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INNOVATION THE WAY TO GROWTH IN FUTURE
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Innovation is the most powerful source and means of Economic
Growth. Innovation differs from Creativity. Creativity denotes
Thinking of New Things and New Ways. Innovation is Doing New Things
. In fact, Innovation also represents the core value that
determines the Long-Term success of an organization.
B. Research Studies revealed that, High-growth firms do a lot of
Innovating,
while low-growth firms do little or none of it. Studies also
reveal that the best innovators arent lone geniuses. They are peop
le who can take an Idea that is obvious in one context and apply it
in no-so-obvious ways to a different context. The best Companies
have learnt to systematize this process. In fact, Innovation is
critical to a companys Growth in Future.
II. UNDERSTANDING INNOVATION
A. What is Innovation
1. Innovation is the Creative Generation and Application of New
Ideas that achieve significant improvement in a product, service,
activity, initiative, structure, programme or policy.
2. Innovation is giving rise to Ideas and bringing them to Life.
Hatching Ideas is
a Creative part and is essential. After all no Ideas means no
chance for Innovation. Often, in common parlance, the words
Creativity and Innovation are used interchangeably. They should not
be because while Creativity implies coming up with ideas , it is
the bringing ideas to life that makes Innovation the distinct
undertaking it is. In short, it can be thought of as a formula
INNOVATION = CREATIVITY + CHANGE
3. To drive growth in an organization via Innovation requires
that the Ideas should do something to benefit Customers; create new
value. In this perspective, the Purpose of Innovation is to create
new customer-perceived value.
B. Growth through Innovation: Principles
1. The examining of the practices of Innovation in detail has
shown that driving
the Growth through Innovation is possible in organization by
following certain Principles.
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These Principles are:
Innovation must be approached as a discipline
Innovation must be approached comprehensively
Innovation must include an organized, systematic, and
continual
search for new opportunities
Innovation must involve everyone in the organization
Innovation must be customer-centered
2. (a) To practice innovation as a discipline means first and
foremost that you
distinguish between creativity (coming up with ideas) and
innovation (bringing them to top and bottom-line results for the
company).Teaching Innovation as a Discipline involves showing
people
- how to think through their Ideas and to know which ones are
aligned
with the Goals of the Business, and - how to champion and sell
their Ideas, how to find resources, and
- how to overcome obstacles and build coalitions of support
(b) Innovation cant be confined to one department or an elite
group of star performers. It must permeate the company, and it must
encompass new products, services, processes, strategies, business
models, distribution channels, and markets. It must become part of
the DNA of the entire organization. A comprehensive approach to
innovation means that it becomes the responsibility and way of
operating of business units and functional departments, whether
purchasing, ope rations, finance, or human resources, just as must
as it is for new product development or marketing.
(c) Given the torrid pace of change, the rapid commoditization
of products,
and the convergence of strategies, firms that rely on yesterdays
ideas, yesterdays products, and yesterdays assumptions are clearly
vulnerable. This is precisely why firms that make innovation a
growth-driving discipline have specific systems and practices in
place that help them at the so-called fuzzy front end of the
innovation process, where future possibilities first come into
focus. It is being systematic about discovering future
opportunities.
(d) In most organizations today, new ideas are almost always
directed from
the top down, rather than from the bottom up. Not only do most
organizations not expect their people to innovate; they dont really
expect them to think. Not all ideas will be useful. Some will be
redundant, self-serving, and trivial. But firms that invest in
building an innovation capability, and what have come to be called
idea management systems to capture ideas, have discovered that this
dormant creative potentia l can be awakened, managed, and
translated into a new tool for driving growth.
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(e) Innovation-adept firms live and breathe the customer. They
also know that
creating value for the customer is the only route t o success.
Todays customer is more sophisticated, with more information
available at the touch of a keyboard to compare and contrast an
ever-increasing array of value propositions, the discipline of
innovation means learning to listen to customers and potential
customers in new ways. It means inviting the voice of the customer
to permeate the design and im plementation of new concepts, if
those ideas are ultimately going t o drive growth.
III. INNOVATION: TYPES, DEGREES AND APPROACH
A. Types of Innovation There are Three Types of Innovation viz.,
Product, Process and Strategy according to the matrix as can be
seen from Figure below:
Figure 1: The Innovation Opportunity Grid
In the highly competitive, rapidly evolving environment of the
21st century, achieving rates of growth that are uncommon in
industry means that you must be able to manage innovation in these
three distinct arenas. Each arena is critical, and being adept in
only one of them is likely to be insufficient to achieve the growth
payoff from innovation. Lets take a careful look at these
arenas.
1. Type 1: Product Innovation
Product/service innovation is the result of bringing to life a
new way to solve the customers problem that benefits both the
customer and the company.
2. Type 2: Process Innovation Process innovations increase
bottom-line profitability, reduce costs, raise productivity, and
increase employee job satisfaction. The customer also
Product Process Strategy
Breakthrough
Substantial
Incremental
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benefits from this type of innovation by virtue of a stronger,
more consistent product or service value delivery. In Manufacturing
Companies, Process Innovations include such things as Integrating
New Manufacturing Methods and Technologies that lead to Advantages
in Cost, Quality, Cycle-Time, Development Time and Speed of
Delivery.
3. Type 3: Strategy Innovation Strategy Innovation is about
challenging existing industry methods of creating customer value in
order to meet newly emerging customer needs, add additional value,
and create new markets and new customer groups for the company.
Strategy innovation results when your firm changes the customer
groups it targets and how it goes to market, meaning how it
distributes its offerings to end customers. Much of the highly
visible innovation occurring in business today is strategy
innovation, and much of it involves the exploitation of new
technology.
Process Innovation is important for the Company Gro wth and will
continue to be, as without Process Excellence, Product or St rategy
Innovation is impossible to Implement.
B. Degrees of Innovation
Not all innovations in these three arenas accelerate growth to
the same extent. The degree to which an innovation adds value or
creates new value for customers is the degree to which it adds to a
companys bottom line. What innovation-adept companies strive for,
in addition to ongoing processes that keep the pipeline full, are
High-Potential Ideas in each of these arenas Ideas that change the
game; Ideas that change the rules of competition; Ideas that move
the growth needle! Not all innovations, of course, have an equal
impact on customers, and certainly not on a company s rate of
growth or wealth-creating ability.
1. While small or even insignificant in degree of financial
impact to the firms
bottom line, Incremental Improvements can engender greater
customer satisfaction, increase product or service efficacy and
otherwise have positive impact. Similarly, Process Innovations of
incremental degree increase productivity and lower cost for the
firm. Incremental Process Innovation has gotten a bad rap in recent
years on the assumption that incrementalism is the enemy of genuine
innovation. One reason for this is that in many firms, incremental
innovation has replaced the quest for more significant innovation
those that add more value to customers, and as a result, bolster
the business accordingly. Incremental innovations are often quickly
matched by competitors, which cancel out any first mover benefit to
the initiating firms bottom line. Worse, if a firm is spending its
time thinking merely about incremental innovation, it probably isnt
spending time reinventing the product category or attacking its own
value proposition with a radically improved one.
2. Substantial Innovations are mid-level in significance both to
customers who benefit from them and to the company that believes
they will significantly help the firm grow and create new wealth.
Substantial Innovations of the product/service variety fall short
of being breakthroughs, but enable and
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ensure that the organization meets or exceeds its g oals to grow
the business, increase market share, and lower its cost of doing
business (Substantial-Level Process Innovation). Substantial
improvements in your existing products and services or introducing
new-to-the company products and services represent significant
improvements for both the service providing company and for the
customer.
3. Break-thorough Innovations are New Products, Services or
Change in
Strategy that yield a significant increase in Revenues and Net
Profits. Process Improvements that generate a significant reduction
in Costs or an equivalent increase in Productive outputs are also
Break-throughs. Break-through Inventions can sometimes lead to
Breakthrough Innovations.
C. Approach for 21 st Century Enterprise-wide Innovation
1. In leading Organizations, Innovation is no more approached in
traditional ways but, is approached as an Enterprise-Wide Process
and as a Specific Vital Discipline.
2. These Companies have an organized, comprehensive system for
Identifying
Disruptive Changes or for Finding Future. They have Leading
Indicators to systematically Measure Innovation, besides lagging
Indicators to measure past performance.
3. These Companies realize well that to Accelerate Growth means
to Accelerate
Innovation, which means Accelerating Idea Development and
Implementation. Ideas, no matter what their source of origin, are
Managed in New and Innovative Ways that ensure that more ideas will
lead to Better Ideas; and better ideas at every step of development
process will lead to a Better Average of Successful Launches, and
Products, Services, Processes and Strategic Changes that impact the
Companies Top and Bottom Lines.
IV. EXAMPLES OF INNOVATION
As already stated, Innovation is widely held to be a vital
component of a healthy organization. Innovation enables an
organization to respond to changing markets and thus retain its
competitiveness. Innovation in fact, is a mindset. It is the most
important trait of successfully growing organizations. Let us now
discuss a few examples of some such companies. A. Example 1: 3 M
Company
1. The product portfolio of 3M company is not particularly
exciting the most
well known being the Scotch tape. In fact the name 3M, which
stands for Minnesota Minerals and Mining Company, comes from the
initial business
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this company entered, a business that almost immediately ended
in failure. Since then this company has evolved so rapidly, that it
has become a leading innovator of products, ranging from the
mundane to the breathtakingly complex. This has come about because
of a conscious orientation within the company to encourage risk and
the entrepreneuri al urge in its employees.
2. Take the example of the simple post-it notepad that is so
ubiquitous
nowadays. It started off as a failed experiment at making a
better adhesive. If you are a company in the business of making
adhesives then when you are faced with an adhesive that does not
bond very well the immediate instinct would be to shelve the
product as a bad invention. In the case of 3M this is not what
happened. An employee with imagination thought up the brilliant
idea of using the poor adhesive to make e asily removable note
pads-the post-it notepad. Nothing like it had existed before. But
today the post-it notepad is such a wildly successful product that
it has literally become the icon for the modern office.
3. The CEO of 3M, William McKnight, built a company where
tinkering by
employees is encouraged and accidents are allowed t o happen.
What is more important is that the ideas generated by this
tinkering are championed by the management into products that mee t
real human needs. A book on visionary companies has called 3M a
mutation machine. This term is particularly apt for a company that
uses innovation to drive its own evolution.
B. Example 2: Glaxo
1. This example, that of Glaxo (now GSKB), points to how an
innovative approach to drug development led to a dramatic redu
ction in the time it took to bring a drug to the market. In 1978,
Glaxo was, believe it or not, a minor player in the international
pharmaceuticals business. At that time SmithKline had just
introduced the histamine receptor antagonist Cimetidine for the
treatment of peptic ulcer. Cimetidine was hailed as a revolutionary
advancement for this disease. Realizing the market potential for
this class of drugs Glaxo took on the challenge of developing a
safer and superior version of Cimetidine. Soon they had a candidate
ranitidine. With Cimetidine well entrenched in the marketplace, and
the possibility of Merck and Lilly coming out with their own
versions it was critical that Glaxo bring ranitidine to the market
as fast as possible. A late introduction would have meant, at best,
a 10% market share.
2. So the Glaxo researchers knew what they had to do bring
ranitidine to
the market fast. Most of the time taken in drug development is
on long-term toxicity studies, done sequentially in 2 or 3
different species of laboratory animals. The Glaxo researchers
decided to compress the time taken by running the toxicity studies
in different species in parallel. Normally this is not done because
of the possibility of the drug failing one of the toxicity
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milestones in which case all other studies become worthless.
Instead of following the traditional paradigm the Glaxo resear
chers took a calculated risk. They innovated the process of drug
development.
3. Ranitidine made it through the pipeline in a record time of 5
years, when
the industry average was 12. This put it well ahead of products
being developed by Merck and Lilly. When it was time to release the
drug Glaxo unleashed one of the most aggressive marketing campaigns
ever known. The rest is history. Ranitidine became a blockbuster
drug for Glaxo eclipsing the success of cimetidine, and today Glaxo
ranks among the best pharmaceutical companies of the world.
C. Example 3: Genentech
1. Biotechnology is rapidly becoming an important source of
therapeutic
product. In 1973, the technique of gene cloning had just been
announced to the world. Herbert Boyer was one of the scientists who
invented it. Robert Swanson a biochemist turned venture capitalist
reco gnized the latent opportunity in the invention. He realized
that the gene cloning technique could be used to artificially
insert genes into bacteria to make them express proteins human
proteins like insulin. In effect bacteria could be used as
factories for an unlimited supply of scarce human proteins. Most
scientists scoffed at the possibility of the idea becoming reality
in the near future. Swanson discussed it with Boyer and convinced
him to join forces to start a company, Genentech that would
commercialize it.
2. Exactly five years later they succeeded in getting bacteria
to produce human
insulin. On the day of the announcement Boyers $500 investment
in Genentech was worth $80 million. The success of Genentech has
spawned an entire industry in the US. Boyer, left to himself, may
never have conceived of putting his invention to practical use. It
took a savvy entrepreneur like Swanson to innovate the technique to
its fullest potential.
The three examples exemplify different routes to Innovation. In
the case of 3M it is organizational values that encourage the
entreprene urial instincts of the employees to exploit every idea
however trivial or outlandish they may seem. In the case of Glaxo
it was an innovative process the shortening of drug development
times through parallel drug development, that established an early
advantage for Glaxos product over its rivals. In the case of
Genentech it took a venture capitalist to dream the possibilities
in a laboratory technique. In all three cases the common thread is
of someone with vision who saw a different way of doing things.
Indeed this is precisely the path of innovation --- DOING THINGS
DIFFERENTLY.
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V. SUMMING UP A. To sum up, Innovation means the coming up with
ideas and bringing them to life.
The purpose of Innovation is to create Customer-Perceived Value.
To drive growth in an organization via Innovation calls for, that
your Ideas should do something to benefit CUSTOMERS. Growth through
Innovation in an organization is possible by following certain
principles viz.,
1. Innovation must be approached as a DISCIPLINE;
2. It must be approached COMPREHENSIVELY;
3. It should include Organized, systematic and continual search
for NEW
OPPORTUNITIES;
4. It should INVOLVE EVERYONE in the Organization and
5. Very importantly, it should be CUSTOMER-ORIENTED.
B. Innovation, in fact, is a MINDSET. There are 3 types of
Innovation --- Product, Process and Strategy. But not all
Innovations in these three areas accelerate growth to the same
extent. The DEGREE to which an Innovation adds Value or creates new
value for Customers is the degree to which it adds to a companys
bottom line . Innovation in successful organization responds to
changing markets and thus retains their competitiveness. Examples
of three companies viz., 3M, Glaxo and Genentec are given where
Innovation played a vital role and exemplify different routes. In
all the three cases, the common thread is some one with VISION, who
saw a different way of doing t hings.
Precisely, this is the Path of Innovation, DOING TH INGS
DIFFERENTLY.
* * * * *
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UNDERSTANDING CREATIVITY
I. INTRODUCTION
Creativity is defined as looking at things from new and
different perspectives accompanied by some level of critical
thinking or evaluation, a process characterized by originality and
imagination, resulting in the generation of ideas that are both
novel and useful . Creativity of employees is a starting point for
organizational Innovation , which is the successful implementation
of novel, appropriate ideas. And innovation is absolutely vital for
the long-term sustenance and growth of organizations, particularly
in the current context of rapidly changing technology, intensifying
competition, demanding customers and the ever-increasing need to do
more with less. Translating creative ideas into innovative
products, processes, practices, procedures, systems, etc.
inevitably necessitates change - a movement from the current state
to a new state. Hence, coupled with inspiring creativity from
employees, leading and managing change is emerging as a core
Managerial Competency in the 21st century.
II. CREATIVE ABILITIES
Creativity refers to the mental orientation and capability of
persons to evolve and develop new and superior solutions to
problems that are regarded as complex, ambiguous or unclear.
Creativity is manifested along four dimensions or forms of mental
capability. These four elements of creativity are inextricably
linked with the individuals knowledge, experience, and imagination
on the one hand, and high level of motivation and interest towards
problem-solving, on the other.
The four Component Elements or Abilities of Creativity are:
1. The ability to generate a large number of relevant ideas
relatively rapidly with
reference to a given problem/situation/issue under
consideration. It is termed as Conceptual Fluency .
2. The ability to shift perspectives/viewpoints, to move from
one frame of
reference to another, and to change or vary the approaches to
solutions to problems. It is termed as Conceptual Flexibility .
3. The ability to produce unusual, novel, answers to questions,
response to
problems, and interpretation of issues, situations and events.
It is termed as Originality .
4. The ability to challenge, and find meaning, in complex and
ambiguous
problems/situations, and to enjoy the efforts to analyse,
integrate, clarify, and resolve them. It is termed as Complexity
Orientation .
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III. CREATIVE AND ANALYTICAL THINKING
Since Creativity finds its roots in THINKING, and Creative
Thinking requires Applied Imagination, it is necessary to know the
distinction between Creative Thinking (CT) and Analytical Thinking
(AT). Analytical Thinking is in fact the traditional LOGICAL
THINKING. It starts from a set of facts, rules, some assumptions
and premises. By doing something logically we normally mean that we
are methodically working through a rational series of steps in the
hope of systematically converging on our desired objective.
The distinct Characteristic Features of Creative Thinking and
Analytical Thinking are:
Creative Thinking (C T)
Analytical Thinking (A T)
Discontinuity
Continuity
Concerned with Change and Movement
Concerned with choosing and stability
Generative (moves from one concept to the other to find a better
one)
Selective (seeks to judge)
Looks for Questions
Looks for Answers
Says "generate other ways of looking at things"
Says "this is the right way of looking at things."
Thinking is Provocative
Thinking is Analytical
Interested in, where an idea leads to
Interested in, where an idea comes from
Used to MAKE something happen
Used to describe what has happened
One makes deliberate jumps
One thing follows directly from another
It is open-ended It is a closed procedure.
But in practice, both Creative Thinking and Analytical Thinking
are required. Creative Thinking is concerned with the first stage
of thinking, the stage of patternising and perceptual choice.
Analytical Thinking is concerned with the second-stage of
processing and working out. Creative Thinking is concerned with
choosing concepts and Analytical Thinking with using them. Creative
Thinking requires Analytical Thinking to select and develop the
ideas that are generated. Similarly, Analytical Thinking requires
Creative Thinking to establish an effective starting point. Thus,
although the two types of Thinking - Creative Thinking and
Analytical Thinking - are distinct, they are not substitutes; they
are COMPLEMENTARY.
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IV. THE THREE COMPONENTS OF CREATIVITY
Many managers feel that creativity is the way that people think
or how inventively they approach problems. Indeed, thinking
imaginatively is one part of creativity, but two others are also
essential. These are Expertise and Motivation . Research done
recently in select successful organizations revealed clearly that
people are most creative when they have the three aspects in them
viz., Expertise, Creative Thinking Skills and Intrinsic
Motivation.
Expertise means knowledge, experience, skills and talents. It
encompasses everything that a person knows and can do in the broad
domain of his or her work. By creative thinking skills -- it means
the ways of coming up with fresh perspectives on problems and ways
of approaching work from new angles. Intrinsic Motivation means a
combination of one's own internal drive and the environmental
factors that support it. The Figure below depicts the three
components of creativity.
The Three Components of Creativity
*****
*****
Expertise
Creative Thinking Skills
Creativity
Motivation
Expertise is, in a word, knowledge-- technical, procedural, and
intellectual
Creative-Thinking Skills Determine how flexibly and
imaginatively people approach problems
Not all Motivation is created equal. An inner passion to solve
the problem at hand leads to solutions. This component -- called
Intrinsic Motivation -- is the one that can be most immediately
influenced by the work environment.
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RECOGNIZING BLOCKS TO CREATIVITY
I. INTRODUCTION
A. In the Creative Process, most people are unsuccessful because
they attempt to use Logical and not Creative Thinking Skills on the
perceived problem. They make assumptions that frame the problem and
constrain them from finding a right solution. In fact, the most
critical barriers to creative outcomes are our own ASSUMPTIONS.
Individuals make false assumptions about problems in order to fit
the problems into their previously established
Problem-Solving/Decision-Making Process. When our logical processes
fail, creative solutions often lie outside our self-imposed
assumptions.
B. Individual choice is systematically affected by the ways in
which problems are framed. And many of the assumptions that we make
about how to solve the problems, arise from the culture and
environment that surround us. A general pattern that emerges from
examining the various blocks to Creativity is that each of them
leads us to seek a single or limited set of right answers, which
causes us to abbreviate our decision-making process prematurely.
These blocks or constraints to creativity can be classified as -
Perceptual, Emotional, Cultural, Environmental and
Intellectual.
II. PERCEPTUAL BLOCKS A. Stereotyping
Perceptual blocks result from the way the mind tries to manage
all of the data it receives from our senses. Since it would be
impossible to remember every detail of every experience, our mind
only stores in its long-term memory 'important' information. It
appears to do this by looking for patterns in the data it receives
that will permit it to 'pigeon hole' new information along with
similar experiences. When we recall this information we get an
imprecise image of the original experience with the irrelevant
details removed. Consequently, we often see only what we expect to
see, based on the pattern of our previous experience. Unfortunately
our attitudes, opinions and beliefs affect our perceptions as well.
The tendency we have to notice certain things, of particular
interest to us, more than others (mental set) only serves to
reinforce these preconceived notions. If we take our stereotyped
memories too literally we may overlook a significant feature of a
new problem situation because we do not remember it (as being
important) on some previous occasion, or incorrectly assume
something exists or is significant simply because that is the way
we remember things were the last time.
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B. Difficulty in Isolating the Problem
It is often true that you cant see the wood for the trees. We
can experience difficulty in isolating the problem from the masses
of irrelevant data surrounding it. If we allow ourselves to become
enmeshed in these superficial details our solutions may be
inadequate, or worse, we may fail to recognize the real problem
altogether.
C. Tunnel Vision
All too often when we start to solve a problem we make
assumptions about it: we impose inappropriate boundaries or
constraints on the problem situation, and hence limitations on what
we can do about it. These boundaries and constraints may exist in
reality - or they may not. As a result, firstly we may have
difficulty in seeing a shared problem from someone else's
viewpoint. Secondly, we may be unable to see our own problem in a
number of different ways. Whether we are working alone or with
others it is important for us to get different perspectives on the
problem situation to ensure that we are actually trying to solve
the right one.
D. Saturation
Extremely familiar inputs from our senses are often disregarded
by our conscious mind to prevent 'overloading' it. Think of
something you see everyday, your television set perhaps, and try to
draw it. Did you get every detail correct? Tape- record an evening
at home with the family: do you remember that clock ticking on the
wall and the aircraft or bus passing by outside? We may overlook
these everyday phenomena when one of them, is, or could give us a
clue to, the actual cause of a problem. Our senses frequently work
in an interconnected manner. Failing to use all of them efficiently
may cause us to miss an important part of the problem.
III. EMOTIONAL BLOCKS
A. Obsessive Desire For Security And Order
A desire for security and order is a common trait. We develop
habits to make our lives easier, more predictable, more secure and
free from anxiety. An extreme desire for this state can result in
an intolerance of ambiguity which inhibits creativity. We must be
able to tolerate chaos, to immerse ourselves in the mess of the
problem situation, in order to resolve it.
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B. Fear Of Making A Mistake No one likes appearing nave or
foolish and being laughed at as a consequence.
Our self image is important to us and can depend heavily on what
we feel other people think of us. Making mistakes is a natural part
of learning but we are often afraid of making mistakes because we
believe that others will think less of us. The only thing about
making mistakes that we should be criticized for is not learning
something from them.
C. Unwillingness To Take A Risk Although there is some debate
over what precisely motivates us, a common
factor seems to be a desire for self-fulfilment. Unfortunately,
attaining this invariably involves taking a risk. It may be
relatively harmless or could involve something as drastic as our
professional credibility financial ruin of life itself. So we tend
not to take any risks.
D. Lack of Motivation Since problem solving is a risky business,
we need to be highly motivated to get
involved. For some it is the expectancy of the exciting mental
challenge of the problem, for others the chance to pursue a
personal interest. Sometimes the possibility of monetary reward can
be the stimulus. But without sufficient motivation of some kind we
may well fail at our problem solving.
E. Trying To Solve Problems Too Quickly Some people are always
rushing around frantically trying to get things done
quickly, trying to get things back to normal as soon as
possible. This may be due to emotional insecurity or perhaps a
desire to hide incompetence. The danger is that by rushing at
things we start with the first or most obvious problem definition,
rather than the most appropriate one. We may also allocate
insufficient time to reflect on our ideas or rush our evaluation
thus risking the premature rejection of unusual ideas. We are
likely to end up with an inadequate solution. We may even solve the
wrong problem.
IV. CULTURAL BLOCKS
A. Problem Solving Is A Serious Business
We have a tendency to believe that problem solving should
require considerable mental effort. If we are not actually
experiencing discomfort we are obviously not working hard enough.
Problem solving is usually something we have to do rather than
choose to do. Yet being comfortable and relaxed may well be the
best way to approach solving a problem. Being too serious can lead
to stress which will in turn decrease creativity, productivity and
effectiveness.
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B. Fun And Playfulness Are Only For Children! Laughter at a
business meeting is often taken to indicate that group members
are not taking things seriously enough. For adults, work and
leisure are normally disjoint activities, yet Creative Problem
Solving (CPS) can and should be fun. Indeed child-like mental
playfulness can considerably enhance creativity. J.G. March (1976)
wrote: Playfulness is the deliberate, temporary relaxation of rules
in order to explore the possibilities of alternative rules.
Playfulness allows experimentation which is very important in
CPS.
C. Logic Is Better Than Intuition! A popular myth is that
something that can be proved by scientific method has
more merit than something felt intuitively to be correct. We
have a tendency to overvalue logic, objectivity, quantitative data
and practicality and undervalue intuition and subjective quality
judgements. Effective problem solvers need a good balance between
the two types of thinking.
D. Tradition Is Better Than Changes! Some cultures put much time
and effort into preserving traditional ways of life.
An over-protectionist attitude to tradition, which gives rise to
a dislike, distrust or fear of change, inhibits creativity and
progress. Without new ideas we stagnate.
V. ENVIRONMENTAL BLOCKS
A. Organizational Taboos Typical of organizational taboos are
certain ideas, policies or processes that
were tried once before and which resulted in disaster. Everyone
takes delight in putting right the innocent newcomer who dares
propose such a discredited solution, but what if this solution
(perhaps in a modified form) is now feasible and we refuse to
reconsider it.
B. Reluctance to Implement Ideas Any unwillingness by an
organization to implement new ideas will be frustrating
and dampen the creative effort. If little or nothing ever
actually gets done about the situations we are trying to improve,
we will be less likely to try so hard next time around.
C. Lack of Group Support To produce an environment that supports
creative thinking the group dynamics
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must be appropriate. We need the emotional support, co-operation
and approval of our fellow group members. All need to be committed
to the groups objectives and must be willing to sacrifice their own
position or opinions for the common good.
D. Lack of Communication
Getting access to the data we need to solve a problem usually
involves us in talking to other people. We may also feel that they
too should be involved in our problem solving and that we should
get together for this purpose. Inability to achieve these things
hinders problem solving as well as leading to frustration and yet
more stress. An organizations structure will have implications with
regard to the structure and efficiency of its communication
channels and the ease with which we can gather information and meet
with others.
E. Distractions Some organizations will take employees away from
the office when problem
solving has to be done. This is to combat the common
environmental block of physical distractions such as phone-calls
and interruptions. Obviously distractions can only hinder problem
solving, but one persons distraction (for example loud music) may
be an essential element of anothers ideal working environment.
VI. INTELLECTUAL BLOCKS A. Incorrect Choice Of Language, Skills
And Strategies
There are a variety of problem solving languages at our
disposal, for example, visualization (using mental images),
verbalization and mathematics. A given problem is often easier to
solve using one rather than another. And so we should experiment
with different problem solving languages.
Using a particular problem solving skill too exclusively or at
the wrong time can hinder problem solving. Often, it is appropriate
to use creative thinking to open a problem up when first starting
to solve that particular problem. Later, logical or analytical
skills may be an appropriate way of refining the solution. Using
analytical skills too early in the process of resolution can be a
mistake. When using a particular problem-solving strategy we must
be prepared to use them flexibility.
B. Lack Of Correct Information And Inadequa te Means Of
Expression
It is usually important to have all the possible relevant data
and to sift through it looking for directions, implications,
limitations and connections, before embarking on problem
solving.
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Accurate communication with another human being is always
difficult. Many factors increase this difficulty such as the use of
jargon, giving quantitative information in written rather than
tabular or graphical form, describing something in words when a
small sketch would illustrate the object being described more
simply and quickly, using a complex photograph instead of a simple
diagram emphasizing its important features. We have to always make
sure that we are using the most effective method of communication.
Paraphrasing back to someone what they have said to you is an
effective way of ensuring that you have understood their idea or
possible solution.
VII. REVIVAL OF CREATIVE THINKING Under different blocks
mentioned and discussed above, we have seen how and
why our Creative talents have become inhibited. What then can we
do to improve matters? The advice is offered in some Ground Rules
which are based on the findings of people working in the field of
CREATIVITY.
The Ground Rules For Creativity
1. Welcome every idea, no matter how wild it is as it has some
merit. If nothing
else it will fire our or someone else's imagination.
2. Hold back on criticizing an idea -- remember that it is
difficult enough to get an idea past our 'self-censor'. Don't be
too quick to criticize somebody else's idea. And make sure you
understand another person's idea before you evaluate it.
3. Remember that we always have some knowledge or experience,
which can help us solve a given problem.
4. Don't be afraid to indulge in some 'childlike' behavior - as
in wishing, imagination, mental playfulness, etc.,
5. Never forget that other people perceive problem situations in
ways different from you -- treat this as an advantage, a way of
helping you get different viewpoints, to help you establish which
is the most appropriate one to work with.
6. Always think of a mistake or failure as an opportunity to
learn, not as a thing we did 'wrong'. If we just forget about it,
we could do it again.
*****
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TECHNIQUES FOR ENHANCING CREATIVE THINKING I. INTRODUCTION
Man owes his success to his creativity. No one doubts the need
for it. It is most useful in good times and essential in bad. But
how can one achieve it? We always admire it but complain about its
elusiveness. It is regarded as a magic gift, a divine flash of
inspiration, a chance coming together of extra-ordinary
circumstances. It seems that one can do nothing about creativity
except await it passively. It usually does come about in this
passive manner -- but only because we have never developed the type
of thinking that encourages it, viz., Lateral Thinking . The
purpose of Lateral Thinking is the generation of new ideas and the
escape from old ones.
II. THE TWO BASIC PROCESSES OF LATERAL THINKING Lateral thinking
involves two basic processes: ESCAPE and PROVOCATION
A. Escape
1. Recognition of dominant or polarizing ideas. 2. The
deliberate search for alternative ways of looking at things or
doing things.
The search is for alternative ways not for the best way. 3.
Refusal to accept assumptions or to take things for granted. 4. An
attempt to escape from concept prisons: dis-concepting or
un-concepting. 5. An attack on arrogance attached to any way of
looking at things. 6. The realization that beneath the current way
of looking at things lie other
alternative ways waiting to be discovered. 7. The need to
enlarge the problem context, to shift attention to other areas, to
shift
the entry point. 8. Recognition of the danger of being blocked
by adequate ideas that prevent the
development of better ones.
B. Provocation
1. The separation of the generation of ideas from their judgment
or evaluation. 2. Looking at an idea to see where it can lead to or
what it can trigger off rather
than to see if it is correct. 3. The making of unjustified leaps
and then catching up with them. 4. It may be necessary to be wrong
at some stage in order to reach the right
solution. 5. There may not be a reason for saying something
until after it has been said.
The justification for a change may be apparent only after the
change has been made.
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6. You may have to be at the top of a mountain in order to find
the best way up. When an idea has come about, hindsight analysis
may fully justify it.
7. The use of chance as a provocative source of discontinuity.
8. Movement for the sake of movement in order to generate a
direction instead
of to follow one.
The processes of "Escape" and "Provocation" involve overcoming
our "blocks" to creativity, and "enhancing" our Creative
Thinking.
III. THINKING FLUENTLY
A. Defer Judgment While Generating Ideas
1. When looking for ideas, either alone or with a group, it is
essential not to
judge, evaluate, or criticize ideas as they are generated.
Nothing kills creativity more quickly or more absolutely than
critical, judgmental thinking. The secret of deferring judgment
while generating a lot of ideas is to separate your thinking into
two stages: possibility thinking and practicality thinking .
Possibility thinking is the raw generation of ideas, without
judgment or evaluation of any kind. You turn off your internal
critic. Your internal critic is that part of your mind that is
constantly telling you why something cant work or cant be done. The
strategy is to generate as many ideas, both obvious and novel, as
possible, without criticism of any kind.
2. After youve created the maximum number of ideas possible, you
change
your strategy to practicality thinking, the evaluation and
judgment of ideas, to find the ideas that have the most value to
you. Possibility thinking and practicality thinking are two
separate mental operations, as depicted below:
Possibility Thinking
Practicality Thinking
No Judgement No Criticism No Evaluation No Self Talk
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B. Generate as Many Ideas as Possible
1. Increasing your idea production requires conscious effort.
Suppose you were asked to spend three minutes thinking of
alternative uses for the common bricks. No doubt, you would come up
with some uses, but not very many. The average adult comes up with
three to six ideas. However, if you were asked to list forty uses
for the brick as fast as possible, you would have quite a few in a
short period of time. A quota and time limit can focus your energy
in a way that guarantees profluency of thought.
2. The quota is not only more effective at focusing your energy,
but also a more
productive method of generating alternatives. To meet the quota,
you find yourself listing all the usual uses for a brick (build a
wall, fireplace, outdoor barbecue, and so on) as well as listing
everything that comes to mind (anchor, projectiles in riots,
ballast, device to hold down newspaper, a tool for leveling dirt,
material for sculptures, doorstop, and so on) as you stretch your
imagination to meet the quota. By causing us to exert effort, a
quota allows us to generate more imaginative alternatives than we
otherwise would. Initial ideas are usually poorer in quality than
later ideas. Familiar and safe responses lie closest to the surface
of our consciousness, and therefore, are naturally thought of
first. Creative thinking depends on continuing the flow of ideas
long enough to purge the common, habitual ones and produce the
unusual and imaginative.
C. List and Elaborate Your Ideas
1. When you give yourself a quota, you force yourself to list
your ideas. List making will help you permanently capture your
thoughts and ideas, speed up your thinking, keep you focused, and
will force you to dwell upon alternatives. Listing ideas also helps
you remember them. Its also surprisingly powerful, because it
utilizes the compulsive side of most of us in a way that makes us
into more fluent and flexible thinkers.
2. Elaborate on your ideas by applying a checklist of nine
creative-thinking principles :
S = Substitute? C = Combine? A = Adapt? M = Magnify? Modify? P =
Put to other uses? E = Eliminate? R = Rearrange? Reverse?
SCAMPER is based on the notion that everything new is some
addition or modification of something that already exists. You take
a subject and change it into something else. Isolate the subject
you want to think about and ask the checklist of questions to see
what new ideas and thoughts emerge.
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IV. MAKING NOVEL COMBINATIONS: DA VINCI'S TECHNIQU E
A. Illustration of Da Vinci's Technique
1. Leonardo da Vinci's grotesque heads and famous caricatures
are examples of the random variations of the human face made of
different combinations of a set number of features. He would first
list facial characteristics (heads, eyes, nose, etc.) and then,
beneath each, list variations. Next he would mix and match the
different variations to create original grotesque caricatures.
Below is a hypothetical example of a box similar to one that da
Vinci might have constructed:
Heads Eyes Noses Mouths Chins
bullet
goggle-eyed
parrot-beak
pinched
double chin
skeletal
sunken
hooked
harelipped
slack-jaw
dome-like
bulging
thick-snub
wafer-thin
latern-jaw
beetle-brow
squinty
beak-like
drooping
sagging
bell-shaped
beady
cigar-shape
blubber-lipped
angular
egg-shaped
slanty
lumpy
bow-like
chunky
furrowed forehead
swollen red eyes
Broad fibrous
Beefy twisted
projecting receding
While the number of items in each category is relatively small,
there are thousands of possible combinations of the listed
features. The circled features indicate only one out of thousands
of different groupings of features that could be used for an
original grotesque head.
2. Leonardo da Vinci would analyze the structure of a subject
and then separate the major parameters ("parameter" means a
characteristic, factor, variable, or aspect). He would then list
variations for each parameter and combine them. By coming up with
different combinations of the variations, you create new ideas
.
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B. Applying Da Vinci's Technique
Applying Da Vinci's Technique involves the following
procedure:
1. Specify the challenge. 2. Separate the parameters of the
challenge. The parameters are the
fundamental framework of the challenge. You choose the nature
and the number of parameters that you wish to use in your box. A
good question to ask yourself when selecting parameters is Would
the challenge still exist without the parameter Im considering
adding to the box?"
3. Below each parameter, list as many variations for the
parameters as you
wish. The complexity of the box is determined by the number of
parameters and the number of variations used. The more variations
and the more variety to the variations of each parameter, the more
likely the box will contain a viable idea. For instance, a box with
ten parameters, each of which has ten variations, produces ten
billion combinations of the parameters and the variations.
4. When you have finished listing variations, make random runs
through the
parameters and the variations for the parameters, selecting one
or more from each column, and assemble the combinations into
entirely new forms. During this step, all of the combinations can
be examined with respect to the challenge to be solved. If you are
working with ten or more parameters, you may find it helpful to
randomly examine the entire group, and then gradually restrict
yourself to portions that appear to be particularly fruitful.
V. CONNECTING THE UNCONNECTED
A. Thinking Unpredictably
It is impossible to think unpredictably by looking harder and
longer in the same direction. When your attention is focused on a
subject, a few patterns are highly activated in your brain and
dominate your thinking. These patterns produce only predictable
ideas, no matter how hard you try. In fact, the harder you try, the
stronger the same patterns become. If, however, you change your
focus and think about something that is not related, different,
unusual patterns are activated. If one of these newer patterns
relates to one of the first patterns, a connection will be made.
This connection will lead to the discovery of an original idea or
thought, what some people call divine inspiration.
B. Random Words Technique
1. This technique provides a means of producing blind variation
of ideas through the use of random words to produce a rich variety
of unpredictable ideas. In order to get original ideas, you need a
way to create new sets of patterns in your mind. You need one
pattern reacting with another set of
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patterns to create a new pattern. The random word technique
generates an almost infinite source of new patterns to react with
the patterns in your mind. Random words provide rich sources of
connection-making material.
2. The use of random word stimulation is the most definite of
the methods for introducing discontinuity. It is also the most
deliberate. Paradoxically, even though it is the most deliberate it
also introduces the purest form of discontinuity. The
characteristics of the Random Word method are as follows:
The stimulus comes from outside. The stimulus is truly
irrelevant (not chosen in any way). By being brought into the
problem situation, discontinuity is
introduced. The stimulus links up with the problem situation and
establishes a
new entry point or approach. The stimulus becomes relevant after
it has brought about its effect.
The fundamental point of discontinuity is that the choice of
material is not dictated by relevance. But that relevance becomes
established after the material has been chosen. The most convenient
source of random words is a dictionary.
C. Using the Random Word Technique
List Characteristics Work with one word at a time. Draw a
picture of the word to involve the right hemisphere of your brain
and then list the characteristics of the words. Think of a variety
of things that are associated with your word and list them.
Force Connections Make a forced connection between each
characteristic and the challenge you are working on. In forcing
connections between remote subjects, metaphorical-analogical
thinking opens up new pathways of creative thinking.
What Is Its Essence? What is the principle or essence of your
random word? Can you build an idea around it?
Create Many Connections
Allow yourself five minutes for each word when you try it. Five
minutes should be ample time to stimulate ideas. You should find
that long after the fixed time period of five minutes, further
connections and ideas are still occurring.
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VI. LOOKING AT THE OTHER SIDE / IN OTHER WORLDS
A. Reversals
1. Reversals break your existing patterns of thought and provoke
new ones.
You take things as they are and then turn them around, inside
out, upside down, and back to front to see what happens. The point
is that wherever a direction is implied it is quite easy to
indicate the opposite direction. Take, for instance, a car being
driven down a road. This situation might be reversed in any of the
following ways: -- the car is not being driven but is running away
and taking the driver with it -- the car is riding in reverse down
the road -- the car is moving along the road but in the opposite
direction -- the car is not moving at all -- the car is standing
still and the road is moving backward under the wheels There is no
question of finding out which is the correct reversal. All of them
are correct, for the purpose of reversal is to provide a means for
changing a situation. There is no way of telling if the change is
correct or not until it sets off useful new ideas.
2. Reversing Assumptions
List all your assumptions about your subject.
Reverse each assumption. What is its opposite?
Ask yourself how to accomplish each reversal.
Select one solution and build it into a realistic idea.
Reversals destabilize your conventional thinking patterns and
free information to come together in provocative new ways.
3. Reversing Perspective
State your challenge.
Reverse it
List all the ways you can think of to make the reversal
work.
Evaluate Focus on the Highest Rated Items.
Reverse back to get a new perspective.
.
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B. Parallel Worlds/Analogies
1. A number of effective methods for generating new ideas are
based on the use of analogies. One of the major difficulties in
generating new ideas is to get going. In using the analogy method,
one translates the problem situation into an analogy and then
develops the analogy in its own right. From time to time, one
translates back to the real problem to see what would happen if the
process taking place in the analogy took place in the problem
situation.
2. There is a danger that if the analogy is too natural and too
good a fit, then its development will simply carry the problem
along a path it might have followed anyway. On the other hand, if
the analogy is too outrageous it might be so difficult to translate
it back into the terms of the problem that no development at all
occurs. Some guidelines for choosing an analogy are: It should be
vivid and have a definite life of its own.
It should be full of concrete images and happenings. A concrete
analogy
is usually much more fertile than an abstract one.
Something must be happening. There must be a process of change.
Mere description of a scene is not much use.
An analogy should be a well-known process rather than a
description of a
specific occasion.
VII. SUMMING UP To sum up, there are two basic processes
underlying Lateral Thinking, viz., Escape
and Provocation. Provocation, which is concerned with enhancing
our creative thinking, involves the mastery of the following
techniques:
Thinking fluently, through -- deferring judgment while
generating ideas,
listing ideas and elaborating ideas.
Making novel combinations, using da Vinci's Technique
Connecting the unconnected, using Random Stimuli
Looking at the other side through Reversals
Looking in other worlds, using Analogies
*****