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Think Like a Maverick

The Foundations of Creative Thinking

Norms like “I/we have always done it this way” limit your potential as an individual, team, and organization. Looking at things from different perspectives can lead to an innovative edge.

These are the five principles of creative thinking:

  1. Welcome the unknown—to be successful in creative problem-solving, you have to be open to all kinds of ideas, even ones you don’t like. Ideas, like salmon swimming upstream to spawn, have to work hard to survive, so don’t discard an idea too soon.
  2. Operate in discovery mode—be curious, question your assumptions, build on ideas with each other.
  3. Think outside the box—this starts even before the brainstorming session. It begins with your mindset. If you’re confident you’ll find a solution—you just haven’t found it yet—that means you’ll be okay with being uncomfortable with some ideas that appear because you’re open to seeing where they go.
  4. Be persistent and disciplined—Thomas Edison famously said that genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Set aside time to practice using creative problem-solving techniques. Just as a musician practices scales, innovators must practice the craft of creative thinking to be able to comfortably address issues as they arise.
  5. Experiment—there’s no one ideal condition for creativity. What works for one person may be useless for another, so experiment.

Next, use a system. If you follow a framework, you’re not constantly scratching your head, asking, “What do I do next?” Using the Light Bulb Thinking™ framework will enable you to have creative thinking on tap.

The Light Bulb Thinking™ Framework

© Ellia Harris, 2020

The Business Dictionary defines creativity as “a mental characteristic that allows a person to think outside of the box, which results in innovative or different approaches to a task.” “Mental” means that it can be learned. “Which results in” means that it is purposeful and that there is a process that can be followed.

I developed Light Bulb Thinking™ to simplify the process that opens the door to systematic inspiration. It’s designed to encourage curiosity, critical thinking, and unique solutions, all the while focusing on team building and peak performance.

Phase 1Planning for Success

Planning in this context is not just about project planning. It’s also about knowing what the real problem is you’re trying to solve, and knowing what the goal is. Even if you don’t yet know the route, you’ll have your destination. Planning also sets the stage for continuous improvement.

As a leader, your planning mindset includes preparing the team for change, ambiguity, constructive debate, and a positive outcome.

Phase 2Building Creative Thinking Muscles Through Brainstorming

Here are some fundamentals that will ensure brainstorming success:

  • Aim for diversity, and include diverse thinkers (they may be mavericks in the making).
  • Announce the session and tell people what, if anything, they need to do in advance.
  • Visibly post the problem statement and goal during the session.
  • Discourage judgment or discussion.
  • Humor helps, and silly ideas are often useful.
  • Build on each other’s ideas.

Want to have some fun? Here’s a brainstorming exercise to prime your creative thinking pump:

“Stealing” is the basis of a form of brainstorming known as “related worlds.”

  1. First, identify a problem you want to solve.
  2. Ask, “Where else has this challenge (or anything like it) been addressed?”
  3. Then ask, “What can we learn and steal from that?”

Here are a few “stolen” innovations:

  • The roll-on deodorant came from the ballpoint pen.
  • The idea for Velcro came from the burrs on plants that stuck to the inventor’s legs as he walked through a field.
  • The sticky part of the Post-it Note began as a faulty glue recipe; someone in 3M had the foresight to experiment with how else it could be used.

Phase 3–Choosing the Best Option

Choosing consists of analyzing and shortlisting.

When analyzing, check that you’re still focused on the right problem and the right goal. Review who will benefit/be affected; the flaws you parked or that didn’t occur to you before; and whether there was an idea that captured people’s imagination.

Simple analysis tools are (1) drawing up a list of pros and cons, and (2) creating a matrix with criteria you’ll judge the ideas against.

When shortlisting, you can be guided by the results from the criteria matrix. Alternatively, you could ask people to vote for their favorite idea. In face-to-face meetings, for example, give each person a number of small sticky notes (five to ten). Each of these acts as a vote—all can go on a single idea or can be spread across ideas.

Phase 4–Deciding Whether to Implement or Innovate

There’s a simple method for deciding whether to implement now or push for an innovation:

  1. If you end up with a product, service, or operational procedure that’s not a major leap from where you are currently, and you can obtain the resources you need relatively quickly, you can go ahead and implement that new activity as soon as you like.
  2. Where the outcome may have a bigger impact, it would be wise to take the idea forward as a potential innovation for more extensive analysis and prototype testing.

The Leader’s Role

If you lead a team, there are some additional actions you can take that will lead to a culture of peak creative performance. In nurturing a culture of innovation, there is no more important role than that of the leader.

Innovation leaders:

  • Build a diverse team.
  • Encourage a mindset of learning from mistakes and failures.
  • Develop their team’s capacity for creative problem-solving through training and practice.
  • Give the team autonomy to get their work done.
  • Are skilled in the art of managing change.
  • Encourage intentional and open communication and collaboration.
  • Lead by example.

Fulfill these traits and you’ll be well on your way to managing an innovation team!

Go Forth and Be Creative

Aspiring to be a maverick is an effective strategy for increasing peak performance in any arena. Leveraging creative problem-solving and innovation mindsets and strategies are proven ways to up your corporate, personal, and sustainability game. This approach can lead to a better work life as well as a better quality of life for your family, community, and global neighbors.

To help you develop a peak performance business strategy by leveraging creativity, I shared the benefits of following a creative problem-solving strategy. You can feel confident going down the creativity and innovation path and achieving systematic inspiration now that you know the fundamental concepts of creative thinking, and you have the Light Bulb Thinking™ framework. You know your role as a leader in helping your team to think outside the box, or to build a completely new box. Where you once saw constraints, you’re more able to see opportunities.

What step will you take next week, in your role as a maverick team leader?

(Originally published in the book “Winner’s Mindset”, Erik Seversen et al, Thin Leaf Press, 2021)

Ellia Harris
Ellia Harrishttps://www.thepotentialcenter.com/
“Helping staff solve problems creatively is the fastest way for new managers to become a more effective leader and build a stronger team.” – Ellia Harris. Ellia Harris is passionate about the role that creativity provides in addressing organizational, societal, and global problems, and in helping people and teams achieve their potential. Through The Potential Center™, Ellia’s mission is to simplify the creative problem-solving and innovation process so managers can feel confident in addressing urgent, pervasive, and expensive problems while building a stronger, happier team. Having been one herself several times over, Ellia prefers to coach and train relatively new managers who may be experiencing staff turnover, low morale, team disagreements, or static revenue. These managers are often in sustainability, social enterprise, and nonprofit organizations – sectors that align with her passions and experience. Ellia’s framework Light Bulb Thinking™ (LBT) is designed to cultivate curiosity, creativity, and critical reasoning skills. And with its strong slant on leadership development, LBT and the audio course Light Bulb Moments™ help clients achieve goals while building a culture of kickass innovation. Learn more about Ellia Harris at The Potential Center.

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2 CONVERSATIONS

  1. Welcome to the group. Judging by the intelligence and creativity of the article I believe that you will find yourself very well and, above all, we will be able to draw a lot of useful knowledge from your ideas and proposals.
    How can we be innovative if we comply with the rules? How can we change without questioning the system? Leaders seem to want innovation and creativity, but are frightened by nonconformist collaborators, seen almost as “pain in the ass”. The situation is paradoxical.
    Many people believe that their employers do not encourage nonconformity, and indeed reward people who abide by the rules. Therefore, they not only believe that the rules are expected to be followed, but also that no one can break them. This pushes them to be more loyal to the dictates than would be necessary, and conformity is so widespread in our culture that it is difficult to overcome it. The fact is that each of us wants to feel accepted, he wants to feel part of a group and have the feeling of being appropriate to the context he belongs to. At the same time, however, we need rebels, people who openly express their opinions, even when they disagree, who are good at neutralizing the dynamics of single thinking. Challenging common thinking can provoke discussions that bring greater clarity and that stimulate all those involved to think more broadly and openly.
    The rebels are agents of change! Rebellions are often underestimated, seen as an act to weaken or subvert the existing structure. The rebels, however, do not become one without a reason, they see flaws in the existing system and want to improve it. Being a rebel in a society that does not rebel is exhausting, and since their vitality is important for companies, we need to support their spirit and energy, we need to support them by increasing the number of rebels rather than silencing them.

    • Aldo, your questions and comments are very timely! The world does need (positive) rebels right now! In the words of the civil rights icon US Senator John Lewis, “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in GOOD TROUBLE, necessary trouble.”

      The fact is that it takes courage to be a rebel, and to listen to a rebel without judgment. Sadly, whatever courage we are born with and further develop into early adulthood is often, as you point out, replaced by conformity.

      Since leaders set the cultural tone, it’s leaders that need to lead their team and organization into creativity by example. This is hard when so many leaders don’t know how to do that. And when the pull to belong is – understandably – so strong. I’m dedicated to this work because I want to help leaders feel more comfortable with, and see the imperative for, encouraging diversity in thinking. The future of their organization, of our world!, may depend on it.

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