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What Is Creative Problem-Solving & Why Is It Important?
- 01 Feb 2022
One of the biggest hindrances to innovation is complacency—it can be more comfortable to do what you know than venture into the unknown. Business leaders can overcome this barrier by mobilizing creative team members and providing space to innovate.
There are several tools you can use to encourage creativity in the workplace. Creative problem-solving is one of them, which facilitates the development of innovative solutions to difficult problems.
Here’s an overview of creative problem-solving and why it’s important in business.
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What Is Creative Problem-Solving?
Research is necessary when solving a problem. But there are situations where a problem’s specific cause is difficult to pinpoint. This can occur when there’s not enough time to narrow down the problem’s source or there are differing opinions about its root cause.
In such cases, you can use creative problem-solving , which allows you to explore potential solutions regardless of whether a problem has been defined.
Creative problem-solving is less structured than other innovation processes and encourages exploring open-ended solutions. It also focuses on developing new perspectives and fostering creativity in the workplace . Its benefits include:
- Finding creative solutions to complex problems : User research can insufficiently illustrate a situation’s complexity. While other innovation processes rely on this information, creative problem-solving can yield solutions without it.
- Adapting to change : Business is constantly changing, and business leaders need to adapt. Creative problem-solving helps overcome unforeseen challenges and find solutions to unconventional problems.
- Fueling innovation and growth : In addition to solutions, creative problem-solving can spark innovative ideas that drive company growth. These ideas can lead to new product lines, services, or a modified operations structure that improves efficiency.
Creative problem-solving is traditionally based on the following key principles :
1. Balance Divergent and Convergent Thinking
Creative problem-solving uses two primary tools to find solutions: divergence and convergence. Divergence generates ideas in response to a problem, while convergence narrows them down to a shortlist. It balances these two practices and turns ideas into concrete solutions.
2. Reframe Problems as Questions
By framing problems as questions, you shift from focusing on obstacles to solutions. This provides the freedom to brainstorm potential ideas.
3. Defer Judgment of Ideas
When brainstorming, it can be natural to reject or accept ideas right away. Yet, immediate judgments interfere with the idea generation process. Even ideas that seem implausible can turn into outstanding innovations upon further exploration and development.
4. Focus on "Yes, And" Instead of "No, But"
Using negative words like "no" discourages creative thinking. Instead, use positive language to build and maintain an environment that fosters the development of creative and innovative ideas.
Creative Problem-Solving and Design Thinking
Whereas creative problem-solving facilitates developing innovative ideas through a less structured workflow, design thinking takes a far more organized approach.
Design thinking is a human-centered, solutions-based process that fosters the ideation and development of solutions. In the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar leverages a four-phase framework to explain design thinking.
The four stages are:
- Clarify: The clarification stage allows you to empathize with the user and identify problems. Observations and insights are informed by thorough research. Findings are then reframed as problem statements or questions.
- Ideate: Ideation is the process of coming up with innovative ideas. The divergence of ideas involved with creative problem-solving is a major focus.
- Develop: In the development stage, ideas evolve into experiments and tests. Ideas converge and are explored through prototyping and open critique.
- Implement: Implementation involves continuing to test and experiment to refine the solution and encourage its adoption.
Creative problem-solving primarily operates in the ideate phase of design thinking but can be applied to others. This is because design thinking is an iterative process that moves between the stages as ideas are generated and pursued. This is normal and encouraged, as innovation requires exploring multiple ideas.
Creative Problem-Solving Tools
While there are many useful tools in the creative problem-solving process, here are three you should know:
Creating a Problem Story
One way to innovate is by creating a story about a problem to understand how it affects users and what solutions best fit their needs. Here are the steps you need to take to use this tool properly.
1. Identify a UDP
Create a problem story to identify the undesired phenomena (UDP). For example, consider a company that produces printers that overheat. In this case, the UDP is "our printers overheat."
2. Move Forward in Time
To move forward in time, ask: “Why is this a problem?” For example, minor damage could be one result of the machines overheating. In more extreme cases, printers may catch fire. Don't be afraid to create multiple problem stories if you think of more than one UDP.
3. Move Backward in Time
To move backward in time, ask: “What caused this UDP?” If you can't identify the root problem, think about what typically causes the UDP to occur. For the overheating printers, overuse could be a cause.
Following the three-step framework above helps illustrate a clear problem story:
- The printer is overused.
- The printer overheats.
- The printer breaks down.
You can extend the problem story in either direction if you think of additional cause-and-effect relationships.
4. Break the Chains
By this point, you’ll have multiple UDP storylines. Take two that are similar and focus on breaking the chains connecting them. This can be accomplished through inversion or neutralization.
- Inversion: Inversion changes the relationship between two UDPs so the cause is the same but the effect is the opposite. For example, if the UDP is "the more X happens, the more likely Y is to happen," inversion changes the equation to "the more X happens, the less likely Y is to happen." Using the printer example, inversion would consider: "What if the more a printer is used, the less likely it’s going to overheat?" Innovation requires an open mind. Just because a solution initially seems unlikely doesn't mean it can't be pursued further or spark additional ideas.
- Neutralization: Neutralization completely eliminates the cause-and-effect relationship between X and Y. This changes the above equation to "the more or less X happens has no effect on Y." In the case of the printers, neutralization would rephrase the relationship to "the more or less a printer is used has no effect on whether it overheats."
Even if creating a problem story doesn't provide a solution, it can offer useful context to users’ problems and additional ideas to be explored. Given that divergence is one of the fundamental practices of creative problem-solving, it’s a good idea to incorporate it into each tool you use.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a tool that can be highly effective when guided by the iterative qualities of the design thinking process. It involves openly discussing and debating ideas and topics in a group setting. This facilitates idea generation and exploration as different team members consider the same concept from multiple perspectives.
Hosting brainstorming sessions can result in problems, such as groupthink or social loafing. To combat this, leverage a three-step brainstorming method involving divergence and convergence :
- Have each group member come up with as many ideas as possible and write them down to ensure the brainstorming session is productive.
- Continue the divergence of ideas by collectively sharing and exploring each idea as a group. The goal is to create a setting where new ideas are inspired by open discussion.
- Begin the convergence of ideas by narrowing them down to a few explorable options. There’s no "right number of ideas." Don't be afraid to consider exploring all of them, as long as you have the resources to do so.
Alternate Worlds
The alternate worlds tool is an empathetic approach to creative problem-solving. It encourages you to consider how someone in another world would approach your situation.
For example, if you’re concerned that the printers you produce overheat and catch fire, consider how a different industry would approach the problem. How would an automotive expert solve it? How would a firefighter?
Be creative as you consider and research alternate worlds. The purpose is not to nail down a solution right away but to continue the ideation process through diverging and exploring ideas.
Continue Developing Your Skills
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader, learning the ropes of design thinking can be an effective way to build your skills and foster creativity and innovation in any setting.
If you're ready to develop your design thinking and creative problem-solving skills, explore Design Thinking and Innovation , one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.
About the Author
Why Curiosity Is Necessary for Creativity
Be more curious, and your creative spirit will prosper..
Posted February 11, 2022 | Reviewed by Davia Sills
- Curiosity is a clear foundation fror a more creative life.
- Curiosity is propelled by the desire and freedom to ask questions.
- Creativity is enhanced when we seek answers to divergent and self-initiated questions.
Curiosity is ingrained in our DNA . We are fascinated by the future; we are transfixed with the unknowns that surround us; we are amazed at all that we have to explore. The mysteries of the world have always been an impetus for us to peek and poke and prod for answers—learning something about our surroundings as well as about ourselves. Nowhere is this truer than when we watch the youngest among us—our children.
Children are known for sticking their fingers in places where young fingers should never be. They are famous for putting all manner of objects and substances in their mouths… everything from plastic blocks and the pet dog’s ears to any object in the room not nailed down or sufficiently weighted.
In adults, curiosity guides us toward a lifetime occupation, it drives us to search out potential mates, it stimulates us to travel to new destinations, and it holds our hand as we move into old age and the unknowns of the future. By and large, we are relentless question-askers. We want to know more than we know; we want to expand our horizons, try out the new and undiscovered, and pursue experiences that deepen our comprehension (and appreciation) of the world we live in.
But curiosity is much more than a simple search for answers. It is also the generation of possibilities. When we look at the world from multiple perspectives, we give ourselves permission to examine a wider range of resolutions and remedies. We open up our minds to explore the unexamined and unknown. Curiosity becomes a propellant for new opportunities and new options. Ian Leslie explains it this way: “…curiosity is essential to an exploring mind; it opens our eyes to the new and undiscovered, encouraging us to seek out new experiences and meet new people.”
It was Albert Einstein who famously said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” He also went on to say, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” For Einstein, curiosity was the engine that drove his creativity .
Curiosity is the catalyst for questioning, and questioning is what propels us to seek out the unfamiliar and the unknown. Curiosity is the fuel necessary for creativity to prosper and succeed. For, without questions, knowledge becomes stagnant and immovable. It does not move forward, nor does it have sufficient power to poke and peek and prod what may lie just below the surface or just slightly out of reach.
Strategies to enhance curiosity
Try these suggestions to promote creativity.
1. What if...?
For much of our lives, we are predisposed to look for a single solution to a single problem. We have been “brainwashed” to think that for every problem, there is one, and only one, way to solve that problem. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. When we consider that there might be a multitude of potential responses to any problem, we allow ourselves to break out of the “one-problem, one-answer” syndrome and begin to look for a host of potential solutions (and a host of potential ideas).
The strategy known as “What if...?” is a most powerful idea generator. Simply place the two words “What if” in front of questions you might normally pose when confronting a problem or challenge. “What-iffing” stimulates the brain to think in very divergent ways. It also moves you away from a tendency to look for single right answers.
Try some of the following “What if” questions. How many possible responses can you come up with for each one? Don’t think about the quality of your responses (that will severely limit your creativity); just think about the quantity of responses you could generate for each selected query:
- What if cats would come when you called them?
- What if you were required to choose your life expectancy when you reached age 21?
- What if a small red circle appeared in the middle of everyone’s forehead whenever they told a lie?
- What if every college student could be guaranteed a job immediately upon graduation?
- What if a car could be invented that would be immune to any type of accident?
- What if you had a watch that could predict what you would do over the next 24 hours?
- What if you could wash your clothes while still wearing them?
Asking “What if” questions propels us in new directions (cognitively speaking). From a mental standpoint, they help us move “outside the box” into dimensions typically not within our normal field of vision.
2. No wrong questions.
In a Zoom meeting, conference call, monthly department meeting, or any other kind of group discussion, try to avoid asking the following questions: “What is the answer?” or “What is the solution?” By asking those questions, you are severely limiting a multiplicity of responses simply because the group is now focused on finding the answer or the solution… rather than generating a vast array of potential answers or solutions. More appropriate questions might include: “What are some possibilities here?”; “How many different ways can we look at this?”; and “What are some of the impediments we have to overcome?”
In short, ask questions for which there may be a wide variety of responses, rather than questions which limit the number or type of responses. Anecdotal evidence demonstrates that we tend to think based on the types of questions we are asked. If we are only asked questions for which there is the expectation of a single answer, that’s all we’ll get. On the other hand, if we pose questions that might generate a multiplicity of responses, then the collective creativity of the group is enhanced considerably.
Leslie, Ian. Curious: The desire to know and why your future depends on it. (New York: Basic Books, 2014).
Fredericks, Anthony D. From Fizzle to Sizzle: The hidden forces crushing your creativity and how you can overcome them. (Indianapolis, IN: Blue River Press, 2022).
Anthony D. Fredericks, Ed.D. , is Professor Emeritus of Education at York College of Pennsylvania. His latest book is Two-Minute Habits: Small Habits, Dynamic Creativity.
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