Harness creative problem-solving for everyday challenges
Creative problem-solving helps us unlock fresh perspectives and uncover innovative solutions - even for stubborn workplace hurdles.
Hi Reader
Problem solving encompasses four key skills: critical thinking, analytical thinking, systems thinking and creative thinking. We spend a lot of time in the first three - and somehow just hope that something creative might happen.
But it’s actually a learnable skill - and a great way to work smarter, not harder!
When we come up against a workplace challenge, we have plenty of tools to analyse it — learning matrixes, root cause analysis, mind-mapping and many others.
But sometimes we hit a challenge we just can’t unblock with these methods. And when we’ve analysed it from every angle, we get trapped in the belief that ‘it’s just the way things are’.
And this is where creative problem-solving really shines!
So what might that look like?
In one case, a team had recurring challenges with client communication and prioritisation. They turned a number of their assumptions upside down — and decided to shorten their delivery cadence. The unexpected connection led to better delivery, much smoother communication, and improved the client’s trust in the teams’ product knowledge.
Another team was driven by feature deadlines into reusing old, untestable code, causing product instability, slow delivery and spiralling conflict in the team.
In the creative session, the team used drawings to visualise and reimagine different elements of the challenge. Through this, all members came to see how performance metrics, which had been considered too much effort to automate, could motivate a lift-and-shift journey. Seeing progress really helped, and within a few sprints they had established product stability, and had also gained valuable trust with the product management team in time for the next release.
Not what you’d think of as innovation?
Why hadn’t these seemingly obvious options been tried already? And why did they need a creative session to get there?
Two key elements make the creative approach effective:
First, the teams were able to let go of their attachment to ‘the way things are’ in order to come at them from a new angle. New perspectives enabled connections to apparently unrelated processes, and created space for new thinking.
And second, the collective ‘aha moment’ when a team discovers a solution together, creates a powerful impetus driving the change, so the decisions are implemented with both conviction and care.
We tend to think creative problem-solving is for innovation and new directions. But when we apply it to our daily challenges, we can unlock fresh thinking that boosts productivity.
And when we embrace creative problem-solving as a practice, it not only fosters collaboration, but also transforms our approach to everyday challenges, helping us build a resilient culture of innovation.
Interested in learning more?
I run workshops on creativity, innovation and collaboration.
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And if you'd like to try this out in your workplace, let’s connect for a no-commitment conversation about applying creative problem solving to your challenges.
Wishing you playful creative breakthroughs!
Cara Turner
Innovation & Agile Coach
M: +27 84 500 4425
E: coach.caraturner@gmail.com | www.caraturner.com
