue CPS with students, one good place to start is with Prufrock Press .

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Creative Problem Solving for the 21st Century: The Go-To Guide

Kevin Abdulrahman

Motivaitonal Keynote Speaker Public Speaking Coach to CEOS, World Leaders & Presidents

What Exactly Is Creativity?

Why does it matter? What is unique or necessary about creative problem solving today?

Creativity is often equated with artistic ability–music, painting, drawing, design, dance–and by the time we reach adulthood, many of us believe we are “not that creative.”

In reality, though, creativity is a process that can be used for absolutely any field or endeavor: business, education, finance, science, and even in your daily personal life.

In order to navigate the globalized Digital Information Age in all its speed and uncertainty, we need to adopt not only a new view of creativity, but also new problem solving approaches that are leading-edge and innovative rather than based on historical wisdom.

These approaches rely more heavily on tapping the resources of your nonconscious mind and developing your intuition–the latent faculties that we have not been taught how to use by our educational systems and by mainstream societies.

In this Go-To Guide on Creative Problem Solving for the 21st Century, you will learn how the historical conception of creativity has limited the ways in which we go about solving problems today, as well as new, broader definitions of creativity and intelligence that are more appropriate for 21st-century problem solving.

You will also learn the steps of the creative process, how to access your creative genius through your multiple intelligences, altered states and several creative problem-solving techniques for small and large scale problems.

How to Bust Out of the Industrial Model and Release Your Creative Genius

How to Engage the Creative Process: An Introduction

How to Utilize Your Multiple Intelligences

How to Access Altered States and Flow for Creative Breakthroughs

How to Use the Natural Brilliance Model for Paradoxical Problems

How to Use the Wind Tunnel and Other Techniques

How the Natural World Makes You Massively Creative

The Creative Process Revisited: How to Avoid Self-Sabotage

HOW TO BUST OUT OF THE INDUSTRIAL MODEL AND RELEASE YOUR CREATIVE GENIUS

What is creativity, and how did our historical social models influence our view of it? In this chapter you’ll learn how our typical understanding and practical application of creativity was developed within the Industrial Model, and why this is no longer effective for 21st-century creative problem solving.

The Industrial Model

Though we are firmly in the Information or Digital Age, much of our educational models–both in schools and in the broader ways our societies create citizens–remain in the Industrial Paradigm. The Industrial Model developed with the Industrial Revolution, and emphasized efficiency and conformity, not creativity. This model is how we ended up with the 9-5 workday schedule.

Aside from the way societies structured the workday, our school systems focused heavily on math, science and language which were then measured in aptitude tests. School curriculum today is still largely divided into specialist segments, especially in high schools, and also divided by age and standardized testing.

This structure is beneficial for those whose strength is conventional academic work, but not for many who will need to apply their intelligence and creativity in vastly diverse fields and occupations. In fact today, we see more and more the declining value of college degrees.

How we define intelligence largely came from the Enlightenment influences of logic and critical reasoning, which were viewed as superior to feeling and emotion. These values shaped mass education to meet the demands of the Industrial Revolution, which required quick selection and assessment. This is when IQ tests that could measure “real intelligence” emerged.

In 1916, Lewis Terman of Stanford University published the revised Stanford-Binet test, which is the basis for the modern IQ test, and was actually part of the eugenics movement to weed out entire sectors of the population.

Holistic Education

Luckily today, many alternative holistic educational models are slowly emerging around the globe, and many colleges and universities no longer put as much weight on aptitude or entrance exams because they only present a small sliver of human intelligence and creative potential.

And although these new educational models are emerging, the old Industrial mindset remains deep-seated in our collective psyche: the way to get things done is to be efficient, logical and analytical by looking at what history has taught us and then applying that wisdom to present-day situations. This approach is largely left-brain hemisphere oriented.

The primary problem with this approach is that our present day circumstances are vastly different than anything we’ve seen before.

In Future Shock published in the 1970s, Alvin Toffler discussed the massive social and technological changes that would take place in our world. Now that we are fully immersed in these changes, we recognize that no other period in human history matches the scale, speed or global complexity of the changes and challenges we have now.

We can’t know what the future will be like, and, therefore, looking to the past or our history is not the best approach if we want to create something new and revolutionary.

A New View of Intelligence and Creativity

In response to this limited Industrial view of intelligence, many theorists developed alternative and much more comprehensive views of intelligence and creativity. Howard Gardner, for instance, developed the theory of Multiple Intelligences, which we will cover in chapter three of this guide.

Robert Cooper, author of The Other 90% , found that intelligence doesn’t only happen in our brains; it’s in our hearts and guts. Many researchers are now finding that the neurological networks of our enteric nervous system in our intestinal tract and heart are far more sensitive and intelligent than our physical brains. Our hearts and guts sense feeling and emotion before our brains can register it.

Sadly though, many people do not think they are creative, believing that creativity is relegated to the arts and design. They think creativity and intelligence are two unrelated things. With these emerging perspectives such as Gardner’s and Cooper’s, however, the split between creativity and intelligence is slowly healing.

According to Sir Ken Robinson, TED speaker on education and creativity, and an international consultant on education in the arts, creativity is “the process of having original ideas that have value.” Creativity is applied imagination. It can be applied to music, dance, theater, math, science, business, relationships or any area of existence.

Creativity in Collaboration

In his book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything , Robinson explains that creativity also takes place within domains and fields. A domain is the kind of activity or discipline. Examples include acting, music, business, ballet, physics, poetry, teaching, comedy and many more. A field refers to others engaged with it, such as other actors or teachers or scientists.

Robinson also highlights the importance of creative teams, which need to be diverse. In Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration , Warren Bennis and Pat Ward Biederman discuss Great Groups, or collections of people with similar interests who create something greater than any could create individually. There is an alchemy of synergy within these groups. Healthy peer pressure, plus a commitment to excellence drive the creative outcomes of the group. Each individual’s strengths complement the others’.

Robinson also emphasizes the importance of mentors in creativity, as they serve four crucial roles: Recognition, Encouragement, Facilitating and Stretching, or pushing you past your perceived limits.

In the current age, this creative collaboration is essential because creativity, and especially creative problem solving, requires courage. Change can be disconcerting.

Consider those throughout history whose passions were inconsistent with the culture of their time, and may have even required them to break away from their native cultures.

Take Zaha Hadid, for example. Hadid, the first woman ever to win the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, grew up in Baghdad in the 1950s. Baghdad then was more secular and open to Western thought, but still there were no female architect role models there. Hadid moved to London and then America, and was able to develop a revolutionary, risky conceptual style.

Creativity sometimes requires changing environments (whether physically or just in the people you surround yourself with) in order to overcome limitations and maintain your vision in the face of resistance. Each person on the planet possesses a distinct intelligence and creativity, and it is more valuable than ever at this time in history.

HOW TO ENGAGE THE CREATIVE PROCESS: AN INTRODUCTION

Now that you have a clearer view of where models of intelligence and creativity came from, you can choose to adopt a new perspective on your own abilities and potential. In this chapter you’ll learn about the creative process and why the shift out of the left-brain dominant Industrial Model is crucial to creative problem solving in the twenty-first century.

The Creative Process Defined

What is the creative process? This amorphous, dynamic, somewhat unpredictable process has been defined, structured and broken down into various steps by many individuals in an attempt to explain it.

Psychologist and educational philosopher John Dewey likened it to using a wine press in his book Art as Experience . It requires a certain amount of input, resistance, frustration, tension and then a releasing of a flow. It also requires a certain amount of courage to bring it forth.

Novelist Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love f ame defines creative living as a life driven more strongly by curiosity than fear. In her book Big Magic, Gilbert also reminds us to “keep in mind that for most of history people just made things, and they didn’t make such a big freaking deal of it.”

Gilbert’s point is quite valid; creativity and its process is inherent to not only humans, but to the universe itself as it continually brings new life in and out of being.

Ancient Greeks referred to the highest degree of human happiness as eudaimonia , which essentially means “well-daemoned”, or taken care of by an external divine creative force. You may have a sense of this when you’ve found yourself in a flow state, where you can sense it’s not all about you or your doing.

Poetic sentiments aside, however, being creative, creating a new idea, business, or outcome requires focus and courage because true genius often breaks barriers and causes paradigm shifts. In other words, it makes some people really uncomfortable .

So though creating is our human birth right, our ego fear can stop us from bringing it to life.

Yet still, there are steps, intentions and preparations that can be made in order to build a fertile foundation from which creative ideas can emerge. Depending on who you ask, the steps vary, but there are some similarities.

Steps of the Creative Process

Step 1: preparation.

This is an opportunity to define the problem you are trying to solve–whether artistic or more “pragmatic” such as business, science, technology, or any other field, and then doing some research. This step may involve gathering information so that your mind can then begin to get to work on the problem. The research you gather may lead to you redefining the problem more clearly.

Step 2: Incubation

This is the time to let it marinate in your mind. You need to step away from the problem and allow your inner mind to make connections. Your mind will bring together the ideas from your preparation and other information from your life experiences.

Step 3: Illumination

That ah-ha! This is a moment of inspiration, or what some would call revelation when your conscious mind receives the new idea or solution to what you put into your nonconscious mind computer.

Step 4: Evaluation

Here, the answer(s) need to be evaluated before implementing them in the real world. This means consider what other problems the solutions could create. You don’t want to stop at the first answer your mind gives you.

When generating creative solutions, don’t accept the first, second or even third solution generated. Dr. Paul Scheele, a pioneer in Accelerative Learning and Creativity, and co-founder of Learning Strategies Corporation, suggests that you keep going until you come up with at least 11 novel possibilities.

The first three solutions or ideas will make the most sense, but that is because they are coming from “the view of the problem that also makes the most sense.” Scheele emphasizes that “our ideas come from the mental model or problem-solving approach that led us to the unintended consequence we are now trying to resolve.”

Step 5: Implementation

Once you reach your desired solution, it needs to be put into practice to see how it works. It helps to have a view of creativity as being evolutionary rather than an end. Once something is implemented, it will inevitably lead to problems, which means you will always be in the pursuit of improving and pivoting from what you have implemented.

The creative process is largely unpredictable, and you can’t entirely plan for a spontaneous experience. In the following chapters you will learn how to tap into your multiple intelligences and access greater resources through altered states so you can do just that.

HOW TO USE YOUR MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Intelligence is dynamic, and sometimes new ideas come in fully formed without much work. Usually, though, it is a process that begins with an inkling or an inspiration, but involves evaluation as we noted in the last chapter. It also involves a medium or mixed media of some sort.

Sir Ken Robinson notes that creative thinking involves much more than the frontal lobes and left brain hemisphere. Sometimes our body is the medium through music or dance. In this chapter you’ll learn about the Theory of Multiple Intelligences and how to apply this to your own creative problem solving process.

Multiple Intelligences

Based on over thirty years of research and practice, Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences became widely popular after his book Frames of Mind : The Theory of Multiple Intelligences was first published in 1983. Gardner, the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education, developed the theory in response to the typical view of intelligence as being equated to logical/analytical and linguistic thinking, or that people only have an intellectual capacity.

Gardner explains that you can have multiple capacities, and how we use these capacities is unique to each individual. In light of creative problem solving, this theory also helps elucidate how you naturally receive and process information. It is helpful to be aware of these different “intelligences” so you can tune into spontaneous perceptions you receive. These intelligences tap into emotions and other subtle senses.

While the original theory included eight intelligences, over the years, Gardner has proposed some additional intelligences such as existential intelligence. Here we have listed these nine intelligences.

As you’ll see, the first two intelligences listed are the typical aspects of “intelligence” that were valued in the Industrial Model. Note that these are not either/or intelligences. We all possess every single one, but we typically have some that we are more adept at or naturally engage on a regular basis, no matter what we are doing.

Here are brief summaries of the Intelligences:

People strong in this intelligence are great with words and language. This means you can be great at remembering written and spoken words, you may be a good speller, and you enjoy reading or writing, explaining things or giving speeches.

Logical-Mathematical

These individuals are great with numbers, mathematics, recognizing patterns, abstract and scientific ideas, and like to solve problems.

This intelligence can incorporate a passion, skill and/or understanding of rhythm and musical tones. It means you can think in patterns, rhythms and sounds. It does not mean that you have to be a musician or singer, but perhaps that you greatly appreciate music because you have an embodied understanding of the components that make up music.

Bodily-Kinesthetic

People with this intelligence are adept at moving their bodies, using their hands, have good physical coordination and typically learn and remember things through doing or action. You do not have to be a dancer or athlete. If you cook, are an actor, create art or build an engine with your hands, you are using bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.

Interpersonal

This intelligence is the mark of those who are good with people. If you are a good listener, you are able to empathize with others, and can assess the needs and drives of people around you, you are using interpersonal intelligence.

Intrapersonal

Much like interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal describes the ability to be attuned to emotions, drives and motives, but this time within oneself. Strong intrapersonal intelligence involves the ability to observe and reflect on one’s thoughts and emotions. Simply, this intelligence involves the ability to be very self-aware.

Visual-Spatial

This intelligence is used by anyone who uses maps, pictures, videos, charts or blueprints. Architects and taxi drivers both use visual-spatial intelligence in different ways.

Anyone who has an affinity for the outdoors or understanding the natural world possesses this intelligence. If you are good at categorizing and organizing things based on types, interested in biology or other natural sciences or enjoy camping, you are exercising your naturalist intelligence.

Existential

This intelligence is not one of the original eight, but Gardner suggested it could include the ability to think about big questions such as spirituality, one’s place in the universe or the meaning of life.

Using Your Intelligences for Creative Breakthroughs

Again, these intelligences do not put you into a box as having a “type.” You use many of these intelligences in many different kinds of tasks. If you know you are a visual learner, however, you know that you likely tend to exercise your visual-spatial intelligence.

These intelligences also relate to the creative process and the ways in which your nonconscious mind may feed you new insights or flashes of inspiration.

For instance, music may trigger your creativity if you tend toward musical intelligence, or you may receive inspiration as images in your mind’s eye if you are more visual-spatial. Your bodily-kinesthetic intelligence could deliver to you a bodily-sense of knowing or gut feeling about an idea. Pay attention to what your intelligences are, how you tend to use them in different ways and how your nonconscious mind could subtly deliver you new information.

As you’ve learned about the creative process in the last chapter of this guide, creativity is dynamic and sometimes elusive. It involves a certain degree of spontaneity and illumination on its own terms. You can’t plan for a spontaneous experience, but you can want or intend it, expect it, get out of the way and let it happen.

In the following chapter, you’ll learn about the neuroscience of altered states which allow you to access greater perspective and resources. In other words, you’ll learn how to attune yourself to receive creative problem solving inspiration from a higher order of thinking.

ALTERED STATES AND FLOW

In the previous chapter you explored some views of creativity as it unfolds in work, human behavior and the natural world. In this chapter we’ll delve into the neuroscience of creative breakthroughs, and a skill you will need to navigate the speed of the 21st century and beyond: how to move in and out of altered states.

An Overview of Non-Ordinary States

In 2013, the RedBull Hacking Creativity Projec t–the largest meta-analysis of creativity research ever conducted–reviewed more than 30,000 research papers, hundreds of subject matter experts, breakdancers, poets, rock stars and more, only to find that creativity is essential to problem solving, and that in general, we have little training for it.

Creative problem solving requires the ability to find solutions by holding conflicting perspectives and using friction to synthesize a new idea. As Dr. Paul Scheele notes, it requires giving up a singular point of view, and either/or logic. And as it turns out, the best way to access this new, expanded point of view is through non-ordinary states of consciousness. 

Non-ordinary states of consciousness encompass a wide variety of experiences that typically fall into two categories: the peak or mystical variety, and those that are slightly more “ordinary” and can be cultivated through practice. The line between the two, however, is not well defined.

For instance, non-ordinary peak experiences such as Near Death Experiences (NDEs), Out of Body Experiences, mystical or religious revelations, illuminations, or experiences on psychedelics are not everyday occurrences, and many of us will not experience an NDE or Out of Body experience. Then there are the slightly more ordinary , non-ordinary states, which are usually known as flow states, meditative states, or those accessed through mindbody practices such as yoga, or the awe of being in nature.

The second category we can move in and out of with ease and some training. Cultivating the skill of being able to move in and out of these states at will is a necessary skill for accessing creative breakthroughs. This skill can be cultivated by recognizing when you’re in your regular waking beta brainwave state versus alpha, theta or another.

A Primer on Brainwave States

According to Jamie Wheal and Steven Kotler of the Flow Genome Project, “we’ve been trying to train for a skill set, but what we really need is to train for the skill of accessing altered states.” 

In order to access greater creativity, it helps to understand the brainwave states associated with different levels of resources within you. When you can become attuned to what these states feel like, and how to enter them at will, you can harness massive amounts of information that are normally unavailable to you in your regular waking state.

The ways of the Western world are often based on more productivity, more output, more hustle–the legacy of the Industrial Model. Yet these ways of being severely limit human potential and expression.

In a moment, you’ll see a chart that is based on the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza in his book Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself . The left side of the chart displays the brainwave frequency, the developmental stage in life where this is the dominant state, and brief notes about what this state means. The right side of the chart demonstrates the resources available within these states when we access them as adults.

Developmental Stages of Mind

As we develop from infancy into adulthood, we move through stages in which we experience a dominant brainwave state . For instance, infants (age zero to two) spend most of their time in a delta state, which is why they’re asleep much of the time. Human adults mostly experience delta waves only during sleep. In this state there is little mental editing, critical thinking, or judgment taking place.

As children grow, they enter into a theta state where they are essentially in a trance. This is how small children learn so quickly, and are also so imaginative. For adults, this is a place of intuition and even where deep healing takes place. If you have ever been under hypnosis, this is likely where you were. Your nonconscious mind is highly impressionable in this state.

Alpha states are well known thanks to the mindfulness movement. In school age children, the analytical mind begins to develop, yet they retain an awareness of both their inner and outer worlds. For adults, we may recognize alpha as a place of relaxed alertness in meditation or while gazing at a relaxing natural scene.

Beta states begin to become dominant in children from age eight to twelve and into adulthood. This is our regular waking state as adults where we engage in logical thinking, problem solving and being mostly focused on the environment in front of us. Beta is necessary for successful functioning as an adult.

When we move into the mid to higher ranges of beta frequencies, however, we are likely very stressed, anxious or have experienced some kind of traumatic event. In these ranges, it means your mindbody system is chaotic, where you begin releasing survival chemicals, and may be over-concentrating on a subject–which means you can’t open yourself to other possibilities. Essentially your stressed system has produced tunnel vision in you.

Then there are gamma states or the highest frequency waves we can measure so far, which have been demonstrated in Buddhist monks during meditation. This is the state of peak experiences.

Altered States and Creativity Boosts

As you saw in the chart above, research on Tibetan Buddhist monks in the 1990s revealed a preponderance of gamma brainwaves. We now know that these brainwave patterns arise during “binding” when novel ideas come together for the first time and create new neural pathways.

In order to have this kind of experience, your prefrontal cortex, or the seat of your executive functioning, needs to come offline. In Stealing Fire, Wheal and Kotler highlight that researchers at the University of Sydney used transcranial magnetic stimulation to do this, and created 20 to 40-minute flow states.

Psychedelic testing has also revealed as much as a 200 percent creativity boost in some individuals. The authors of the study note the real world solutions that emerged during an experiment included “design of a linear electron accelerator beam-steering device, a mathematical theorem regarding NOR-gate circuits, a new design for a vibratory microtome, a space probe designed to measure solar properties, and a new conceptual model of a photon.”

Whether it be mindfulness training, psychedelics or technological stimulation, researchers have seen a 200 percent boost in creativity, 490 percent boost in learning, and a 500 percent boost in productivity. ( Stealing Fire p . 50)

So in case you were wondering, do short-term peak experiences help us to solve real-world problems? YES.

If you are to harness altered states to increase your creativity and productivity, how else do you recognize them when they occur? The Flow Genome Project’s phenomenological description of these states as S.T.E.R.–Selflessness, Timelessness, Effortlessness and Richness–may be helpful.

Selflessness

This experience means you feel at first less , as if something is missing in you. You experience your nagging inner voice, but then the neurotic prefrontal cortex goes offline. Transient hypofrontality kicks in and your inner critic goes quiet.

Developmental psychologist Robert Kegan describes this as a subject-object shift. In his book In Over Our Head s : The Mental Demands of Modern Life , Kegan explains this shift:

“You start. . . constructing a world that is much more friendly to contradiction, to oppositeness, to being able to hold onto multiple systems of thinking. . . This means that the self is more about movement through different forms of consciousness than about defining and identifying with any one form.” In other words, you step outside of yourself and it gives you perspective.

Timelessness

Transient hypofrontality also shuts off your ability to calculate time. Here, you can’t separate past from future, and the only thing that matters is now. This is presence or mindful awareness. Your amygdala, the seat of your fight or flight response calms down here too.

In a study in Psychological Science , Jennifer Aaker and Melanie Rudd found “an experience of timelessness is so powerful it shapes behavior. In a series of experiments, subjects who tasted even a brief moment of timelessness ‘felt they had more time available, were less impatient, more willing to volunteer to help others, more strongly preferred experiences over mental products, and experienced a greater boost in life satisfaction.’”

Can you imagine then, what a brief taste of timelessness can do for your ability to solve complex problems? When you can drop that urgency for a moment to feel into the feeling of an abundance of time and resources ? The past and future fade away. You no longer try to predict what the near future will look like based on historical evidence. See chapter five of this guide where Dr. Paul Scheele’s Natural Brilliance model will delve into a process for generating creative solutions.

Effortlessness

Effortlessness can propel you past the limits of your normal motivation. When you experience flow while undertaking a task or situation, afterward you know that you did it, it felt amazing, and you want to do it again. The six powerful neurotransmitters involved in flow states can be to blame: norepinephrine, dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, anandamide, and oxytocin–all pleasurable chemicals.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi’s research into flow found that his subjects frequently called the state ‘addictive,’ and admitted to going to exceptional lengths to engage in flow states more often. Czikzenmihalyi explains in his book Flow that the experience “lifts the course of life to another level. . . alienation gives way to involvement, enjoyment replaces boredom, helplessness turns into a feeling of control. . .” The intrinsic reward of feeling flow means you no longer need reminders, to-do lists or an accountability buddy or coach to make sure you do what we need to do.

Your experience becomes vivid, detailed and revealing. Jason Silva is a futurist and host of National Geographic documentaries Brain Games and Origins . In his first YouTube video “You Are a Receiver, ” Silva explains, “It’s creative inspiration or divine madness or that kind of connection to something larger than ourselves that makes us feel like we understand the intelligence that runs throughout the universe.”

The Greeks called this richness anamnesis, or the forgetting of the forgetting. This sense of remembering is that of ecstatic experiences. When your agitated beta waves move into alpha daydreaming or relaxed alertness via the shutting down of your prefrontal cortex, and your anandamide boosts your ‘lateral thinking’, you now have the ability to make connections between seemingly disparate ideas.

Then quasi-hypnotic theta waves enhance relaxation and intuition. Your conscious processing–or what you can pick up through your daily awake beta brainwave state–can only take in about 120 bits of information at once. Listening to another person speak can take almost 60 bits.

That means if two people are talking, you’ve maxed out your attention and cannot take it all in. If you can remember that unconscious processing can handle billions of bits at once, that’s a game changer. The information we need is always there. We just can’t tap into it in our normal state.

So as you’ve seen from the detailed explanation of brainwave frequencies, flow and altered states we presented in this chapter, understanding these different states intellectually, and actually having an embodied experience of them so that you can create set points, helps you reach into the realms of creative problem solving breakthroughs by using your mind to access expanded perspectives and connect seemingly disparate ideas to create innovative solutions.

According to Dr. Win Wenger, a pioneer in Accelerative Learning, Creativity, Brain and Mind Development, your nonconscious mind processes bits of information at 10 million to one of what your conscious mind processes. This equates to you consciously perceiving about 40 bits per second.

An easy way to recognize how much you are letting in is by paying attention to your eyes. If you are hard focusing your eyes, you are in your conscious mind. If you have a softer gaze, you are allowing in information from the periphery, and you are accessing your nonconscious mind.

In this guide, we are not just looking for creative solutions; we are looking for creative solutions for the 21st century going forward . This means that we need to be cautious of the influence of the Industrial Model on our habits of looking for solutions through left-brain analysis alone. Using altered states on a regular basis is a way to move beyond the left brain.

As you will see in the next chapter on the Natural Brilliance model, Dr. Paul Scheele notes that our problems are defined within our mental and social models. So, in order to effectively create solutions, we need to shift our paradigm in the way we approach the problem.

Paradigm shifts mean that we shift our consciousness to what developmental psychologists would call a higher order of thinking, or the expansive perspective of altered states. In the following chapter, you’ll dive into Scheele’s step-by-step Natural Brilliance model.

HOW TO USE THE NATURAL BRILLIANCE MODEL FOR PARADOXICAL PROBLEMS

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few. We must have a beginner’s mind, free from possessing anything, a mind that knows everything is in flowing change. Nothing exists but momentarily in its present form…” – Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Master

As we’ve discussed in previous chapters of this guide, our modern globalized world is complex, ever-changing, and will require greater creative problem solving capabilities than perhaps any other time in our human history.

Now that you have an understanding of the neuroscience behind brainwave states, as well as the importance of utilizing altered states in creative problem solving, we’ll now introduce you to a specific, highly effective problem solving technique for addressing paradoxical problems: The Natural Brilliance model.

Flipping the Old Problem-Solving Paradigm

The Natural Brilliance model is a creative problem solving process originally created for Honeywell by Paul Scheele, PhD, a pioneer in Accelerative Learning and Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Scheele notes that people typically spend 20 percent of the time and effort of defining a problem and finding a solution, and then 80 percent on the implementation of it, which often leads to more problems. Scheele suggests that we need to spend 80 percent of the time and effort on finding solutions—meaning don’t just find one or two solutions. It means finding more– up to 7, 9, 11 different solutions.

The reason for coming up with a higher number of solutions is that the ones that come first are usually the easy answers that are emerging from the level of thinking that created the problem.

This means that when we come up with solutions, we need to challenge them right away. Consider, what could go wrong? What will result from solving this aspect of a problem? When 80 percent of the effort is spent on the solution finding, only 20 percent need be spent on implementation, which will typically go far more smoothly than the 20/80 percent approach.

Creative Leadership

“Our current problems are the unintended consequences of our prevailing problem-solving approach.” – Dr. Paul Scheele

In an interview on Creativity in Business, Scheele noted that the ability to embrace paradox and be comfortable with ambiguity is crucial to creativity within organizations. The paradox refers to the fact that whatever solution you implement can create more problems, so there is no lasting solution.

We need to think of creativity as evolutionary. It involves solving, creating, implementing the solution, receiving feedback from the implementation and then further refining the approach to the problem. You will see this approach in action in the steps of the Natural Brilliance model below.

Scheele also shares that our mental models are based on social systems, which means we are wearing blinders to what those models are, so we end up creating more of the same without realizing how or why. Creative leadership, then, must include the capacity to make these models visible so that they can be changed.

About the Natural Brilliance Model

According to Scheele in his book Natural Brilliance , the Natural Brilliance model uses Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) to deconstruct rigid definitions of a static “problem” and instead move to a fluid exploration of internal representations and options.

This deconstruction makes the mental models visible so that they can be changed, and, therefore, allows for a cohesive whole that incorporates all desired benefits to remain. It removes the either/or dichotomy that our minds typically resort to–which is the paradox. It requires a shift to a higher order of consciousness. Or, like, Albert Einstein has been quoted as saying, “we cannot solve our problems on the same level of thinking that created them.”

This model can be used for complex (or paradoxical) problems that a group is working on together in business, or it can be used to address personal problems within one’s own life. No matter the problem being addressed, it helps individuals to work through stuck states: those situations where it seems you have an inability to learn or make progress in an area.

It addresses the physical, mental and emotional push and pull, or what Scheele calls Oscillation between options, or knowing what would be best to do and then failing to take action in order to change the situation. This oscillation results in stagnation, where people think change is too difficult.

For most people, you are afraid to change because you risk losing the present positives that you want to keep. On the other hand, the future also has some negatives that will inevitably arise from the change you are implementing.

Stuck States and using NLP to reframe

This series of questions can be used for any stuck state, which is whatever you seem unable to accomplish in life, and can help you to get clarity on what you do want versus what you do not want. When you find yourself in oscillation and unable to take action, ask yourself:

• What is the difference between the present state and desired outcome? In what area of life (or business or whatever the context in which you are seeking new solutions) is there oscillation? In personal life, this could be in your work, creating, self-expression, learning or intellectual abilities, physical body or wellness, social, interpersonal or community problems, or family/relationships.
• What personal identity do you maintain in relationship to this issue? How do you view yourself? What do you affirm about this issue? And what do you believe to be true for you?
• What is the predominant emotion?
• What is your unresolvable paradox? In other words, what opposing outcomes do you want at the same time?
• What are the benefits and detriments inside your stuck state?
• What fears are associated with your stuck state?

The answers to these questions will help you to understand your current frame of reference surrounding your problem so you can shift it.

Step 1: Release

The first step, Release, drains stress out of the physical systems. Relax your body and mind into an alpha state.

Releasing can be as easy as changing your posture, eye focus, breathing, and thoughts to produce a calming effect.

You are familiar with this concept if you’ve read chapter four of this guide. Tension and resistance characterize a person trying to change the present situation. Often, the person strains to avoid making the situation worse. You’re trying to force an outcome. Scheele notes that, paradoxically, almost everything people instinctively do to remedy a bad situation makes it worse. The best solution may also be counterintuitive.

Tension and stress causes us to narrowly focus our attention. Think back to our brainwave chart in chapter four. In this narrowed attention, you’re too focused on the details and miss the big picture. Scheele states that “breakthrough happens when we make the connection that our attempts to keep everything in control are antithetical to relaxing enough to be in control.”

By relaxing, you allow your sensory system to take in subtle changes within and around you. This is how you can be more open to intuitive nudges and resources from your nonconscious mind. This leads us to the next step, Notice.

Step 2: Notice

The Notice step could also be thought of as mindfulness or presence. It involves entering into increased awareness both of external sensory input and internal sensations such as intuition and impressions upon your inner mind.   You get rid of your tunnel vision of a problem.

Scheele notes that when you attend to the input in your sensory systems, you will naturally generate creative options and promising responses. The reason for this is because your inner mind makes connections and associations much faster than your conscious mind. You’re giving your mind direction and then it can get to work on deep levels.

This awareness includes using your five physical senses to pay attention to the external environment, as well as your corresponding internal senses. Internal perceptions include inner pictures, imaginings, memories, emotional feelings, remembered tactile sensations, internal dialogue, voices and other sounds, even remembered smells and tastes. Remember your multiple intelligences here.

Relaxed alertness and a broader perception of   information helps you to now choose new responses from a rich set of options. You stop the oscillation.

Step 3: Respond

This step means to take action which will then provide feedback. Until you take some kind of action and receive feedback, you cannot know what steps to take next, if your approach is on the right track, or if you need to rethink your actions or plan all together.

Any response either increases the oscillation and the inability to move, or it dampens the oscillation and increases movement toward a satisfying outcome. For instance, falling down simply provides feedback on how to walk better next time.

Once your brain recognizes that your actions (or not doing any actions) makes your situation better or worse, you have the beginnings of change and the first step in gaining control of the outcomes you want to produce.

When you feel you can cause your life to get better, you build your self-confidence and self-esteem. Measure your progress after taking action, and be kind to yourself. There is no failure; only feedback and progress.

Step 4: Witness

This step allows you to create the successful outcome you are after. Just as in Step 3 you learned to remain neutral and relaxed, it is still important to maintain a nonjudgmental stance, or what Scheele calls emotional safety and blessing. Witnessing means you are simply observing. Feedback is learning; failure or success is not the point. Scheele suggests giving your new behaviors at least 50 trials.

Again, the Natural Brilliance process is:

This process may seem very simple–because it is! The key is to remember to utilize it in tense situations, especially when there is an urgency to find a creative solution. Slowing down in times of stress seems counterintuitive, but it is exactly what you need in order to find the best solutions.

THE WIND TUNNEL AND OTHER CREATIVE TECHNIQUES

In the last chapter you learned Paul Scheele’s Natural Brilliance model for creating solutions for paradoxical problems. One of the keys to Scheele’s model is being open to many options, and not stopping at the first few ideas that you receive because those are likely too close to the level of thinking that created the problem. You need to go deeper and access more resources–just as you learned in the previous chapters on multiple intelligences and altered states.

In this chapter you’ll learn some specific techniques to increase your creative idea generation, as well as tips to exercise your mind for creative thinking on a regular basis, even if you are not currently working on a problem.

Image Streaming

The Wind Tunnel Technique was created by Win Wenger, PhD, pioneer in Accelerative Learning, Creativity, Brain and Mind Development and Political Economy, and one of the authors of The Einstein Factor.

One of Wenger’s key contributions to the field of creativity is his research on Image Streaming to reach the resources beyond your conscious mind.

According to Wenger, 80 to 90 percent of information your brain processes happens through sensory image association, while only two percent happens through word association. So this means talking about a problem in a logical, left brain manner is limited. You need to access the right brain, which communicates in images, metaphors and feelings. Image Streaming should be used to describe in sensory-textured detail as possible.

If you recall the brainwave chart earlier in this guide, when you are receiving spontaneous images in your mind, you are automatically working at a theta brainwave level, which is accessing far greater resources than your conscious mind can capture.

Within this foundational framework of Image Streaming, Wenger developed a “torrential approach” with an outpouring of perceptions from the mind: the Wind Tunnel.

The Wind Tunnel

In this brainstorming exercise, you work with a partner to capture whatever creative ideas flow from your nonconscious mind, without allowing for the judgments or analysis of your conscious mind to slow you down.

• You start with a minimum of 11 minutes, but the longer the time, the better.
• Perhaps after preparing by reading some texts on a subject, or reviewing other information about a topic or field, you would then proceed to talk without stopping. As Paul Scheele mentioned about his Natural Brilliance approach, the main problem in solving problems is getting past the conscious expectation of what the answer ought to be.
• In order to get past what you already know and access new perceptions, your partner who is recording your ideas should be focused on encouraging you to speak faster.
• The recording partner should only write down three to four of the most important or interesting ideas that you as the speaker mention and ignore the rest.
• The idea of this process is to speak first and think later, and be willing to be wrong or silly. Wenger notes that if your idea would elicit a burst of laughter from another person, it is probably a good idea in disguise.
• The recording partner will then take four minutes to share his or her notes on the most interesting things the speaker said.
• If relevant, you could then switch with your partner and allow the recorder to become the speaker about a topic he or she has just studied or reviewed.

The process may seem similar to doing free writing or any process where you let words flow without stopping to analyze them, but the addition of a partner could lead to recognizing significant ideas from you that you would not highlight as significant or useful.

The Crab Apple Process

Another creative brainstorming approach from Wenger is the Crab Apple Process.

• In this simple process, you allow your attention to be drawn to something in your surroundings. It could be as simple as a crab apple.
• Begin to describe aspects of the object of your attention, and then begin to relate aspects of the object to the topic of discussion. Remember, the more sensory, textured detail you can include, the better.
• Like the Wind Tunnel technique, the longer amount of time you go for in doing this, the better the ideas will flow.

Accessing Creativity Through Another Pathway

Prolific author Jean Houston, one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement, as well as founder of The Mind Research Institute often discusses her practice of accessing creativity through other paths. For instance, if Houston is working on writing and having trouble finding her flow of ideas, she will go cook and allow the ideas to come as they are ready.

You could try anything: cooking, painting, playing music, but the key is not to just use any activity. Houston notes that cooking is her other pathway because she is skilled and confident in it. So choose an activity where you are competent and confident in your abilities, and it does not demand much of you. In other words, it doesn’t feel like hard work that causes you to feel tension. This process will not only free up your nonconscious mind to offer up solutions to your creative problem, but may also allow you to access a burst of energy to create.

Draw Your Solutions

Like Wenger noted, your brain uses sensory-image association to process the incoming stream of information in your world. Like his Image Streaming techniques, using your right brain to bypass the left brain logical mind can help you generate novel solutions. This can include activities such as drawing (you don’t have to be a good artist). The point is not to really think about what you are drawing.

Just put your hand to paper and see what comes out. Think about how art therapy works, especially for children. By drawing or painting, they are able to express unconscious emotions. Similarly, you drawing can allow you to unleash some of the genius lurking in your nonconscious mind.

As Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week , often mentions, daily routines can set you up for success, but you also need to learn how to break them.

Consider these questions:

• Do you open yourself to novelty in your life?
• Do you take different routes home from work?
• Do you make yourself available to new people, places and ideas?
• Do you go against your habits to explore that which is different from your reality?

Simply becoming more deliberately curious and open minded about the world can help you to take in more varied, diverse sensory information, which later allow you to make novel connections between seemingly unrelated ideas–often the mark of genius.

HOW THE NATURAL WORLD MAKES YOU MASSIVELY CREATIVE

It’s well known that many famous artists, inventors and thinkers throughout history spent time in nature–especially walking–to enhance their work. Nikola Tesla, John Muir, Albert Einstein, Ludwig Van Beethoven and many more often credit their time in nature for creative breakthroughs.

In our modern world, we have plenty of emerging data to explain why nature helps us be more creative, and especially why this is so important in the Digital Age.

How Our Brains Evolved in Nature

Our brains evolved outside where we could be filled with interesting things, but not an overwhelming amount of interesting things. Our ancestors could notice passing distractions, but also had the ability to focus and remain disciplined so they could master skills, build tools, have families, and hunt. Evolution favored early humans who could stay on task and switch tasks when needed. Our prefrontal cortex evolved to allow us to do this.

Our ancestors were curious and also wanted to explore. The ones who could survive in dynamic, unfamiliar environments could respond more quickly. Just as in today’s complex, ever-changing world, those of us who can be creative enough to switch tasks and devise novel solutions will be far more likely to thrive.

In the modern world we consume 74 gigabytes of data every day, according to McGill University neuroscientist Daniel Levitin. Teens today spend vastly more waking hours on screens than outdoors, which means that the Digital Age is profoundly narrowing our horizons and our creativity.

How Nature Expands Our Creative Minds

Nature gets us into flow states, especially after a few days of being outdoors. David Strayer of the University of Utah’s Applied Cognition Lab notes that nature helps us think, solve problems and work together, primarily by lowering stress and anxiety.

Stephen and Rachel Kaplan at the University of Michigan developed Attention Restoration Theory (ART) which explains how nature scenes evoke “soft fascination” and help us rest our top-down, direct-attention faculties, helping us relax so we can think better. You rest the executive branch of your brain after a couple of days in the wilderness.

After three days of being in nature, you’re more relaxed and begin noticing details. Once the novelty effect of the first few days wears off, your attention is no longer grabbed so you move into intuition. This is where the creative inspiration starts bubbling up. From a neuroscientific perspective, this means nature effortlessly puts you in the calm-alert zone of the alpha state.

The overall take away from these experts is that when the brain rests from daily tasks, it can make room for other things.

Luckily, we also have tools such as The Nature Pyramid developed by Tim Beatley who runs the Biophilic Cities Project at the University of Virginia. Beatley has broken down more exact amounts of time spent in nature and how it affects our wellbeing and creativity.

The Nature Pyramid

The first step in expanding your creativity and wellbeing, is in scheduling daily interactions with nearby nature to help you de-stress, find focus and recover from mental fatigue. Remember our brainwave chart? Too much time in a high beta brainwave state is not good for your mind or body, and severely limits your perception of the world.

Birds, trees in your neighborhood, pets, house plants, public and private architecture, daylight, fresh air, the ability to see blue sky and naturalistic landscaping are fall under the daily nature schedule.

The second step is weekly outings to parks, waterways, and specifically places where the sounds of a city diminish. The minimum optimal time spent here is one hour per week. Think big city parks, regional or national parks that you can easily access.

The third step is monthly excursions to forests, “restful, escapist natural areas” one weekend per month. This level of nature immersion benefits our immune systems too.

The fourth level of the pyramid encompasses the “rare, but essential” doses of wilderness yearly or biyearly. These kinds of trips are intense, multi-day bursts of nature. They can often be life-changing, or paradigm-shifting, and “fill us with awe and reassurance of our place in the universe,” according to Florence Williams in her book The Nature Fix .

In fact, consider how American President Teddy Roosevelt, arguably one of the “most hyperproductive presidents of all time” according to Williams, escaped to open country for months at a time.

Awe and Creativity

Aside from the spiritual or existential benefits of this kind of wilderness trip, if you’ll recall the role of awe in altered states and the ah-ha breakthroughs it can create, you will understand why time in nature can be incredibly powerful in generating creative solutions.

An awe-inspiring experience means that we have difficulty making sense of it. These are the transcendent experiences described by philosophers, poets, and mystics. These experiences are not just transitory moments of wonder, however. Awe can change your perspective even for a long time afterward.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS REVISITED: HOW TO AVOID SELF SABOTAGE

Throughout this guide, we’ve looked at the creative process as a way to solve a discrete problem. The creative process can also be understood in a broader scope as well. Afterall, our human-directed creative process is a microcosm of the universal creative process.

A Lifespan Approach to the Creative Process

Novelist and poet Orna Ross takes a lifespan approach in describing creativity in the context of stages of psychological development that we all move in and out of. Ross’s process is particularly helpful in understanding problems of procrastination, overwhelm and self-sabotage .

These seven stages are intention, incubation, investigation, composition, clarification, correction and completion. They do not operate in a linear way. Instead they are spontaneous and free-flowing, and can sometimes feel chaotic or overwhelming.

This is not a simplistic model imposed on human behaviour but a primal, unfolding process that happens over and over again, in humans and in nature. We can see this creative unfolding reflected in the seven stages of life, and also in the seven psychological states, as follows.

STAGE 1: INTENTION (Aspiring) First Law of Creation: Birth Life Stage: Infancy: Impulse

STAGE 2: INCUBATION (Germinating) Second Law of Creation: Enchantment Life Stage: Childhood: Magic

STAGE 3: INVESTIGATION (Exploring) Third Law of Creation: Revolution Life Stage: Adolescence: Experiment

STAGE 4: COMPOSITION (Devising) Fourth Law of Creation: Involution Life Stage: Adulthood: Logic

STAGE 5: CLARIFICATION (Deepening) Fifth Law of Creation: Selfhood Life Stage: Early Midlife: Appraisal

STAGE 6: CORRECTION (Revis[ion]ing) Sixth Law of Creation: Evolution Life Stage: Late Midlife: Adaptation

STAGE 7: COMPLETION (Finishing and Letting Go) Seventh Law of Creation: Transformation Life Stage: Aging: Release

Ross compares the example of doing something that comes easy to us, such as making a  family dinner, painting a room, or writing an article, where we zip through the stages without noticing them, to doing something that stretches us: conference catering for 300, making a million dollars, writing a novel, which require a more nuanced understanding of the differing behaviours and requirements of each stage.

Ross notes that “a common reason why people fail to accomplish their heart’s desire is because they are indulging thoughts and behaviours that are inappropriate to the stage they are in.”

For instance, if you tend to edit (stage 6) your ideas and insights before they are fully formed (stage 2), you are impeding the natural process.

This perspective demonstrates that creativity is both a science and an art with clear steps that can be followed, but also requires a letting go and allowing. Creativity takes courage whether you are solving a problem at work, or creating your own life. It can be a messy endeavor, but nonetheless, this powerful process is unavoidable in all existence.

So that’s Creative Problem Solving for the 21st Century: The Go-To Guide.

Creativity is largely about bringing seemingly disparate ideas together in new ways, and applying it to a real-world situation. It doesn’t mean you have to invent something new, because the truth is nothing is ever truly new. Everything is built upon the ideas and experiences of others.

Never doubt your creativity. No one else has your unique combination of education and life experience. No one wears the same lenses as you to view the world. Remember, if your idea is silly or laughable, it’s probably a genius idea in disguise.

Now we want to turn it over to you: what did you think about this guide?

Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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What is Creative Problem-Solving?

Before we define Creative Problem-Solving or (CPS) for short, let’s answer the question: what is creativity ?

In my forty-five-plus years as a university professor teaching the creative process at the Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State University, an author of seven books on the creative process, and as a business innovation consultant, when I tell people what I do, the immediate response is “I am not creative.” Only people in the visual arts and musicians are creative people.”

That is just not true.

Creativity is complex and there are many definitions of it.

One of my favorite definitions of creativity is by Dr. Morris I. Stein.

Creativity: The production of something that is novel and useful.

That’s it. It’s that simple.

If that definition doesn’t do it for you. Then try these on for size.

Creativity is a student connecting what matters in his life to a career he can pursue with passion., creativity is making an already tight budget go even further., creativity is preparing a delicious meal from leftovers in the refrigerator., creativity is finding a better way to feed the homeless people in your city., creativity is making bedtime fun to get kiddos to sleep., creativity is finding a new way to tell someone that you love them., have you done any of those things of course, you have..

That’s what creativity really is.

You are one of many creative individuals in the world. And, there is no such thing as one creative personality. We are all creative and we all create in different and valuable ways.

However, creativity requires a creative mindset in order to develop creative solutions.

You can learn to become deliberately creative.

Learn to create innovative solutions at will

I have spent my professional life teaching a process called Creative Problem-Solving or CPS, for short. CPS provides a simple, repeatable process for defining problems, generating solutions, and then developing action steps for moving forward. All of this is targeted and focused on results.

The Origin of Creative Problem-Solving

Creative Problem-Solving (CPS) was originated by Alex Osborn for creatively approaching problems that he encountered as a partner in his advertising agency, BBDO. Osborn actually invented brainstorming in the late 1940s and, in collaboration with creativity scholar Sidney J. Parnes, continued to develop and refine the Creative Problem-Solving process. Here is the latest version of Creative Problem-Solving. It is called 21st Century Creative Problem-Solving. Think of this process as a recipe for deliberate creativity and innovation.

The beautiful thing about Creative Problem-Solving is that you don’t have to worry about how you are going to solve a tough problem. That’s already been worked out for you. The CPS process has been validated by over 70 years of research and practical application. The process is repeatable, deliberate, and shows you exactly how to approach a problem that might appear impossible to solve. And CPS can be applied to almost any tough problem that confronts us.

21st Century Creative Problem-Solving

Step 1: clarify the problem.

• Identify: Define a goal, wish, or challenge.
• Gather Data: Compile all that you know about your goal/wish/challenge, to look at the whole picture
• Redefine: Next, generate creative questions to redefine the problem.
• Choose: Select which creative question(s) best defines your problems.

Step 2: Generate Ideas

• Brainstorm many ideas  for solving the problem selected.
• Choose the best ideas to refine and develop.

Step 3: Develop Solutions

• Push the best ideas further,  to imagine how they can become solutions. 
• Evaluate the potential solutions for strengths, potential implications and weaknesses.  This stage polishes out the rough spots! 

Step 4: Plan for Action

• Brainstorm all the possible actions to kick off your solution(s).
• Choose the best actions  to implement your solution. 

The Essence of Creative Problem-Solving

Three types of thinking make the Creative Problem-Solving process work.

Divergent Thinking

Have an open mind and explore lots of possibilities. Generate ideas that are novel, new, ridiculous, foolish-sounding, weird, goofy, exciting. In the world of Creative Problem-Solving, picture a brainstorming group that is generating many ideas for solving a problem. Or, this could be you making a list of all of the vacation places you would like to visit in your lifetime, no matter what the cost.

Combinent Thinking

Combine ideas across areas of knowledge. Connect ideas that seem to be unrelated to the problem you are working on to generate novel ideas. This type of thinking is the essence of creativity. It is connecting things that are not usually connected to create a new idea. For example, the inspiration for the first Nike Shoe, the Nike Waffle Trainer was, yes you guessed it, a waffle iron. The inspiration for the pacemaker was a flashing traffic signal. You can learn to deliberately do combinent thinking.

Convergent Thinking

 So first, diverge. Next, combine. Then, converge.

Creative Problem-Solving can be used for solving problems in any aspect of life.

Why is creativity important?

Students who have taken my classes have applied the Creative Problem-Solving process to start new businesses; begin a new career; create a life they never dreamed possible; improve their relationships with their children and partner; write books; ignite their students’ passion to develop their creative potential; write and introduce legislation in New York State to protect children from domestic violence.

The benefits of creativity are not only found when people apply the CPS process individually. The following examples highlight the importance of creativity in business.

My work is credited with helping Clorox solve a 77-year-old problem in 15 minutes; General Motors employees finding a way to save $50,000 a week in one aspect of their manufacturing processes; helping Western New York government agencies secure one billion dollars for economic development; teaching Mazda employees quality and creativity principles that saved over 60 million dollars; teaching University at Buffalo medical students to use Creative Problem Solving to improve diagnoses and save lives.

How to Apply the Creative Problem-Solving Process In a Group

Clearly defined roles are one of the most important aspects when applying Creative Problem Solving in a group, just as clearly defined roles are essential for a rescue squad or a sports team.

There are three essential roles for an effective CPS session: client, facilitator, and resource group.

One: Client

The person who owns the challenge and has primary decision-making authority on how it is to be dealt with is the client. Sometimes an entire team owns the challenge and all the members share the client role.

Two: Facilitator

Is the process expert who manages the Creative Problem-Solving process and keeps the group and the client moving toward a successful resolution to the challenge. The facilitator is never involved in the actual content of the session. For example, changes, modifications, or the facilitator’s attempt to improve ideas that the group generates are forms of judgment and will stifle and derail the creative process.

Three: Resource Group

The people who generate options or ideas to help deal effectively with the challenge are the members of the resource group. These individuals are trained in Creative Problem-Solving methods. I recommend that some of the resource group members be well-versed in the problem on which the group is working, but it is also helpful to have some people in the group who are not familiar with the problem at all. It is these people who bring a fresh perspective to the situation. These are the people who don’t know what can’t be done. They are unaware of the previous methods that have been applied to the problem, which may or may not have worked, and therefore don’t have those mental blocks. In the Breakthrough Lab, these are the “creative catalysts.”

Finally, Design Thinking is not the same as Creative Problem-Solving. The Design Thinking Process became popular in the early 2000s. The developers of design thinking borrowed liberally from the field of Creative Problem-Solving, often without attribution. Design Thinking works well if you are developing a new product like a computer mouse or a new shopping cart. However it does not work well with more ambiguous and ill-defined problems. This is where Creative Problem-Solving (CPS) delivers far superior results.

How To Enhance Your Personal & Professional Creative Problem-Solving Skills

I fell in love with creativity when I was 22 years old. Creative Problem-Solving has been my life’s work. Here are some ways that I can help you enhance your professional and personal creativity.

Solve the Real Problem

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99% of the time what we THINK is the problem is actually NOT the problem.

Why? We have been taught to find answers to problems, not to question the problem itself.

Roger Firestien introduces the simplest of methods to uncover the correct problems to solve. That method? Questions. But not just any type of questions – creative questions. Don’t waste your time solving the wrong problem.

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Leading in today’s world is difficult, and it is not getting easier. To compete and be profitable in today’s marketplace, you need big, creative solutions and you need them now.

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Activating the Entrepreneurial Spirit with an 8-Step Problem-Solving Process 

Pursuing opportunities to capitalize on the problems of potential customers is at the heart of the entrepreneurial spirit. And with today’s accelerated need for continuous growth, the entrepreneurial creative problem-solving process and execution of those solutions are more essential than ever. Mastering these activities keep organizations alive and well as they deal with new market challenges.

An entrepreneurial spirit strives to resolve potential problems and improve solutions through skilled fact-finding, insightful problem definition, unbiased evaluation, and the incorporation of feedback provided by customers. Ongoing problem-solving demands tenaciousness and grit.

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Let’s take a look at the complete eight-step process of creative problem-solving:

Step 1.  Problem finding  means sensing, anticipating, and seeking out customer problems and needs, social changes, technology trends, and opportunities for improvement that may provide opportunities to offer a new product or service. With a confident attitude, individuals and companies seek out complex problems other companies are shying away from. These leaders and teams are comfortable with “fuzzy” situations.

Step 2.  Fact finding  involves gathering information about a fuzzy situation without prematurely judging its relevance. Too many entrepreneurs and managers develop new products without fully considering the various aspects of a problem they’re attempting to solve. A skilled fact finder avoids unwarranted assumptions, examines a solution from a wide variety of viewpoints, listens to and accepts others’ versions of the facts, extends efforts to dig out hidden information, and shows no reluctance to ask simple questions. Establishing what is  not  known is as vital as determining what is known or thought to be known. Only later do they worry about choosing the most relevant facts.

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Step 3.  Problem defining  means composing clear, insightful challenges from a few key facts. These challenges reveal directions for solutions. Entrepreneurs skilled in defining problems can create unusual ways to view them. They can broaden the problem’s scope by asking why it needs to be solved (the intent) and narrow its scope by asking what stands in the way of solving it (the stumbling blocks). These individuals create optional ways of formulating the problem until a superior angle has been developed.

Step 4.  Idea finding  means creating a variety of ways to solve a defined problem. Skilled idea finders are never content with a single good idea and instead continue to hunt for more. They’re able to build on and complete fragments of other ideas. Seemingly radical, even “impossible” ideas can be turned into more unusual but workable solutions. A few of the more promising ideas are selected for evaluation and further development into possible solutions.

Step 5.  Evaluating and selecting  involves converting selected ideas into practical solutions. Entrepreneurs skilled in evaluation and selection consider plenty of criteria in order to take an unbiased look at the ideas. They avoid leaping to conclusions based on a single criterion or on unrelated hidden motives. Interesting but flawed solutions are creatively improved, then re-evaluated.

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Step 6.  Action planning  means creating specific action steps that will lead to successful implementation of a solution. Individuals skilled in action planning can see the end result in a specific, concrete way that motivates people to act on the plan. Within an entrepreneurial context, Step 6 begins the process of getting the solution to market.

Step 7.  Gaining acceptance  means understanding even the best ideas and plans can be scuttled by resistance to change. Those skilled in gaining acceptance create ways to show people how a particular solution benefits them, and how possible problems with the solution can be minimized. Guidance will also be given as to how to gain legitimacy and credibility among various stakeholders. Effective stakeholder management can better ensure acceptance in the market when it’s time to launch.

Step 8.  Taking action  means “doing” the steps in the action plan, and continually revising and adapting the plan as things change in order to ensure the solution is successfully implemented. Entrepreneurs skilled in taking action avoid getting mired in unimportant details and minor roadblocks on the way to implementing the solution. They don’t fear imperfect solutions, knowing even ingenious solutions can be revised and continuously improved (think of the microwave). Action-oriented entrepreneurs know they can improve the solution as they adapt to customer feedback and learn better ways of making it work over time.

Because innovation is like a wheel, there’s actually a ninth step in the process: The first step of the next rotation. Each solution provided results in a new array of problems, customer expectations, opportunities for improvement, and competitive reactions. It’s the entrepreneurial spirit that keeps this ongoing iterative process in motion.

This article was written by Rob Mathews with Min Basadur, Professor Emeritus of Innovation at McMaster University, Canada, and founder of Basadur Applied Creativity; and Michael Goldsby, the Stoops Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Chief Entrepreneurship Officer at Ball State University. Their book, Design-Centered Entrepreneurship, Second Edition , provides a research-driven, step-by-step approach to creative problem-solving.

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• Creative Problem Solving

Glossary of Meeting Terms

What is creative problem solving.

Creative Problem Solving (CPS) is a method that attempts to approach a problem or a challenge in an innovative way. The process helps redefine problems and opportunities to come up with new responses and solutions.

There are many variations on the basic Creative Problem Solving process, some of which work nicely in group meetings. The simplest form of the process includes these steps:

• Clarify (the objectives, the problem, the facts, the opportunity)
• Generate Ideas (come up with possible solutions or approaches)
• Solve (develop ideas into solutions or experiments)
• Implement (create a plan and secure commitment to next steps)
• Creative Problem Solving: Finding Innovative Solutions to Challenges ~ on MindTools
• 10 Examples of Creative Problem Solving ~by John Spacey
• Idea Generation: What is Creative Problem Solving? ~ by Anastasia for Cleverism

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New research helps unlock the secrets of flow, an important tool for creative and problem solving tasks

Does it seem like everyone's talking about 'flow', all of a sudden?

Maybe because many people are. Flow has been shown to help those experiencing it become effortlessly absorbed in a creative or problem-solving task, and more resistant to distraction, whether that task be writing, playing sport, conducting surgery or making music.

New research is routinely emerging extolling the virtues of the seemingly-elusive mental state, and its enormous potential for creativity and performance.

A recent study out of Drexel University's Creative Research Lab in Philadelphia, led by Dr. John Kounios, sought to examine the 'neural and psychological correlates of flow' in a sample of jazz guitarists. 

Some guitarists were very experienced and some less so, with the study looking at what their brains were up to while they improvised.

Study participants were fitted with EEG (electroencephalogram) electrode caps and their brain activity was monitored while performing an improvisation to a pre-determined chord progression, or jazz 'lead'.

They were then told to self-report their experience of flow. Their performances were subsequently assessed for quality by a panel of musical experts.

According to the study, the participants with the most experience found their flow most easily and also gave the best-rated performances. This was found to be from a combination of established skills and their capacity to 'let go.'

Similarly, the EEGs of the best-performing improvisers showed reduced activity in the superior frontal gyri of their brains. This region is associated with executive control, or conscious decision-making.

Letting go, in this instance, means a relinquishing of conscious control.

What is flow, and how can it help us

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi was the psychologist who first identified flow: "a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it."

ABC Classic presenter and registered psychologist Greta Bradman breaks down the flow state further: 

"Being in flow feels good. You might not even have a sense of time when doing a task, be it washing the dishes or getting into a gnarly work task. 

"There's this real sense of having focus or meeting the world in flow."

For people working in highly competitive fields where optimised performance is vital, like music performance, being able to tap into tools like flow can make a huge difference for success.

Dr. Steffen Herff, leader of the Sydney Music, Mind and Body Lab at Sydney University, suggests one way flow might help musicians find that cutting edge.

"One component that makes flow so interesting from a cognitive neuroscience and psychology perspective, is that it comes with a 'loss of self-consciousness'," he says. 

The fears and insecurities that come with performing to an audience are pushed from the forefront of the mind.

"In other words, gone are all these pesky thoughts of self-doubt."

The benefits of flow for peak creativity

Herff and his team are continually exploring ways to best support musicians both mentally and physically, with techniques such as biofeedback and mental imagery.

Herff says improvising requires a lot of split-second decisions, alongside high-level creative judgements. 

By introducing flow into this process, "all the fears, desires, and anxieties that hold you back are gone, whilst at the same time [you're] able to draw more efficiently from all the hours of practise and experience you have accumulated over the years."

Pianist, composer and improviser Nat Bartsch first heard about flow in her Honours year at the Victorian College of the Arts. 

As an artist with autism and ADHD, Bartsch has learnt to deliberately foster ways of creating time and space to find that flow state.

"What I love about this study is that it dispels the myth that artists must always wait for 'inspiration to strike' – to be a professional artist is to be able to switch your creativity on and off, on any given day."

She agrees that experience makes all the difference, particularly when it comes to letting go.

"If you know who you are on the stage, or at your instrument, it's easier to let go and trust in what you'll come up with."

Finding flow by letting go

The study's authors explain that flow requires three conditions: "a balance between challenge and skill, clear, proximate goals, and immediate feedback about progress and performance."

It makes sense, then, that a more experienced player would be able to access these conditions more readily. They've had more time to develop skills, set directions for themselves, and form the capacity to critically analyse their own work. And then, let that go.

While flow is not the only way to develop one's musical improvisation skills, Herff acknowledges that this new research is exciting in showing great potential in helping to clarify the brain processes that determine whether a flow state is achieved.

Kounios is clear that practice makes perfect, but flow is about letting go, leaving those looking to find it with one last piece of advice taken from jazz great Charlie Parker:

"You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practise, practise, practise. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail."

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Huntsville workshops inspire innovation, problem-solving

Published: Aug 1, 2024 11:45 AM

By Carla Nelson

The Auburn University Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) recently held two unique workshops at the Auburn University Research and Innovation Campus in Huntsville. The workshops focused on problem-solving, innovation and cognitive engineering. 

The “Introduction to Cognitive Engineering and System Design” short course and workshop, hosted July 12, was led by Richard Garnett, a senior lecturer, and Richard Sesek, the Tim Cook Professor.

Successful systems integrate people and machines to achieve optimal performance. Cognitive engineering focuses on how well a system aligns with the cognitive capabilities of its users. It leverages an understanding of human perception, mental processing, and memory to enhance technology design and usability.

Sarah Moore, ISE alumna and a systems engineer supporting the International Space Station, participated in the workshop. Moore, who studied under Sesek and Garnett, was enthusiastic about the opportunity to gain more knowledge from them.

“The experience of the workshop was wonderful,” she said. “It was very intimate and personalized. I loved how much of a discussion it was rather than a simple lecture. I learned new ways to center design around humans and refresh old ones.”

Moore’s job responsibilities include ensuring that all components needed for building, testing and shipping the payload are in the right place at the right time and maintaining the flight schedule to meet International Space Station launch deadlines.

“The knowledge I gained in the workshop is applicable not only to my professional life, but my personal one,” she said. “It’s always wise to design any system with the target audience in mind.”

On July 19, the “Engineered Solutions Workshop” was held, offering structured techniques for innovation. Hosted by Sesek and doctoral student Bob Sesek, participants engaged in various creative exercises to foster problem-solving and innovative idea development, particularly for engineering environments. The workshop aimed to inspire participants to generate and implement novel solutions to their own problems and contribute to their companies’ overall success.

Patrick Reed, executive director of the Intellectual Property Exchange at Auburn University, praised the workshop for allowing him to think and act like an inventor and innovator. He learned creative ways to approach problems from multiple angles and perspectives. 

“I strongly encourage anyone to attend this workshop, even if you think you never innovate,” Reed said. “I’d wager you’d leave surprised with a newfound understanding that invention and innovation happens everywhere, often in the unlikeliest of places.”

Auburn ISE doctoral student Diego Caputo also found the workshop inspiring, encouraging him to develop novel ideas in fields he previously thought were fully explored.

“The workshop also provided an incredible opportunity to connect with professionals from diverse industries and gain fresh perspectives on problem-solving and innovation,” Caputo said. “Thanks to it, I am excited and confident to proceed with submitting my invention for intellectual property protection.”

For more information on upcoming workshops, contact Richard Sesek or Richard Garnett .

The Huntsville workshops focused on problem-solving, innovation and cognitive engineering.

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Green applies problem-solving skills to service

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Every year during awards season we hear talk of artistic types who have been named EGOTs for taking home the coveted combo of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Headlines scream, commentators gush because it is not easy to be good at so many things. 

If the academic world had a similar designation, Dr. Joe Green’s name would be right at the top of the list. During his career at Ohio State Lima, he has earned all the teaching, research and scholarly awards we have to offer, some of them twice. At Ohio State Lima’s 2024 Academic Celebration, he added the Outstanding Service Award, which recognizes individuals who demonstrate and support the Buckeye idea of care for others, as well as carrying out the mission of the university on an ongoing basis. 

Green's approach to service is similar to the approach to general problem solving he developed as one of 11 kids. To stand out, you had to do more than come up with a good idea, you had to take action. 

“Seeing things that could be improved is easy,” Green said. “Everybody notices things that could be improved, but taking the next step and trying to come up with a constructive solution that's doable and not just wishful, that is more complicated.”

Green has taken action to spread his service out from Ohio State Lima to include his hometown of Bellevue and the entire state of Ohio. During his time as faculty assembly president he helped develop a process for faculty and staff to evaluate administrators on our campus, a more detailed and layered process than any of us could have expected. Over the years, he and his colleagues have developed a cognitive-based approach to smoking cessation that includes hypnosis, mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches. The latest iteration was piloted at Ohio State Lima and included campus and community members.  His ongoing efforts in his home community as president of the Gridiron Foundation support both the school and town and have resulted in an improved and expanded athletic complex, a more beautiful downtown, and a growing endowment for scholarships for high school students.

Research mentor

Green applies the idea of turning abstract ideas into concrete action and knowledge to research and teaching as well. He models turning curiosity about a subject into a research question that you can collect empirical data on to strengthen the argument for or against its validity. As students in his classroom learn to how to do it as well, Green sees their confidence grow. 

“That's all part of the goal of higher education is to instill greater confidence and assertiveness and willingness to insist upon good scientific evidence for claims that are being made as opposed to just accepting positions because a person in authority has stated them,” Green said.  

Green realizes that he could do research more quickly and more efficiently if he wasn’t a mentor, but he is a mentor anyway. He has been in his undergraduates’ shoes and knows what it takes to help them become better students, researchers and community citizens. 

“I was fortunate enough to have great mentors during my academic career and throughout my life more broadly,” Green said. “Having someone to take the time to explain is invaluable.”

Teaching has never become routine for Green in his 31 years at Ohio State. He preps for each lecture like it is a mini-performance with a lesson plan as the script and the ability to adjust to the students’ needs and questions as they develop. 

“I try to script my lectures out to some extent,” Green said. “Once I get into the classroom, it's like improv because you never know where it's going to go or what questions are going to come out or what topics students are going to be interested in on a given day.”

While he sees the utility of offering online and hybrid classes, he misses a fully in person teaching load. It is easier to engage and hold the class in a live setting. It is a workout both mentally and physically. 

“The biggest thing I miss about not being in a physical classroom is I used to get all my steps in every time I taught because I pace. Part of it was intentional,” Green said. “I want to change the site line that students are looking at. I want to change the volume level. I want to change the source of where my voice is coming from so going from the back of the class to the middle of the class to the front of the class to the left to the right, approaching students when they ask questions.”

Dr. Joe Green is a professor of psychology at The Ohio State University at Lima. In the course of his career he has earned the prestigious Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching (2004), Outstanding Scholar Award (2022 and 2015), Faculty Award for Sustained Student Mentorship (2022 and 2017) and the Teaching Excellence Award (2011). 

Photo captions (from top): Dr. Joe Green on the Quad at Ohio State Lima, Archie Griffin and Joe Green strike a Heisman pose when Griffin surprised Green with the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2004. 

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Solving Oregon’s public defender problem will involve more than money

Oregon's public defender shortage resembles any of several serious Oregon problems – drug abuse and homelessness among them – where the willingness to do the right thing, and the ability to pay for it, are not the bottleneck. (Getty Images)

Oregon’s public defender problems have been getting much better and much worse at the same time. 

Finding a solution that makes sense doesn’t involve doing what most people have long argued: spending more money on legal services. The answer lies in how the money is managed and spent, and how the workload is organized.

In all, it resembles any of several serious Oregon problems – drug abuse and homelessness among them – where the willingness to do the right thing, and the ability to pay for it, are not the bottleneck. The problem lies in smartly managing the problem-solving. 

The problems with the public defense of people charged with a crime who cannot afford an attorney but have the right to one is not new, and legislators and the state executive branch actively have been working on it for years. 

The Oregon Legislature has responded. The Oregon Public Defense Commission, which is assigned to manage and deliver public attorneys for at-need defendants, has been given a massive infusion of new money, its budget more than doubling in the past seven years. 

The larger picture in defense caseloads looks better than even a couple of years ago. In January 2022, the American Bar Association produced a report called The Oregon Project : An Analysis of the Oregon Public Defense System and Attorney Workloads Standards, which found that Oregon had fewer than a third of the attorneys, or more exactly attorney work-hours, needed to meet the the demand and  and ought to have the full-time equivalent of about 1,300 more attorneys. 

Since then, other states have studied exactly how much attorney time is needed in public defense, and when variations in the types of cases are factored in – a simple misdemeanor versus a knot of complex felonies, for example – it turns out Oregon’s need is far smaller than estimated by the bar association. Those studies indicate it needs about 600 attorneys.

But the problem is more complicated than that. 

There’s been more focus on providing counsel for in-custody defendants, but the problem seems to have worsened among the larger group of out-of-custody defendants, with the lack of counsel problem worsening overall. 

Their ranks have swelled after a federal judge last October ordered that any inmate not assigned an attorney within a week had to be released from county jails. (The legal debate about the judge’s action is ongoing.)

On top of that, the average time an out-of-custody felony defendant now is without counsel is running upward of 100 days. 

This has been happening even at a time when the numbers of Oregon crimes, notably property crime, have been trending downward . 

Under terms of the state-attorney contracts awarded in June 2022, the defense attorneys are limited in the number of cases they can accept. By April of 2023 , however, many attorneys already had hit those ceilings and could not take on new clients as new defendants entered the system. In Multnomah County, private lawyers overall reported hitting 122% of the maximum caseload in recent months. So in the spring of 2023, the state throttled back the number of cases defense attorneys could take.

There have also been serious problems with billing by the commission. The amount of time elapsed for payment to attorneys has grown from just over a week in 2016 to more than 45 days this year – a situation bound to become unacceptable to many attorneys and other contractors, such as private investigators.

More flexible rules for attorney contracting could help, along with a sharper focus on problem-solving and less on rule-making. But there’s a larger systemic block getting in the way of solving many state problems that both agency directors and the governor, and the Legislature, should start to consider more broadly.

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Raccoons are creative problem solvers and show remarkable urban street smarts

Cute, adaptable, and innovative: raccoons have it all figured out.

In the city of Laramie, Wyoming, two special groups were trying to solve puzzles. A group of raccoons was trying to solve the puzzles the human researchers had set up for them. Meanwhile, the humans were trying to solve the puzzle of just how smart the raccoons were.

Urban raccoons are often seen rummaging through the trash cans and exploring urban backyards. But is this purely scavenging behavior or does it involve active, intellectual exploration?

Lauren A. Stanton from the University of Wyoming and colleagues believe it’s the latter — and they have the data to prove it. In a new study, the researchers showed that raccoons are flexible problem solvers and innovators.

The city puzzle

A city is, in itself, a type of big puzzle as urbanization presents a set of challenges but also opportunities for wildlife. Essentially, the rapid transformation of natural landscapes into urban environments forces animals to adapt or perish. For dietary generalists like raccoons, the ability to innovate can mean the difference between survival and extinction.

In this context, innovation is defined as the creation of new behaviors or the novel use of existing behaviors. This is important for many animals but is particularly relevant in urban settings where food sources and threats are constantly changing — like cities.

Prior studies have shown that raccoons are curious and highly intelligent. In fact, they’re one of the few species that have excellently adapted to the unfriendly urban ecosystem.

The study was conducted over two years, from August to October 2016 and 2017. The researchers captured and tagged 39 unique raccoons from three different locations in Laramie. Each raccoon’s age, sex, and exploratory behavior were recorded to analyze their problem-solving success.

To assess the problem-solving abilities of raccoons, the researchers designed multi-compartment puzzle boxes containing food rewards. Some of the boxes were simpler and had a single-type solution, while others could be opened in multiple ways. Using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, the team could track individual raccoons’ interactions with the boxes.

The raccoons displayed remarkable flexibility and individuality in solving the puzzle boxes. Of the 35 raccoons tested with the single-solution puzzle box, eight successfully learned to open the doors, demonstrating significant problem-solving skills. Interestingly, raccoons with higher exploratory diversity during their first trial were more likely to succeed — hinting that raccoons have an incentive to be innovative.

The multi-solution puzzle box presented a more complex challenge, with four different types of latches. Of the 31 raccoons tested, seven successfully solved multiple latch types. Intriguingly, these raccoons did not adhere to a fixed sequence in solving the latches, indicating their ability to adapt and learn different solutions.

Juvenile raccoons, in particular, showed greater exploratory behavior and a higher success rate compared to adults. This supports the “necessity drives innovation” hypothesis, suggesting that younger, less experienced individuals are more willing to experiment and innovate when faced with novel challenges.

Raccoons learn like us

Prior knowledge played a significant role in success. Raccoons that had previously solved the single-solution box tended to opt for more complex solutions when faced with the multi-solution box. This suggests that experience with problem-solving tasks enhances cognitive flexibility and innovation.

“We believe this illustrates how learning begets learning: like us, animals can learn new, basic skills, then build motivation and knowledge that enables them to develop more complex skills,” she explained. “And because we did this study in wild, backyard settings, it gives us an inside scoop on how innovative foraging behaviors develop naturally in urban environments.” “We think younger raccoons, who are more naive and in poorer body condition, are more likely to take greater risks to survive,” the researcher added.

Understanding the cognitive abilities of urban wildlife can inform conservation and management strategies. By recognizing the innovative potential of species like raccoons, urban planners and wildlife managers can design cities that accommodate and coexist with wildlife. This includes creating green spaces, designing wildlife-friendly infrastructure, and implementing measures to reduce human-wildlife conflicts.

“Our findings serve as a reminder that raccoons and other animals are not going to engage in risky situations if they do not need to,” she said. “So, it’s up to us as people to set humane boundaries with wildlife and make sure that our management strategies are strong from the get-go.”

Specifically, because some raccoons have different problem-solving strategies, different groups living in the same place can be provided with different types of support, avoiding competition for the same resources.

“Naturally occurring variables like age or competition among urban animals haven’t really been considered in this big question of whether cities are making animals ‘smarter,’” she said. “Our study has uncovered important factors that we need to consider when thinking about when and how animals are using their smarts to adapt to city life.”

Journal Reference: Lauren A. Stanton et al, Wild raccoons demonstrate flexibility and individuality in innovative problem-solving, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0911

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