Action planning

Box 9.2 Variables for developing new forms of transport

exist. Many alternatives will be discarded, but some are worth considering and may suggest new, practical, useful and feasible solutions.

Lateral thinking and PO. If a problem is tackled analytically, it is necessary to go into greater and greater depth and detail – this is vertical thinking. Creative thinking involves the examination of all options, including those that appear to be outside the given problem area – that is to say, lateral thinking. Edward de Bono has recommended deferring judgement by prefacing an idea with the letters “PO”, which stands for “give the idea a chance, don’t kill it too quickly, it may lead to useful ideas”.2

Checklists. These may be used as pointers to ideas. Lists may be particular to an area (e.g. marketing, design) or general. Osborn’s generalized checklist3 is well known; the main headings are: Put to other uses? Adapt? Modify? Minify? Substitute? Rearrange? Reverse? Combine? Checklists need to be used with care, as they can inhibit creativity by limiting the areas of inquiry.

The six thinking hats. This approach, developed by Edward de Bono, suggests the use of different thought processes for different purposes. Each hat has a different colour and is used as a symbol for a particular way of thinking (white – for assessing available and required information; red – for feelings and emotions about the issue; yellow – for looking at gains and advantages; black – for constraints, criticism and risks; green – for creativity, new ideas and possibilities; and blue – for pulling the whole thinking process together and managing it). Participants in creative thinking sessions are asked to actually wear these hats during the session when they are applying a particular way of thinking.4

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Management consulting

Breakthrough thinking. This approach, developed by Gerald Nadler and Shozo Hibino, provides “seven principles of creative problem-solving”.5 It does not follow a constant pattern of inquiry, but proposes a general flow of reasoning. Opportunities for a breakthrough must be continually sought in order to increase the probability of one of the three distinct types of breakthrough: (1) the brilliantly creative idea; (2) the solution that produces significantly better results; or (3) bringing to fruition the “good idea”, in order to make it real and implement an outstanding system or solution.

The search for new creativity techniques continues. For example, daydreaming has been suggested if long intensive work on a problem does not generate any innovative solution; in such a situation complete relaxation and virtual dreaming may bring about creative insight. The “group-genius” technique gathers in one group individuals who normally use different ways of creative thinking, thus forming a team able to combine these techniques.6 In summary, no matter which technique is used, the following four guidelines apply:

●Suspend judgement – Rule out premature criticism of any idea.

●Free-wheel – The wilder the ideas the better the results.

●Quantity – The more ideas the better.

●Cross-fertilize – Combine and improve on the ideas of others.

Barriers to creative thinking

In business and management practice, there is a need to struggle against barriers to creative thinking. Most people are educated and trained to think analytically, and only a few are trained to use their creative ability. Creative thinking is also restricted by:

–self-imposed barriers;

–belief that there is always one right answer;

–conformity or giving the expected answer;

–lack of effort and courage in challenging the obvious;

–evaluating too quickly;

–fear of looking foolish.

Awareness of the barriers to creative thinking, and a conscious effort to break them down in a creative situation, can open a vast area of new ideas or ways of tackling problems. Suspending judgement is a particularly pertinent example of how a better understanding of the creative thinking process can help towards a fuller use of creative abilities in seeking solutions to difficult management problems.

Respect for authority is a major barrier which is difficult to overcome. Even if a person perceived as an authority (a manager, a chief designer, a consultant, a writer, an older person) does not explicitly require conformity and uniformity,

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