Words: 455. Reading time: 1 minute 31 seconds.
The great thing about creative thinking is that apart from a little time and effort it is also free. Coming up with new ideas is essential for any business as it takes them forward and helps them keep ahead of their competition.
The down side of creative thinking is that it can feel scary because it is all about new ideas that have not been tested, where as you could be spending your time working on what you already know and do.
But please remember these two things:
1) What you know may not be working because of the change in circumstances we are already experiencing, or may start to fail at some point.
2) Any new ideas you have will continue to be free up to the point where you consider them good enough to start taking action.
This economic climate could be the time your company makes a massive leap forward, but it will all depend on your willingness to look.
The sixth lesson is: thinking creatively is as valuable in tough times as it is in the good times.
There are always far more options than people think they are; just give yourself permission to explore for a bit.
Creative thinking is essential for a company's development
The best way to do this is to throw all the known rules out of the window for a while and begin exploring the possibilities. For this initial phase accept every idea, however ridiculous it appears. This is not the time for criticism and exclusion. This is the time to get a little wild. Most people get hampered by thinking about what can't be done and who they are not, rather than what they could do and what they could become.
Once you have made the time to look seriously how each idea could be implemented and what that might mean, then you can permit those rational judgements back in to test for practical viability. Oh, and you can get back all the known rules that you threw out of the window for a while, but only if they are really still appropriate.
Strange as it may seem, many more businesses suffer from a lack of imagination than suffer from a lack of cash. Too much capital and it tends to replace creativity. Companies without money must dream, imagine, co-operate and improvise. Companies awash with money try to buy solutions from outside consultants – often with very poor results.
It was as recently as August 2008 that Woolworths revealed they had been working with strategy consultants LEK – after already having spent a small fortune with consultants over the last 5 years on their supply-chain logistics. And they were still outperformed by Wilkinsons, with the inevitable results.
The great thing about creative thinking is that apart from a little time and effort it is also free. Coming up with new ideas is essential for any business as it takes them forward and helps them keep ahead of their competition.
The down side of creative thinking is that it can feel scary because it is all about new ideas that have not been tested, where as you could be spending your time working on what you already know and do.
But please remember these two things:
1) What you know may not be working because of the change in circumstances we are already experiencing, or may start to fail at some point.
2) Any new ideas you have will continue to be free up to the point where you consider them good enough to start taking action.
This economic climate could be the time your company makes a massive leap forward, but it will all depend on your willingness to look.
The sixth lesson is: thinking creatively is as valuable in tough times as it is in the good times.
There are always far more options than people think they are; just give yourself permission to explore for a bit.
Creative thinking is essential for a company's development
The best way to do this is to throw all the known rules out of the window for a while and begin exploring the possibilities. For this initial phase accept every idea, however ridiculous it appears. This is not the time for criticism and exclusion. This is the time to get a little wild. Most people get hampered by thinking about what can't be done and who they are not, rather than what they could do and what they could become.
Once you have made the time to look seriously how each idea could be implemented and what that might mean, then you can permit those rational judgements back in to test for practical viability. Oh, and you can get back all the known rules that you threw out of the window for a while, but only if they are really still appropriate.
Strange as it may seem, many more businesses suffer from a lack of imagination than suffer from a lack of cash. Too much capital and it tends to replace creativity. Companies without money must dream, imagine, co-operate and improvise. Companies awash with money try to buy solutions from outside consultants – often with very poor results.
It was as recently as August 2008 that Woolworths revealed they had been working with strategy consultants LEK – after already having spent a small fortune with consultants over the last 5 years on their supply-chain logistics. And they were still outperformed by Wilkinsons, with the inevitable results.
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