Innovation The Way to Growth in Future

INNOVATION THE WAY TO GROWTH IN FUTURE

I.

INTRODUCTION
A. Innovation is the most powerful source and means of Economic Growth.
Innovation differs from Creativity. Creativity denotes Thinking of New Things
and New Ways. Innovation is Doing New Things. In fact, Innovation also
represents the core value that determines the Long-Term success of an
organization.
B. Research Studies revealed that, High-growth firms do a lot of Innovating,
while low-growth firms do little or none of it. Studies also reveal that the
best innovators arent lone geniuses. They are people who can take an
Idea that is obvious in one context and apply it in no-so-obvious ways to a
different context. The best Companies have learnt to systematize this
process. In fact, Innovation is critical to a companys Growth in Future.

II.

UNDERSTANDING INNOVATION
A. What is Innovation
1. Innovation is the Creative Generation and Application of New Ideas that
achieve significant improvement in a product, service, activity, initiative,
structure, programme or policy.
2. Innovation is giving rise to Ideas and bringing them to Life. Hatching Ideas is
a Creative part and is essential. After all no Ideas means no chance for
Innovation. Often, in common parlance, the words Creativity and Innovation
are used interchangeably. They should not be because while Creativity
implies coming up with ideas, it is the bringing ideas to life that makes
Innovation the distinct undertaking it is. In short, it can be thought of as a
formula

INNOVATION = CREATIVITY + CHANGE

3. To drive growth in an organization via Innovation requires that the Ideas
should do something to benefit Customers; create new value. In this
perspective, the Purpose of Innovation is to create new customerperceived value.
B. Growth through Innovation: Principles
1. The examining of the practices of Innovation in detail has shown that driving
the Growth through Innovation is possible in organization by following certain
Principles.

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These Principles are:

Innovation must be approached as a discipline
Innovation must be approached comprehensively
Innovation must include an organized, systematic, and continual
search for new opportunities
Innovation must involve everyone in the organization
Innovation must be customer-centered
2. (a) To practice innovation as a discipline means first and foremost that you
distinguish between creativity (coming up with ideas) and innovation
(bringing them to top and bottom-line results for the company).Teaching
Innovation as a Discipline involves showing people
- how to think through their Ideas and to know which ones are aligned
with the Goals of the Business, and
- how to champion and sell their Ideas, how to find resources, and
- how to overcome obstacles and build coalitions of support
(b) Innovation cant be confined to one department or an elite group of star
performers. It must permeate the company, and it must encompass new
products, services, processes, strategies, business models, distribution
channels, and markets. It must become part of the DNA of the entire
organization. A comprehensive approach to innovation means that it
becomes the responsibility and way of operating of business units
and functional departments, whether purchasing, operations,
finance, or human resources, just as must as it is for new product
development or marketing.
(c) Given the torrid pace of change, the rapid commoditization of products,
and the convergence of strategies, firms that rely on yesterdays ideas,
yesterdays products, and yesterdays assumptions are clearly vulnerable.
This is precisely why firms that make innovation a growth-driving
discipline have specific systems and practices in place that help them at
the so-called fuzzy front end of the innovation process, where future
possibilities first come into focus. It is being systematic about
discovering future opportunities.
(d) In most organizations today, new ideas are almost always directed from
the top down, rather than from the bottom up. Not only do most
organizations not expect their people to innovate; they dont really expect
them to think. Not all ideas will be useful. Some will be redundant, selfserving, and trivial. But firms that invest in building an innovation
capability, and what have come to be called idea management systems
to capture ideas, have discovered that this dormant creative potential
can be awakened, managed, and translated into a new tool for
driving growth.

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(e) Innovation-adept firms live and breathe the customer. They also know that
creating value for the customer is the only route to success. Todays
customer is more sophisticated, with more information available at the
touch of a keyboard to compare and contrast an ever-increasing array of
value propositions, the discipline of innovation means learning to listen to
customers and potential customers in new ways. It means inviting the
voice of the customer to permeate the design and implementation of
new concepts, if those ideas are ultimately going to drive growth.

III.

INNOVATION: TYPES, DEGREES AND APPROACH

A. Types of Innovation
There are Three Types of Innovation viz., Product, Process and Strategy
according to the matrix as can be seen from Figure below:

Product

Process

Strategy

Breakthrough

Substantial

Incremental

Figure 1: The Innovation Opportunity Grid

In the highly competitive, rapidly evolving environment of the 21st century,
achieving rates of growth that are uncommon in industry means that you must be
able to manage innovation in these three distinct arenas. Each arena is critical,
and being adept in only one of them is likely to be insufficient to achieve the
growth payoff from innovation. Lets take a careful look at these arenas.
1. Type 1: Product Innovation
Product/service innovation is the result of bringing to life a new way to solve
the customers problem that benefits both the customer and the company.
2. Type 2: Process Innovation
Process innovations increase bottom-line profitability, reduce costs, raise
productivity, and increase employee job satisfaction. The customer also

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benefits from this type of innovation by virtue of a stronger, more consistent

product or service value delivery. In Manufacturing Companies, Process
Innovations include such things as Integrating New Manufacturing Methods
and Technologies that lead to Advantages in Cost, Quality, Cycle-Time,
Development Time and Speed of Delivery.
3. Type 3: Strategy Innovation
Strategy Innovation is about challenging existing industry methods of creating
customer value in order to meet newly emerging customer needs, add
additional value, and create new markets and new customer groups for the
company. Strategy innovation results when your firm changes the customer
groups it targets and how it goes to market, meaning how it distributes its
offerings to end customers. Much of the highly visible innovation occurring in
business today is strategy innovation, and much of it involves the exploitation
of new technology.
Process Innovation is important for the Company Growth and will continue
to be, as without Process Excellence, Product or Strategy Innovation is
impossible to Implement.
B. Degrees of Innovation
Not all innovations in these three arenas accelerate growth to the same extent.
The degree to which an innovation adds value or creates new value for
customers is the degree to which it adds to a companys bottom line. What
innovation-adept companies strive for, in addition to ongoing processes that
keep the pipeline full, are High-Potential Ideas in each of these arenas Ideas
that change the game; Ideas that change the rules of competition; Ideas that
move the growth needle! Not all innovations, of course, have an equal
impact on customers, and certainly not on a companys rate of growth or
wealth-creating ability.
1. While small or even insignificant in degree of financial impact to the firms
bottom line, Incremental Improvements can engender greater customer
satisfaction, increase product or service efficacy and otherwise have
positive impact. Similarly, Process Innovations of incremental degree
increase productivity and lower cost for the firm. Incremental Process
Innovation has gotten a bad rap in recent years on the assumption that
incrementalism is the enemy of genuine innovation. One reason for this is
that in many firms, incremental innovation has replaced the quest for more
significant innovation those that add more value to customers, and as a
result, bolster the business accordingly. Incremental innovations are often
quickly matched by competitors, which cancel out any first mover benefit to
the initiating firms bottom line. Worse, if a firm is spending its time thinking
merely about incremental innovation, it probably isnt spending time
reinventing the product category or attacking its own value proposition with a
radically improved one.
2. Substantial Innovations are mid-level in significance both to customers who
benefit from them and to the company that believes they will significantly help
the firm grow and create new wealth. Substantial Innovations of the
product/service variety fall short of being breakthroughs, but enable and

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ensure that the organization meets or exceeds its goals to grow the
business, increase market share, and lower its cost of doing business
(Substantial-Level Process Innovation). Substantial improvements in your
existing products and services or introducing new-to-the company products
and services represent significant improvements for both the service
providing company and for the customer.
3. Break-thorough Innovations are New Products, Services or Change in
Strategy that yield a significant increase in Revenues and Net Profits.
Process Improvements that generate a significant reduction in Costs or an
equivalent increase in Productive outputs are also Break-throughs. Breakthrough Inventions can sometimes lead to Breakthrough Innovations.
C. Approach for 21st Century Enterprise-wide Innovation
1. In leading Organizations, Innovation is no more approached in traditional
ways but, is approached as an Enterprise-Wide Process and as a Specific
Vital Discipline.
2. These Companies have an organized, comprehensive system for Identifying
Disruptive Changes or for Finding Future. They have Leading Indicators to
systematically Measure Innovation, besides lagging Indicators to measure
past performance.
3. These Companies realize well that to Accelerate Growth means to Accelerate
Innovation, which means Accelerating Idea Development and
Implementation. Ideas, no matter what their source of origin, are Managed in
New and Innovative Ways that ensure that more ideas will lead to Better
Ideas; and better ideas at every step of development process will lead to a
Better Average of Successful Launches, and Products, Services, Processes
and Strategic Changes that impact the Companies Top and Bottom Lines.

IV.

EXAMPLES OF INNOVATION
As already stated, Innovation is widely held to be a vital component of a healthy
organization. Innovation enables an organization to respond to changing markets
and thus retain its competitiveness. Innovation in fact, is a mindset. It is the most
important trait of successfully growing organizations. Let us now discuss a few
examples of some such companies.

A. Example 1: 3 M Company
1. The product portfolio of 3M company is not particularly exciting the most
well known being the Scotch tape. In fact the name 3M, which stands for
Minnesota Minerals and Mining Company, comes from the initial business

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this company entered, a business that almost immediately ended in failure.

Since then this company has evolved so rapidly, that it has become a leading
innovator of products, ranging from the mundane to the breathtakingly
complex. This has come about because of a conscious orientation within
the company to encourage risk and the entrepreneurial urge in its
employees.
2. Take the example of the simple post-it notepad that is so ubiquitous
nowadays. It started off as a failed experiment at making a better adhesive.
If you are a company in the business of making adhesives then when you are
faced with an adhesive that does not bond very well the immediate instinct
would be to shelve the product as a bad invention. In the case of 3M this is
not what happened. An employee with imagination thought up the
brilliant idea of using the poor adhesive to make easily removable note
pads-the post-it notepad. Nothing like it had existed before. But today the
post-it notepad is such a wildly successful product that it has literally
become the icon for the modern office.
3. The CEO of 3M, William McKnight, built a company where tinkering by
employees is encouraged and accidents are allowed to happen. What is
more important is that the ideas generated by this tinkering are
championed by the management into products that meet real human
needs. A book on visionary companies has called 3M a mutation machine.
This term is particularly apt for a company that uses innovation to drive its
own evolution.

B. Example 2: Glaxo
1. This example, that of Glaxo (now GSKB), points to how an innovative
approach to drug development led to a dramatic reduction in the time it
took to bring a drug to the market. In 1978, Glaxo was, believe it or not, a
minor player in the international pharmaceuticals business. At that time
SmithKline had just introduced the histamine receptor antagonist Cimetidine
for the treatment of peptic ulcer. Cimetidine was hailed as a revolutionary
advancement for this disease. Realizing the market potential for this class of
drugs Glaxo took on the challenge of developing a safer and superior version
of Cimetidine. Soon they had a candidate ranitidine. With Cimetidine well
entrenched in the marketplace, and the possibility of Merck and Lilly coming
out with their own versions it was critical that Glaxo bring ranitidine to the
market as fast as possible. A late introduction would have meant, at best,
a 10% market share.
2. So the Glaxo researchers knew what they had to do bring ranitidine to
the market fast. Most of the time taken in drug development is on long-term
toxicity studies, done sequentially in 2 or 3 different species of laboratory
animals. The Glaxo researchers decided to compress the time taken by
running the toxicity studies in different species in parallel. Normally this is not
done because of the possibility of the drug failing one of the toxicity

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milestones in which case all other studies become worthless. Instead of

following the traditional paradigm the Glaxo researchers took a
calculated risk. They innovated the process of drug development.
3. Ranitidine made it through the pipeline in a record time of 5 years, when
the industry average was 12. This put it well ahead of products being
developed by Merck and Lilly. When it was time to release the drug Glaxo
unleashed one of the most aggressive marketing campaigns ever known.
The rest is history. Ranitidine became a blockbuster drug for Glaxo eclipsing
the success of cimetidine, and today Glaxo ranks among the best
pharmaceutical companies of the world.
C. Example 3: Genentech
1. Biotechnology is rapidly becoming an important source of therapeutic
product. In 1973, the technique of gene cloning had just been announced to
the world. Herbert Boyer was one of the scientists who invented it. Robert
Swanson a biochemist turned venture capitalist recognized the latent
opportunity in the invention. He realized that the gene cloning technique
could be used to artificially insert genes into bacteria to make them express
proteins human proteins like insulin. In effect bacteria could be used as
factories for an unlimited supply of scarce human proteins. Most scientists
scoffed at the possibility of the idea becoming reality in the near future.
Swanson discussed it with Boyer and convinced him to join forces to start a
company, Genentech that would commercialize it.
2. Exactly five years later they succeeded in getting bacteria to produce human
insulin. On the day of the announcement Boyers $500 investment in
Genentech was worth $80 million. The success of Genentech has spawned
an entire industry in the US. Boyer, left to himself, may never have
conceived of putting his invention to practical use. It took a savvy
entrepreneur like Swanson to innovate the technique to its fullest
potential.
The three examples exemplify different routes to Innovation. In the case of 3M it is
organizational values that encourage the entrepreneurial instincts of the
employees to exploit every idea however trivial or outlandish they may seem. In
the case of Glaxo it was an innovative process the shortening of drug
development times through parallel drug development, that established an early
advantage for Glaxos product over its rivals. In the case of Genentech it took a
venture capitalist to dream the possibilities in a laboratory technique. In all
three cases the common thread is of someone with vision who saw a different
way of doing things.
Indeed this is precisely the path of innovation --- DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY.

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V.

SUMMING UP
A. To sum up, Innovation means the coming up with ideas and bringing them to life.
The purpose of Innovation is to create Customer-Perceived Value. To drive
growth in an organization via Innovation calls for, that your Ideas should do
something to benefit CUSTOMERS.
Growth through Innovation in an
organization is possible by following certain principles viz.,

1. Innovation must be approached as a DISCIPLINE;

2. It must be approached COMPREHENSIVELY;
3. It should include Organized, systematic and continual search for NEW
OPPORTUNITIES;
4. It should INVOLVE EVERYONE in the Organization and
5. Very importantly, it should be CUSTOMER-ORIENTED.

B. Innovation, in fact, is a MINDSET. There are 3 types of Innovation --- Product,

Process and Strategy. But not all Innovations in these three areas accelerate
growth to the same extent. The DEGREE to which an Innovation adds Value or
creates new value for Customers is the degree to which it adds to a companys
bottom line. Innovation in successful organization responds to changing
markets and thus retains their competitiveness. Examples of three companies
viz., 3M, Glaxo and Genentec are given where Innovation played a vital role and
exemplify different routes. In all the three cases, the common thread is some
one with VISION, who saw a different way of doing things.

Precisely, this is the Path of Innovation, DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY.

*****

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UNDERSTANDING CREATIVITY
I.

INTRODUCTION
Creativity is defined as looking at things from new and different perspectives
accompanied by some level of critical thinking or evaluation, a process
characterized by originality and imagination, resulting in the generation of ideas
that are both novel and useful. Creativity of employees is a starting point for
organizational Innovation, which is the successful implementation of novel,
appropriate ideas. And innovation is absolutely vital for the long-term sustenance
and growth of organizations, particularly in the current context of rapidly changing
technology, intensifying competition, demanding customers and the ever-increasing
need to do more with less. Translating creative ideas into innovative products,
processes, practices, procedures, systems, etc. inevitably necessitates change - a
movement from the current state to a new state. Hence, coupled with inspiring
creativity from employees, leading and managing change is emerging as a core
Managerial Competency in the 21st century.

II. CREATIVE ABILITIES

Creativity refers to the mental orientation and capability of persons to evolve and
develop new and superior solutions to problems that are regarded as complex,
ambiguous or unclear. Creativity is manifested along four dimensions or forms of
mental capability. These four elements of creativity are inextricably linked with the
individuals knowledge, experience, and imagination on the one hand, and high level
of motivation and interest towards problem-solving, on the other.
The four Component Elements or Abilities of Creativity are:
1. The ability to generate a large number of relevant ideas relatively rapidly with
reference to a given problem/situation/issue under consideration. It is termed
as Conceptual Fluency.
2. The ability to shift perspectives/viewpoints, to move from one frame of
reference to another, and to change or vary the approaches to solutions to
problems. It is termed as Conceptual Flexibility.
3. The ability to produce unusual, novel, answers to questions, response to
problems, and interpretation of issues, situations and events. It is termed as
Originality.
4. The ability to challenge, and find meaning, in complex and ambiguous
problems/situations, and to enjoy the efforts to analyse, integrate, clarify, and
resolve them. It is termed as Complexity Orientation.

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III. CREATIVE AND ANALYTICAL THINKING

Since Creativity finds its roots in THINKING, and Creative Thinking requires Applied
Imagination, it is necessary to know the distinction between Creative Thinking (CT)
and Analytical Thinking (AT). Analytical Thinking is in fact the traditional LOGICAL
THINKING. It starts from a set of facts, rules, some assumptions and premises. By
doing something logically we normally mean that we are methodically working
through a rational series of steps in the hope of systematically converging on our
desired objective.
The distinct Characteristic Features of Creative Thinking and Analytical Thinking
are:

Creative Thinking (C T)

Analytical Thinking (A T)

Discontinuity

Continuity

Concerned with Change and Movement

Concerned with choosing and stability

Generative (moves from one concept to Selective (seeks to judge)

the other to find a better one)
Looks for Questions

Looks for Answers

Says "generate other ways of looking at Says "this is the right way of looking at
things"
things."
Thinking is Provocative

Thinking is Analytical

Interested in, where an idea leads to

Used to MAKE something happen

Interested in, where an idea comes

from
Used to describe what has happened

One makes deliberate jumps

One thing follows directly from another

It is open-ended

It is a closed procedure.

But in practice, both Creative Thinking and Analytical Thinking are required. Creative
Thinking is concerned with the first stage of thinking, the stage of patternising and
perceptual choice. Analytical Thinking is concerned with the second-stage of
processing and working out. Creative Thinking is concerned with choosing concepts
and Analytical Thinking with using them. Creative Thinking requires Analytical
Thinking to select and develop the ideas that are generated. Similarly, Analytical
Thinking requires Creative Thinking to establish an effective starting point. Thus,
although the two types of Thinking - Creative Thinking and Analytical Thinking - are
distinct, they are not substitutes; they are COMPLEMENTARY.

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IV. THE THREE COMPONENTS OF CREATIVITY

Many managers feel that creativity is the way that people think or how inventively
they approach problems. Indeed, thinking imaginatively is one part of creativity, but
two others are also essential. These are Expertise and Motivation. Research done
recently in select successful organizations revealed clearly that people are most
creative when they have the three aspects in them viz., Expertise, Creative Thinking
Skills and Intrinsic Motivation.
Expertise means knowledge, experience, skills and talents. It encompasses
everything that a person knows and can do in the broad domain of his or her work.
By creative thinking skills -- it means the ways of coming up with fresh
perspectives on problems and ways of approaching work from new angles. Intrinsic
Motivation means a combination of one's own internal drive and the environmental
factors that support it. The Figure below depicts the three components of creativity.

The Three Components of Creativity

Expertise is, in a
word, knowledge-technical, procedural,
and intellectual

Creative
Thinking
Skills

Expertise
Creativity

CreativeThinking Skills
Determine how
flexibly and
imaginatively
people approach
problems

*****
Motivation

Not all Motivation is created equal. An inner passion to solve the problem at hand leads
to solutions. This component -- called Intrinsic Motivation -- is the one that can be most
immediately influenced by the work environment.

*****

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RECOGNIZING BLOCKS TO CREATIVITY

I.

INTRODUCTION
A. In the Creative Process, most people are unsuccessful because they attempt to
use Logical and not Creative Thinking Skills on the perceived problem. They
make assumptions that frame the problem and constrain them from finding a right
solution. In fact, the most critical barriers to creative outcomes are our own
ASSUMPTIONS. Individuals make false assumptions about problems in order to
fit the problems into their previously established Problem-Solving/DecisionMaking Process. When our logical processes fail, creative solutions often lie
outside our self-imposed assumptions.
B. Individual choice is systematically affected by the ways in which problems are
framed. And many of the assumptions that we make about how to solve the
problems, arise from the culture and environment that surround us. A general
pattern that emerges from examining the various blocks to Creativity is that each
of them leads us to seek a single or limited set of right answers, which causes us
to abbreviate our decision-making process prematurely. These blocks or
constraints to creativity can be classified as - Perceptual, Emotional, Cultural,
Environmental and Intellectual.

II. PERCEPTUAL BLOCKS

A. Stereotyping
Perceptual blocks result from the way the mind tries to manage all of the data it
receives from our senses. Since it would be impossible to remember every detail
of every experience, our mind only stores in its long-term memory 'important'
information. It appears to do this by looking for patterns in the data it receives that
will permit it to 'pigeon hole' new information along with similar experiences.
When we recall this information we get an imprecise image of the original
experience with the irrelevant details removed. Consequently, we often see only
what we expect to see, based on the pattern of our previous experience.
Unfortunately our attitudes, opinions and beliefs affect our perceptions as well.
The tendency we have to notice certain things, of particular interest to us, more
than others (mental set) only serves to reinforce these preconceived notions.
If we take our stereotyped memories too literally we may overlook a significant
feature of a new problem situation because we do not remember it (as being
important) on some previous occasion, or incorrectly assume something exists or
is significant simply because that is the way we remember things were the last
time.

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B. Difficulty in Isolating the Problem

It is often true that you cant see the wood for the trees. We can experience
difficulty in isolating the problem from the masses of irrelevant data surrounding
it. If we allow ourselves to become enmeshed in these superficial details our
solutions may be inadequate, or worse, we may fail to recognize the real
problem altogether.

C. Tunnel Vision
All too often when we start to solve a problem we make assumptions about it:
we impose inappropriate boundaries or constraints on the problem situation, and
hence limitations on what we can do about it. These boundaries and constraints
may exist in reality - or they may not. As a result, firstly we may have difficulty in
seeing a shared problem from someone else's viewpoint. Secondly, we may be
unable to see our own problem in a number of different ways. Whether we are
working alone or with others it is important for us to get different perspectives on
the problem situation to ensure that we are actually trying to solve the right one.

D. Saturation
Extremely familiar inputs from our senses are often disregarded by our
conscious mind to prevent 'overloading' it. Think of something you see everyday,
your television set perhaps, and try to draw it. Did you get every detail correct?
Tape- record an evening at home with the family: do you remember that clock
ticking on the wall and the aircraft or bus passing by outside? We may overlook
these everyday phenomena when one of them, is, or could give us a clue to, the
actual cause of a problem. Our senses frequently work in an interconnected
manner. Failing to use all of them efficiently may cause us to miss an important
part of the problem.

III. EMOTIONAL BLOCKS

A. Obsessive Desire For Security And Order
A desire for security and order is a common trait. We develop habits to make our
lives easier, more predictable, more secure and free from anxiety. An extreme
desire for this state can result in an intolerance of ambiguity which inhibits
creativity. We must be able to tolerate chaos, to immerse ourselves in the mess
of the problem situation, in order to resolve it.

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B. Fear Of Making A Mistake

No one likes appearing nave or foolish and being laughed at as a consequence.
Our self image is important to us and can depend heavily on what we feel other
people think of us. Making mistakes is a natural part of learning but we are often
afraid of making mistakes because we believe that others will think less of us.
The only thing about making mistakes that we should be criticized for is not
learning something from them.

C. Unwillingness To Take A Risk

Although there is some debate over what precisely motivates us, a common
factor seems to be a desire for self-fulfilment. Unfortunately, attaining this
invariably involves taking a risk. It may be relatively harmless or could involve
something as drastic as our professional credibility financial ruin of life itself. So
we tend not to take any risks.

D. Lack of Motivation
Since problem solving is a risky business, we need to be highly motivated to get
involved. For some it is the expectancy of the exciting mental challenge of the
problem, for others the chance to pursue a personal interest. Sometimes the
possibility of monetary reward can be the stimulus. But without sufficient
motivation of some kind we may well fail at our problem solving.

E. Trying To Solve Problems Too Quickly

Some people are always rushing around frantically trying to get things done
quickly, trying to get things back to normal as soon as possible. This may be due
to emotional insecurity or perhaps a desire to hide incompetence. The danger is
that by rushing at things we start with the first or most obvious problem definition,
rather than the most appropriate one. We may also allocate insufficient time to
reflect on our ideas or rush our evaluation thus risking the premature rejection of
unusual ideas. We are likely to end up with an inadequate solution. We may
even solve the wrong problem.
IV. CULTURAL BLOCKS
A. Problem Solving Is A Serious Business
We have a tendency to believe that problem solving should require considerable
mental effort. If we are not actually experiencing discomfort we are obviously
not working hard enough. Problem solving is usually something we have to do
rather than choose to do. Yet being comfortable and relaxed may well be the
best way to approach solving a problem. Being too serious can lead to stress
which will in turn decrease creativity, productivity and effectiveness.

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B. Fun And Playfulness Are Only For Children!

Laughter at a business meeting is often taken to indicate that group members
are not taking things seriously enough. For adults, work and leisure are normally
disjoint activities, yet Creative Problem Solving (CPS) can and should be fun.
Indeed child-like mental playfulness can considerably enhance creativity. J.G.
March (1976) wrote: Playfulness is the deliberate, temporary relaxation of rules
in order to explore the possibilities of alternative rules. Playfulness allows
experimentation which is very important in CPS.

C. Logic Is Better Than Intuition!

A popular myth is that something that can be proved by scientific method has
more merit than something felt intuitively to be correct. We have a tendency to
overvalue logic, objectivity, quantitative data and practicality and undervalue
intuition and subjective quality judgements. Effective problem solvers need a
good balance between the two types of thinking.

D. Tradition Is Better Than Changes!

Some cultures put much time and effort into preserving traditional ways of life.
An over-protectionist attitude to tradition, which gives rise to a dislike, distrust or
fear of change, inhibits creativity and progress. Without new ideas we stagnate.

V. ENVIRONMENTAL BLOCKS
A. Organizational Taboos
Typical of organizational taboos are certain ideas, policies or processes that
were tried once before and which resulted in disaster. Everyone takes delight in
putting right the innocent newcomer who dares propose such a discredited
solution, but what if this solution (perhaps in a modified form) is now feasible and
we refuse to reconsider it.

B. Reluctance to Implement Ideas

Any unwillingness by an organization to implement new ideas will be frustrating
and dampen the creative effort. If little or nothing ever actually gets done about
the situations we are trying to improve, we will be less likely to try so hard next
time around.

C. Lack of Group Support

To produce an environment that supports creative thinking the group dynamics

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must be appropriate. We need the emotional support, co-operation and approval

of our fellow group members. All need to be committed to the groups objectives
and must be willing to sacrifice their own position or opinions for the common
good.

D. Lack of Communication
Getting access to the data we need to solve a problem usually involves us in
talking to other people. We may also feel that they too should be involved in our
problem solving and that we should get together for this purpose. Inability to
achieve these things hinders problem solving as well as leading to frustration
and yet more stress. An organizations structure will have implications with
regard to the structure and efficiency of its communication channels and the
ease with which we can gather information and meet with others.

E. Distractions
Some organizations will take employees away from the office when problem
solving has to be done. This is to combat the common environmental block of
physical distractions such as phone-calls and interruptions. Obviously
distractions can only hinder problem solving, but one persons distraction (for
example loud music) may be an essential element of anothers ideal working
environment.

VI. INTELLECTUAL BLOCKS

A. Incorrect Choice Of Language, Skills And Strategies
There are a variety of problem solving languages at our disposal, for example,
visualization (using mental images), verbalization and mathematics. A given
problem is often easier to solve using one rather than another. And so we
should experiment with different problem solving languages.
Using a particular problem solving skill too exclusively or at the wrong time can
hinder problem solving. Often, it is appropriate to use creative thinking to open a
problem up when first starting to solve that particular problem. Later, logical or
analytical skills may be an appropriate way of refining the solution. Using
analytical skills too early in the process of resolution can be a mistake. When
using a particular problem-solving strategy we must be prepared to use them
flexibility.

B. Lack Of Correct Information And Inadequate Means Of Expression

It is usually important to have all the possible relevant data and to sift through it
looking for directions, implications, limitations and connections, before
embarking on problem solving.

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Accurate communication with another human being is always difficult. Many

factors increase this difficulty such as the use of jargon, giving quantitative
information in written rather than tabular or graphical form, describing something
in words when a small sketch would illustrate the object being described more
simply and quickly, using a complex photograph instead of a simple diagram
emphasizing its important features. We have to always make sure that we are
using the most effective method of communication. Paraphrasing back to
someone what they have said to you is an effective way of ensuring that you
have understood their idea or possible solution.

VII. REVIVAL OF CREATIVE THINKING

Under different blocks mentioned and discussed above, we have seen how and
why our Creative talents have become inhibited. What then can we do to improve
matters? The advice is offered in some Ground Rules which are based on the
findings of people working in the field of CREATIVITY.
The Ground Rules For Creativity
1. Welcome every idea, no matter how wild it is as it has some merit. If nothing
else it will fire our or someone else's imagination.
2. Hold back on criticizing an idea -- remember that it is difficult enough to get an
idea past our 'self-censor'. Don't be too quick to criticize somebody else's idea.
And make sure you understand another person's idea before you evaluate it.
3. Remember that we always have some knowledge or experience, which can help
us solve a given problem.
4. Don't be afraid to indulge in some 'childlike' behavior - as in wishing, imagination,
mental playfulness, etc.,
5. Never forget that other people perceive problem situations in ways different from
you -- treat this as an advantage, a way of helping you get different viewpoints,
to help you establish which is the most appropriate one to work with.

6. Always think of a mistake or failure as an opportunity to learn, not as a thing we

did 'wrong'. If we just forget about it, we could do it again.

*****

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TECHNIQUES FOR ENHANCING CREATIVE THINKING

I.

INTRODUCTION
Man owes his success to his creativity. No one doubts the need for it. It is most
useful in good times and essential in bad. But how can one achieve it? We always
admire it but complain about its elusiveness. It is regarded as a magic gift, a divine
flash of inspiration, a chance coming together of extra-ordinary circumstances. It
seems that one can do nothing about creativity except await it passively. It usually
does come about in this passive manner -- but only because we have never
developed the type of thinking that encourages it, viz., Lateral Thinking. The
purpose of Lateral Thinking is the generation of new ideas and the escape from old
ones.

II. THE TWO BASIC PROCESSES OF LATERAL THINKING

Lateral thinking involves two basic processes: ESCAPE and PROVOCATION

A. Escape
1. Recognition of dominant or polarizing ideas.
2. The deliberate search for alternative ways of looking at things or doing things.
The search is for alternative ways not for the best way.
3. Refusal to accept assumptions or to take things for granted.
4. An attempt to escape from concept prisons: dis-concepting or un-concepting.
5. An attack on arrogance attached to any way of looking at things.
6. The realization that beneath the current way of looking at things lie other
alternative ways waiting to be discovered.
7. The need to enlarge the problem context, to shift attention to other areas, to shift
the entry point.
8. Recognition of the danger of being blocked by adequate ideas that prevent the
development of better ones.

B. Provocation
1. The separation of the generation of ideas from their judgment or evaluation.
2. Looking at an idea to see where it can lead to or what it can trigger off rather
than to see if it is correct.
3. The making of unjustified leaps and then catching up with them.
4. It may be necessary to be wrong at some stage in order to reach the right
solution.
5. There may not be a reason for saying something until after it has been said.
The justification for a change may be apparent only after the change has
been made.

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6. You may have to be at the top of a mountain in order to find the best way up.
When an idea has come about, hindsight analysis may fully justify it.
7. The use of chance as a provocative source of discontinuity.
8. Movement for the sake of movement in order to generate a direction instead
of to follow one.
The processes of "Escape" and "Provocation" involve overcoming our "blocks" to
creativity, and "enhancing" our Creative Thinking.

III. THINKING FLUENTLY

A. Defer Judgment While Generating Ideas
1. When looking for ideas, either alone or with a group, it is essential not to
judge, evaluate, or criticize ideas as they are generated. Nothing kills
creativity more quickly or more absolutely than critical, judgmental thinking.
The secret of deferring judgment while generating a lot of ideas is to separate
your thinking into two stages: possibility thinking and practicality thinking.
Possibility thinking is the raw generation of ideas, without judgment or
evaluation of any kind. You turn off your internal critic. Your internal critic is
that part of your mind that is constantly telling you why something cant work
or cant be done. The strategy is to generate as many ideas, both obvious
and novel, as possible, without criticism of any kind.
2. After youve created the maximum number of ideas possible, you change
your strategy to practicality thinking, the evaluation and judgment of ideas, to
find the ideas that have the most value to you. Possibility thinking and
practicality thinking are two separate mental operations, as depicted below:

No Judgement

Possibility
Thinking

No Criticism
No Evaluation

Practicality
Thinking

No Self Talk

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B. Generate as Many Ideas as Possible

1. Increasing your idea production requires conscious effort. Suppose you were
asked to spend three minutes thinking of alternative uses for the common
bricks. No doubt, you would come up with some uses, but not very many.
The average adult comes up with three to six ideas. However, if you were
asked to list forty uses for the brick as fast as possible, you would have quite
a few in a short period of time. A quota and time limit can focus your energy
in a way that guarantees profluency of thought.
2. The quota is not only more effective at focusing your energy, but also a more
productive method of generating alternatives. To meet the quota, you find
yourself listing all the usual uses for a brick (build a wall, fireplace, outdoor
barbecue, and so on) as well as listing everything that comes to mind
(anchor, projectiles in riots, ballast, device to hold down newspaper, a tool for
leveling dirt, material for sculptures, doorstop, and so on) as you stretch your
imagination to meet the quota. By causing us to exert effort, a quota allows
us to generate more imaginative alternatives than we otherwise would. Initial
ideas are usually poorer in quality than later ideas. Familiar and safe
responses lie closest to the surface of our consciousness, and therefore, are
naturally thought of first. Creative thinking depends on continuing the flow of
ideas long enough to purge the common, habitual ones and produce the
unusual and imaginative.

C.

List and Elaborate Your Ideas

1. When you give yourself a quota, you force yourself to list your ideas. List
making will help you permanently capture your thoughts and ideas, speed up
your thinking, keep you focused, and will force you to dwell upon alternatives.
Listing ideas also helps you remember them. Its also surprisingly powerful,
because it utilizes the compulsive side of most of us in a way that makes us
into more fluent and flexible thinkers.
2. Elaborate on your ideas by applying a checklist of nine creative-thinking
principles :
S = Substitute?
C = Combine?
A = Adapt?
M = Magnify? Modify?
P = Put to other uses?
E = Eliminate?
R = Rearrange? Reverse?
SCAMPER is based on the notion that everything new is some addition or
modification of something that already exists. You take a subject and change it
into something else. Isolate the subject you want to think about and ask the
checklist of questions to see what new ideas and thoughts emerge.

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IV. MAKING NOVEL COMBINATIONS: DA VINCI'S TECHNIQUE

A. Illustration of Da Vinci's Technique
1. Leonardo da Vinci's grotesque heads and famous caricatures are examples
of the random variations of the human face made of different combinations of
a set number of features. He would first list facial characteristics (heads,
eyes, nose, etc.) and then, beneath each, list variations. Next he would mix
and match the different variations to create original grotesque caricatures.
Below is a hypothetical example of a box similar to one that da Vinci might
have constructed:
Heads

Eyes

Noses

Mouths

Chins

bullet

goggle-eyed

parrot-beak

pinched

double chin

skeletal

sunken

hooked

harelipped

slack-jaw

dome-like

bulging

thick-snub

wafer-thin

latern-jaw

beetle-brow

squinty

beak-like

drooping

sagging

bell-shaped

beady

cigar-shape

blubberlipped

angular

egg-shaped

slanty

lumpy

bow-like

chunky

furrowed

swollen

Broad

Beefy

projecting

forehead

red eyes

fibrous

twisted

receding

While the number of items in each category is relatively small, there are
thousands of possible combinations of the listed features. The circled
features indicate only one out of thousands of different groupings of features
that could be used for an original grotesque head.
2. Leonardo da Vinci would analyze the structure of a subject and then separate
the major parameters ("parameter" means a characteristic, factor, variable, or
aspect). He would then list variations for each parameter and combine them.
By coming up with different combinations of the variations, you create new
ideas.

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B. Applying Da Vinci's Technique

Applying Da Vinci's Technique involves the following procedure:
1. Specify the challenge.
2. Separate the parameters of the challenge. The parameters are the
fundamental framework of the challenge. You choose the nature and the
number of parameters that you wish to use in your box. A good question to
ask yourself when selecting parameters is Would the challenge still exist
without the parameter Im considering adding to the box?"
3. Below each parameter, list as many variations for the parameters as you
wish. The complexity of the box is determined by the number of parameters
and the number of variations used. The more variations and the more variety
to the variations of each parameter, the more likely the box will contain a
viable idea. For instance, a box with ten parameters, each of which has ten
variations, produces ten billion combinations of the parameters and the
variations.
4. When you have finished listing variations, make random runs through the
parameters and the variations for the parameters, selecting one or more from
each column, and assemble the combinations into entirely new forms.
During this step, all of the combinations can be examined with respect to the
challenge to be solved. If you are working with ten or more parameters, you
may find it helpful to randomly examine the entire group, and then gradually
restrict yourself to portions that appear to be particularly fruitful.

V. CONNECTING THE UNCONNECTED

A. Thinking Unpredictably
It is impossible to think unpredictably by looking harder and longer in the same
direction. When your attention is focused on a subject, a few patterns are
highly activated in your brain and dominate your thinking. These patterns
produce only predictable ideas, no matter how hard you try. In fact, the harder
you try, the stronger the same patterns become. If, however, you change your
focus and think about something that is not related, different, unusual patterns
are activated. If one of these newer patterns relates to one of the first patterns,
a connection will be made. This connection will lead to the discovery of an
original idea or thought, what some people call divine inspiration.

B. Random Words Technique

1. This technique provides a means of producing blind variation of ideas
through the use of random words to produce a rich variety of unpredictable
ideas. In order to get original ideas, you need a way to create new sets of
patterns in your mind. You need one pattern reacting with another set of

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patterns to create a new pattern. The random word technique generates an

almost infinite source of new patterns to react with the patterns in your mind.
Random words provide rich sources of connection-making material.
2. The use of random word stimulation is the most definite of the methods for
introducing discontinuity. It is also the most deliberate. Paradoxically, even
though it is the most deliberate it also introduces the purest form of
discontinuity. The characteristics of the Random Word method are as follows:
The stimulus comes from outside.
The stimulus is truly irrelevant (not chosen in any way).
By being brought into the problem situation, discontinuity is
introduced.
The stimulus links up with the problem situation and establishes a
new entry point or approach.
The stimulus becomes relevant after it has brought about its effect.
The fundamental point of discontinuity is that the choice of material is not
dictated by relevance. But that relevance becomes established after the
material has been chosen. The most convenient source of random words is a
dictionary.

C. Using the Random Word Technique

List Characteristics
Work with one word at a time. Draw a picture of the word to involve the right
hemisphere of your brain and then list the characteristics of the words. Think
of a variety of things that are associated with your word and list them.
Force Connections
Make a forced connection between each characteristic and the challenge you
are working on.
In forcing connections between remote subjects,
metaphorical-analogical thinking opens up new pathways of creative thinking.
What Is Its Essence?
What is the principle or essence of your random word? Can you build an
idea around it?
Create Many Connections
Allow yourself five minutes for each word when you try it. Five minutes
should be ample time to stimulate ideas. You should find that long after the
fixed time period of five minutes, further connections and ideas are still
occurring.

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VI. LOOKING AT THE OTHER SIDE / IN OTHER WORLDS

A. Reversals
1. Reversals break your existing patterns of thought and provoke new ones.
You take things as they are and then turn them around, inside out, upside
down, and back to front to see what happens. The point is that wherever a
direction is implied it is quite easy to indicate the opposite direction. Take, for
instance, a car being driven down a road. This situation might be reversed in
any of the following ways:
-- the car is not being driven but is running away and taking the driver with it
-- the car is riding in reverse down the road
-- the car is moving along the road but in the opposite direction
-- the car is not moving at all
-- the car is standing still and the road is moving backward under the wheels
There is no question of finding out which is the correct reversal. All of them
are correct, for the purpose of reversal is to provide a means for changing a
situation. There is no way of telling if the change is correct or not until it sets
off useful new ideas.
2. Reversing Assumptions
List all your assumptions about your subject.
Reverse each assumption. What is its opposite?
Ask yourself how to accomplish each reversal.
Select one solution and build it into a realistic idea.
Reversals destabilize your conventional thinking
information to come together in provocative new ways.

patterns

and

free

3. Reversing Perspective
State your challenge.
Reverse it
List all the ways you can think of to make the reversal work.
Evaluate
Focus on the Highest Rated Items.
Reverse back to get a new perspective.
.

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B. Parallel Worlds/Analogies
1. A number of effective methods for generating new ideas are based on the
use of analogies. One of the major difficulties in generating new ideas is to
get going. In using the analogy method, one translates the problem situation
into an analogy and then develops the analogy in its own right. From time to
time, one translates back to the real problem to see what would happen if the
process taking place in the analogy took place in the problem situation.
2. There is a danger that if the analogy is too natural and too good a fit, then its
development will simply carry the problem along a path it might have followed
anyway. On the other hand, if the analogy is too outrageous it might be so
difficult to translate it back into the terms of the problem that no development
at all occurs. Some guidelines for choosing an analogy are:
It should be vivid and have a definite life of its own.

It should be full of concrete images and happenings. A concrete analogy

is usually much more fertile than an abstract one.

Something must be happening. There must be a process of change. Mere

description of a scene is not much use.

An analogy should be a well-known process rather than a description of a

specific occasion.

VII. SUMMING UP
To sum up, there are two basic processes underlying Lateral Thinking, viz., Escape
and Provocation. Provocation, which is concerned with enhancing our creative
thinking, involves the mastery of the following techniques:

Thinking fluently, through -- deferring judgment while generating ideas,

listing ideas and elaborating ideas.

Making novel combinations, using da Vinci's Technique

Connecting the unconnected, using Random Stimuli

Looking at the other side through Reversals

Looking in other worlds, using Analogies

*****

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