Creative thinking

Thinking outside of the box

First of all:

There is no such thing as a ‘creative block’.

So?

What if you get stuck?

Think differently.Use creative thinking techniques!

Thinking Thinking is:

A conscious process Creative thinking:

Can be learned Can be done in various ways

2 waysPractical thinking: Act Evaluate Improve Plan new action

Creative thinking: Explore/Discover Develop ideas Evaluate Check

Thinking process (2 steps)

1. Observation:• Is about feeling, sensing, intuition.• Answers questions like:

• What can you see?• What could it be?

• Is about reality.

Thinking process continued2. Evaluation

• Involves the mind, common sense• Is about action• Is about questions like:

• What does it mean?• What do you think?

Message!

Most people forget about stage 1Brainstorming is about stage 1

Brainstorming

Is about generating ideas.As many as you can.

4 basic rules

Don’t offer criticism Free wheeling is good We want quantity (rather than quality) Aim for improvement and combinations

4 more rules

Just start – don’t wait for inspiration Focus – on the task at hand Pay attention -just one way of thinking Concentrate- just go on, don’t give up

During a brainstormDo: Call out freely what’s

in your mind Associate, create links

& relations Use numbers, words,

images etc Think about

synonyms, opposites etc

Don’t: Judge what’s being

said Think about practical

matters Say things like ‘This

won’t work’ etc

3 T’s

Team: chairman, client, thinkers Task Time: max 30 minutes

Team: the chairman Leads the session Prevents people from talking at the same

time Encourages people to contribute Prevents evaluation Summarises ideas Checks the time

Team: the thinkers

Should be people with: Different skills Different tasks/functions Different talents

Techniques ‘Why not’ questions

Be silly, outrageous, fantasize! Use an oracle

E.g. a dictionary. Flip it open and randomly pick a word.

Use metaphors Word imagery, proverbial sayings etc.

Techniques continued Reason by analogy

This looks like/is like…because… E.g. This is like doing the dishes because.. Use a list of activities to do this

Visualize Think of an image, play a movie in your head

and write down what you see

More techniques Think of a story

Describe what the world/your product etc would look like if…

Identify How would you deal with this problem if you

were…an astronaut, George Clooney, Bugs Bunny etc?

Even more techniques Reverse

Rules, techniques, procedures, Habits, conventions, etc.

Note: A more detailed description (steps and aims) of these kinds of techniques can be found in the following PP on this website: ‘Thinking techniques_an overview’.

What you need A room:

Large enough for the group With good light, fresh air

No phones Good atmosphere Flip overs, blackboards, markers Paper, pencils Dictionaries, magazines, papers, books etc

Results

Realistic ideas Fresh ideas (need to be worked on) Intriguing ideas

Creative listening

While you are listening, your mind will start working

Write down what you think This way you will be able to listen again!

After the session

Evaluate your ideas Pick the best, most suitable. Start stage 2 of the thinking process.

A mind map A mind map is not exactly the same as a

brainstorm. A mind map is more structured.

ComparisonBrainstorm Write the ‘word’ in the

middle of the paper Write down everything

you can think of Anywhere… Use words, numbers,

colours, images etc

Mind Map Write the ‘word’ in the

middle of the paper Draw ‘branches’ for

different categories Make sub branches Use words, images,

numbers, arrows etc Make new versions for

large branches, different ways or ordering the information etc.

Sources The information in this PP was based upon: Brainstorming; Creatief denken; Han Bakker