Why this idea means business : We explore why it can be hard to start creating ideas. Learn how to reframe these challenges as creative opportunities. Read this to kick off your creative process more effectively.
How much is this idea worth?
Idea : To remove barriers to creativity so you get more and better ideas from the very start of your creative process. Based on our standard business case assumptions, the value of this idea is :-
- Source of business – Innovation
- Skill area – Creativity
- Commercial hypothesis :-
- # customers = 1,000
- Spend/month = $100
- Est. monthly purchases from innovation adoption = +80
- Est. sales increase = +$8k (monthly) | +$96k (annual)
Ideas have to start somewhere. They don’t just appear out of thin air. They’re normally triggered by something or someone.
The best creative people don’t leave these triggers to chance. They make them part of their creative process and creative habits.
They understand that the start of creativity is hard. It feels messy. Different from the structured work processes most people are used to.
There’s more uncertainty, unpredictability and disruption. But the creative process embraces these and reframes them as positives. And it starts by getting into a more creative frame of mind.
Creating ideas - get into a creative frame of mind
Most businesses run in two “modes”. An operational mode and a creative one.
Operational thinking is the default. It focuses on the past and present. You analyse and review facts and figures, look for explanations and learnings. You look for a specific answer to a current problem.
Operational thinking looks for efficiencies in known solutions and routines. It fixes or improves things you already do. It’s logical, decisive and focussed.
Creative mode, on the other hand, thinks about the future.
You gather stimuli and use your broader memories for inspiration and to make new connections. Creative thinking starts by generating many possible answers and playing around with them (often through experiments and trials). You can feel that there’s an answer, but you don’t know what it is. It’s more emotional and instinctive, exploratory and open-minded.
Let’s look at how this creative mode works.
Creating ideas - flick your creative switch
Flicking this mental switch feels easy for naturally creative people,
However, most people usually need a nudge to open up their minds to more creative thinking.
This doesn’t have to be complicated.
However, it has to be noticeable enough for people to understand that you want them to use creativity to tackle a challenge.
Say it
It could be as simple as saying, “We need some creative thinking on this”.
Saying it out loud (or writing it down) gets the need for creativity out of your head and into the heads of those you need to help you.
It also sets expectations about how you’ll think and act around solving the problem. That you’ll be thinking out loud about possible answers, and not making snap judgements.
Symbolise it
Building on this, it also helps to use tangible symbols to signal creative thinking “mode”. For example, Edward DeBono’s Six Hats uses coloured hats to symbolise different modes of creative thinking.
Your creative symbols should be relevant to you and your style. For example, maybe you always use a different pen colour for creative meetings. Or you always bring along a set of Lego. Or you make everyone sit on the floor rather than at meeting tables. Maybe you go outside or get everyone to go barefoot.
Whatever it is, it should be noticeably different from how you run more operations-focused meetings.
Allocate time and space to it
Lastly, you can also use time and space to get more creative. As per our 5Ws of idea generation article, when and where you do creativity highly influences how creative people will be.
For example, you could schedule a regular team creative session on a Friday afternoon to finish the week. Or use a specific meeting room at the agency to have creative thinking sessions. The key is that you signal these in advance, so people know that you expect them to think more creatively in that time or place.
Creating ideas - define the specific creative problem
Feeling overwhelmed with choice is a common problem when you start creating ideas.
When you can literally do anything, your brain struggles to decide, and you end up doing nothing. (See the well-known jam experiment for a practical example of this).
The way past this is to give yourself a clearer starting point by getting more specific about the problem you need to solve.
The more specific you can be, the less likely that choice overload will happen because you reduce the number of options.
So, not just “grow sales”, but identify the specific target audience you need to engage. Not just “launch innovations”, but the specific source of growth you want to pursue. Not just “better advertising”, but the specific behaviour change you want that advertising to deliver.
Frame your problem positively
Most people don’t go looking for problems, but problem-solving is at the heart of creativity.
However, the problem with the word problem is that it has negative associations. It often evokes challenging emotions.
These can affect your motivation and capacity to think of possible solutions, e.g.
- We need to fix this problem immediately! (urgency)
- You know what your problem is, mate? (aggression)
- Houston, we have a problem. (anxiety)
In business situations, you usually have more time to work on solving your problems. Win more customers. Launch new products. Create new communications. Most people understand that answers to these challenges can’t be done in a day. That means you can let the negativity go and think about how to reframe the problem in more positive ways.
Think about a creative problem as a creative opportunity. A chance to stretch your creative thinking muscles. Assume that there will be an answer, even if you don’t know what it is yet.
A good way to do this is to turn it into either a wish or a “how” question.
Some examples :-
- “Our sales are falling” -> “I wish I could grow our sales”.
- “Staff are unhappy” -> “How to make our staff happier?”.
- “Competitors are bigger than us” -> “How can we turn being smaller to our advantage?”.
Starting your problem definition from a negative point of view can drain people’s motivation to find ideas. Reframe it to a positive point of view, and people will approach it with more optimism and energy.
Reframe the idea of failure
Similarly, is how you position the idea of failure.
Our Reframing the 3Fs of Innovation article shares that the concept of failure challenges many people.
No one wants to be associated with it. Yet it’s a vital part of learning and creatively crafting ideas.
One potential solution comes from the excellent Fearless Organisation by Amy Edmondson.
It explores the concept of psychological safety in the workplace. Removing the fear of failure helps people speak up more at work and leads to more diverse and more creative outcomes. The book identifies three types of organisational failure :-
- preventable – When a defined process or procedure isn’t followed. This is most common in the operations of a business, e.g. not replacing a part that’s due to be replaced, or someone taking a shortcut and not understanding the consequences of it.
- complex – When unexpected changes in context make solutions challenging. e.g. a sudden surge or fall in customer demand, a competitor or retail customer change in strategy. In such cases, you can only mitigate the problem or prepare people for it. (e.g. with crisis management training).
- intelligent – When failure is built into a process. This is when there’s a need to experiment and test different options to find the best solution, e.g. developing an innovation, a new advertising campaign, or a new business model. (See our learn from your mistakes article for an example of this).
From a creative thinking point of view, intelligent failure is key. Creative leaders make clear that intelligent failure is a necessary step on the path to finding better solutions.
They encourage it, rather than punish it.
Creating ideas - gather stimuli
A common topic that comes up in many discussions on the creative process is that you need good stimulus to help you find ideas.
Ideas don’t come out of the blue; they’re almost always twists or variations on existing ideas.
But for your brain to make those connections, you need to give it stimulus to feed on.
There are two main ways to do that.
Share relevant background information in advance
In your workshop preparation, you should gather background information related to the problem at hand. Links to competitor websites and customer discussion forums, for example.
Then send these out a few days in advance to take advantage of the Zeigarnik effect. In simple terms, this is a psychological concept that suggests once you “open” a problem in your mind, your brain will keep working on it subconsciously until you can “close” the problem. (See our how to use your time wisely in ideation article for more on this).
Explore the adjacent possible with less obvious stimuli
However, for less obvious solutions, you should also gather stimuli from less obvious places.
Steven Johnson’s excellent Where Good Ideas Come From, calls this exploring the “adjacent possible”. You look at other categories which have faced similar challenges and look for transferable ideas which might help solve your problem. For example, if you run a restaurant and suffer customer demand peaks and troughs, maybe you could look at how hospital emergency rooms manage similar peaks and troughs in delivering their services.
What also helps is encouraging people to make looking for such “adjacent possibles” an ongoing creative habit. So, reading books or watching documentaries or listening to podcasts from related but not directly connected areas.
Very few problems are completely new. Creative thinkers like to gather examples of creativity from history, politics, science, the arts and so on to keep a bank of creative inspiration.
What’s worked somewhere else could be the trigger for your next brilliant idea.
Creating ideas - go for it
Finally, the key to creating ideas is to just start. Go for it. Do something, do anything, but start.
It’s fine that this might initially feel clunky and uncomfortable. That’s to be expected. It’s how you warm up your creative thinking muscles.
Gather like-minded creative people around you. Work with them, and enjoy learning to be more creative together. Ask your agency or a specialist marketing consultancy (!) for advice and help if you get stuck.
Creating ideas is one of those skills that can be hard to start. However, once you get it, you might find it hard to stop.
Conclusion - Creating ideas - how to start
Ideas always start somewhere. Some people are naturally open-minded and need no encouragement. However, most people usually need a creative nudge to get started.
This article shared some ideas on how to do this.
Firstly, it’s about setting up a creative frame of mind. Overtly stating you need creative thinking and looking for tangible symbols to signal that’s what you need. Setting up time and space to be creative.
Then, it’s about how you define your problem. Being as specific as you can about the challenge you face, and framing the question as a positive opportunity for creativity. It’s also about removing the fear of failure and understanding that it’s a necessary part of being creative.
Lastly, it’s about gathering the right prompt materials – either direct or adjacent creative prompts. You should also look to regularly gather such materials as part of your creative habits.
Check out our creative process guide and our 5Ws of idea generation article for more on this. Or get in touch if you need help with creating ideas.
Photo credits
Post-its on wall (adapted) : Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Creativity Switch (adapted) : Photo by Isabella and Zsa Fischer on Unsplash
Person holding compass : Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash
Thumbs up/down (adapted) : Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Girl reading magazine : Photo by Jerry Wang on Unsplash
Go for it (adapted) : Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
