What Is Creative Thinking?

Creative thinking is the process by which creative ideas are born.

Over many centuries, in western society there has been an emphasis on the importance of critical thinking. This involves analysing and reasoning and making judgement.

By contrast, creative thinking focuses more on ideas, associations between ideas, expanding upon ideas and considering possibilities.

Some of the differences between creative thinking and critical thinking are outlined below.

 Creativity And Innovation

A steady flow of good creative ideas is vital to the success of any business.

Creative ideas are needed to help the business grow and develop. Creative thinking increases the options open to a business and has the potential to build sources of competitive advantage.

The creative ideas within an organisation, and that organisation’s ability to produce creative ideas are assets.

However, while creative ideas have value, creative ideas of themselves do not create value.

For value to be created, a creative idea has to be implemented. In effect, the organisation has to innovate. Innovation is a process that creates value.

The difference between creative thinking and innovation is that creative thinking is an ingredient of innovation. Creative thinking can be seen as the oxygen that fuels the fire of innovation.

Creative thinking is required all the way through the innovation process. Firstly, creative thinking is required to generate creative ideas. This is sometimes called the ‘fuzzy front end’ of innovation.

These creative ideas are then put into the ‘innovation pipeline’ and the innovation team can start the process of developing new products and new services.

As the innovation team progress through the innovation process, they still need to draw on their creative thinking skills. This is because they are seeking to develop something new with the innovation project. By definition the ‘issues’ that arise on innovation projects are also ‘new’. They are problems that the team have never encountered before.

If the team has been trained in creative thinking skills or creative problem-solving techniques, then they will be better able to solve the problems that arise with their innovation project and move forward.

Creative thinking is also vital to the strategy development process.

When competition in the market place is intense, it is creative thinking that can help the organisation identify new strategic choices. In particular, creative thinking is an important ingredient in scenario planning - a technique that organisations use for strategy development.

Creative Thinking Capability

Everybody is capable of creative thinking. However, some people’s brains seem to be more naturally disposed towards it - just as some people handle mathematics more easily than others.

Ability to think creatively can be measured in many ways. The simple measures are:-

• the number of connections that a person can make between objects
• the quality of the imaginative connections that a person can make between objects
• the richness of metaphors that a person can generate

What is clear is that everyone can improve their creative thinking capabilities. The ability to think creatively is like working a muscle - the more the muscle is exercised the stronger it becomes. Practising creative thinking makes it easier to come up with creative ideas.

Your team’s creativity can be enhanced through creative thinking training.

The quantity and quality of creative thinking in your organisation during creative thinking sessions – or brainstorming sessions, can also be increased by having a trained facilitator who will introduce creative thinking tools and techniques to the group.

Creative Thinking Training: Business Benefits

• Creative thinking can help your organisation improve your business processes and make them more cost efficient.
• Creative thinking can enrich strategy discussion and increase the number of strategic options you generate.
• Creative thinking can help you generate ideas and develop highly differentiated products and services that will satisfy your customers and keep them loyal to your business.
• Creative thinking helps you solve problems in all areas of your business.
• Creative thinking enables your teams to tap into their creative potential. This can be an underutilised asset in some organisations. Employees who are encouraged to use their creativity in their roles often feel greater personal and job satisfaction than those who are not encouraged in this way. This can lead to increased employee loyalty and retention.

Why Choose Anatellô To Provide Creative Thinking Training?

• Custom-designed Creative Thinking Training.
• Breakthrough Thinking Training.

We have designed and run many creative thinking courses over the last decade.

Our creativity courses vary in their duration from half a day to 3 days and we design individual courses to exactly meet our client’s needs.

Sample topics included:-

• Creating the climate for creativity.
• The process of creativity
• Effective tools and techniques for creativity
• Integrating  creativity into team and organisational life

Anatellô’s Creative Thinking Training Courses enable your teams to access their creativity more easily, which means they will be able to draw on it more readily to the benefit of your business.