Creative Thinking

Guideline to manage the

development of new ideas

Creative Thinking

Contents
Ideas Creativity Innovation and competitive advantage......................................................... 4
Creativity and innovation .......................................................................................................... 7
Stages of the creative process ................................................................................................... 8
Creative Thinking How does it works? ..................................................................................... 10
The Way our brain works ..................................................................................................... 10
Creativity How to think out of the box ..................................................................................... 11
We need: ................................................................................................................................. 11
A Question or Problem to solve ........................................................................................... 11
A team .................................................................................................................................. 12
A suitable environment........................................................................................................ 12
Idea Management ....................................................................................................................... 13
Idea Management The Fuzzy Front End of the Innovation Process ..................................... 13
The three components of creativity ........................................................................................ 13
Structuring the Process ........................................................................................................... 16
Step 1 Defining the problem ................................................................................................ 16
Step 2 Idea generation ......................................................................................................... 16
Step 3 Idea selection ............................................................................................................ 17
Step 4 Idea commercialization ............................................................................................. 17
Methods and Techniques to Foster Creative Thinking ............................................................... 18
Intuitive Methods .................................................................................................................... 18
Brainstorming....................................................................................................................... 18
Metaplan .............................................................................................................................. 19
Mind Mapping...................................................................................................................... 19
Headstand ............................................................................................................................ 20

Creative Thinking

ABC technique...................................................................................................................... 20
Analogies (Synectics)............................................................................................................ 20
Discursive Methods ................................................................................................................. 21
Morphological analysis ........................................................................................................ 21
Force Field Analysis .............................................................................................................. 25
Fishbone Diagram ................................................................................................................ 26
Checklist (Osborn) ................................................................................................................ 26
Combination Methods ............................................................................................................. 28
Walt Disney Method ............................................................................................................ 28
Six Thinking Hats of Edward de Bono .................................................................................. 29
Links and Literature ..................................................................................................................... 31
Literature ............................................................................................................................. 31
Links ..................................................................................................................................... 31

Copyright 2013 by SEPT.

This document is based on contributions by Sebastian Alexander, Carlos Palacios and
Utz Dornberger. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means without the prior permission of SEPT. It is used for education
purposes only.

Creative Thinking

IDEAS CREATIVITY INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

The competitive advantage of companies in an environment of ongoing changes lays in the
capability to innovate new products to the market they are able to address the needs of the
costumers. Based on the approach of Joseph E. Schumpeter, and his concept of creative
destruction as an economical theory of innovation and progress, the fundament for
sustainable economic growth in the long run is exist in the innovative potential of the
entrepreneur. In the modern literature ongoing economic success on the macro- and micro
level is strongly related to knowledge, innovation and creativity. Innovation needs Invention,
Invention needs Idea development and Idea development needs creativity.
Therefore to install and manage a fluently process of idea generation and idea development
within a company will lay the ground for innovation and sustainable competitive advantage.
Creativity is one of the most valuable resources to explore new areas of knowledge. Creativity,
in its simplest definition, can be understood as ability to create, that is, to produce something
out of nothing. The creativity comes from the Latin word creare, which means to generate
something new, invent something, produce something, but is also associated with the concept
of choice. Originally, the concept of creativity was used to designate the cause of a personal
intellectual creation, referring especially to artists. However, nowadays, this concept is not
limited to the arts (Amabile, 2005). In fact, creativity becomes important now in business as a
tool for generating new ideas.
Psychology has dealt with creativity as a study object. However, creativity is much more
difficult to analyze because, unlike intelligence, creativity is elusive at the time of being
measured. The identification of the moment when creativity is activated into an individual is
not something that is fixed by pressing a button. American psychologist Joy Paul Gilford came
to the conclusion that creativity involves several psychic characteristics of human beings
(Guilford, 1950):

Sensitivity to problems: recognize when and where there is a problem.

Fluency: produce many ideas in a short time.

Flexibility: abandon the traditional ways of thinking and develop new perspectives.

Redefinition: giving new uses to familiar objects, improvise.

Preparation: adaptation of ideas to reality.

Originality: ideas should not be replications of pre-existing ideas.

Creative Thinking

According to Guilford, there are two different types of thinking: convergent thinking and
divergent thinking. Convergent thinking starts from a general knowledge and moves on closing
its scope but increasing in detail. This process can be used to define problems in a concrete
and clear way. Divergent thinking does the reverse process: starts from a particular subject
and moves on to increase its scope. The aim is to develop ideas in different directions which
provide solutions to problems which were previously identified. Although divergent thinking is
used in the generation of ideas, the creative process includes not only one but both types of
thinking. Creativity needs a starting point and this must be clearly defined. This is achieved
through convergent thinking, defining problems, thinking corridors or areas of innovation.
Subsequently, after generating a number of ideas using divergent thinking, convergent
thinking is used again to select the idea or combination thereof that best solve the problem or
the optimal solution with regard to different factors. The following chart shows the path of the
creative process.

Thought during the creative process

In order to develop ways of thinking that stimulate the ideas generation (this is creativity
itself), Edward De Bono developed the concept of lateral thinking (De Bono, 1970). This way of
thinking seeks to generate alternative thinking directions, in opposition to vertical thinking,
which seeks to develop ideas in a thinking direction that is already defined. Normally, the mind
accumulates experiences and patterns that are used when decisions must be taken. However,
these existing patterns in the mind do not always offer the best response to a situation. While
vertical thinking is analytical, lateral thinking is provocative to suggest these new thinking
directions. Nevertheless, according to De Bono (1970), these two forms of thought are not

Creative Thinking

antagonistic. In this sense, lateral thinking may be useful to find ideas or directions for
problem solving and vertical thinking may be useful to develop them.
From birth, human being starts to gather experiences, from moving his own body with an
objective until acting so that other people make what this human being wants. That's why
experiences which have not been lived before become uncomfortable, because they are
outside the framework already established through experience. Activities such as cycling or
swimming mean a new experience different from the normal movement in the air. Maybe if
we did not learn to walk, or simply did not have the experience of moving in the air, learning to
swim would not be so difficult, or would be as difficult as learning to walk. Of course, not all
accumulated experiences are unnecessary. In fact, many of the experiences gained are
necessary to tackle new problems. The major drawback appears when the reactions are based
only on accumulated experiences and problems are not questioned. Normally, these problems
can be solved based on the standards established by experience, but new ways to solve the
problems do not arise from this practice.
Establishing patterns can be more easily understood through a chart, as shown in the next
figure. Following the first given sequence, the sum of the two triangles results in a square. The
mind accumulates this result, which can help to deduce that if instead of having two triangles
there would be four, the result may be two squares.
Pattern of thought

The use of knowledge of the first pattern in which two triangles results in a square, persuades
the mind that in the case of having 4 triangles, the result would be 2 squares, but leaves out
the possibility that the result could be a bigger square, as shown in the following figure.

Creative Thinking

Alternative solution to established pattern

The same happens with knowledge, technical problems tend to be solved based on the
knowledge we have. For example, if a mechanical engineer is faced with a problem, he will
tend to seek the solution to that problem in the field of knowledge of mechanics, even when
the most effective solution is in the field of chemistry. Much of the creativity techniques
suggest new ways to seek solutions to existing problems.
Another aspect to consider is the creation of partnerships. By having a problem or an area to
apply creativity, people tend to make associations with situations or circumstances
surrounding the problem or issue to be solved. That's why some creativity techniques, as will
be discussed in following sections, aim to present different elements with which independent
associations can be made or different from the typical associations which are made in a
particular field of action in order to reach new associations or new ideas.
The objective of creativity is, then, to break with these pre-established patterns in order to get
new ways to find ideas or solutions to problems. The development of creativity is, therefore,
the ability to find new ways to solve problems, and, in this sense, is a skill that can develop in a
person.

Creativity and innovation

Although normally the link between creativity and innovation is almost immediate, the reasons
why this link exists are not always clear. Creativity, as previously mentioned, can be
understood as the ability to produce new knowledge. However, the human being occupies
much of his life accumulating existing knowledge to be used in facing daily problems. This is
why, among other things, creativity diminishes in humans as years pass by, since the
accumulation of knowledge during the education and through experience restricts the ability
to think in new directions (Herb, 2000). The accumulated information and knowledge are not
always enough to solve problems or challenges. It is then that creativity is necessary.

Creative Thinking

The increase in product's complexity in order to improve the competitive position thereof on
one hand, and the development of new technologies on the other, make the development of
new products or improving existing ones objectives which are increasingly elusive. The use of
creativity in analyzing problems and finding solutions to them, allows that the complexity of
products and technology do not become a barrier to innovation.
Viewed from the perspective of innovation, creativity is more than just the creation of
something new. Generate something new would be a relatively easy task. That's why, in the
context of innovation, creativity should be defined only as the creation of something new, but
at the same time valuable. The value or quality of what is new determines its influence on an
innovation; in other words, the more valuable the result of creativity (e.g. an idea), the more
likely that this will become an innovation. By becoming innovation, the idea that results from
creativity will provide a benefit at the end of the innovation process, when the idea hit the
market after becoming a product.

Stages of the creative process

Although creativity cannot fit into the framework of a process (as this cannot be activated and
deactivated as is done with a computer), there are certain stages to go through to generate an
idea. Understanding these stages helps in the time to facilitate a favourable environment for
creativity, so that the right tools at the right time can be implemented. As mentioned above,
there are different kinds of thinking to be used according to the existing need. When analyzing
a problem convergent thinking is used and when generating ideas divergent thinking is used.
But which are the phases where these different types of thinking are used? The problem
identification, idea generation and its evaluation are part of the activities to be done during
the creative process, but more activities can be identified while generating ideas:

Problem identification phase

Research phase

Incubation phase

Enlightenment phase

Development phase

At first, there must be a motivation to use creativity. This is the problem identification phase.
This phase is more complicated than it seems, because it must determine the problem to
solve, which is not always easy. It may be a technical problem in the simplest case, but can also

Creative Thinking

be a need in the market, or even less simple, it may be to create a market need. The
importance of the problem identification phase is clarified just by asking what the point of a
brilliant idea is, if this fixes a problem in the wrong place. Linking this issue directly with the
innovation process can be thought that this phase corresponds to the phase in which areas of
innovation are identified, for whom later on ideas should be generated.
The following is the research phase. Once identified the problem or area in which creativity is
wanted to be applied, its necessary to start gathering information. This information helps to
better define the problem and identify the tools and resources that could provide a complete
solution to the problem. Another activity in this phase is to set the problem in different
scenarios or analyze it from different points of view. This helps to identify different directions
to solve the problem or start the ideas generation process.
Once defined the problem and performed the analysis of their environment comes an
incubation phase. During this stage, the problem or area of innovation matures. Often it is
simply loaded with the problem, and in some cases it is confronted with different situations. In
this phase the problem is also abstracted, and thus compared to other similar problems or
situations that already have been experienced. In some cases, we try to find the pattern of
standard problem in order to give a solution to it.
The phase of enlightenment is where ideas are generated. After having compared the
problem to other situations already experienced and be familiar with the problem and the
resources to solve it, there comes a moment of enlightenment in which one or more ideas
around the problem are generated. As previously mentioned, this phase cannot be arbitrarily
activated at any given time, but the tour through the previous phases facilitates that this
moment of enlightenment occurs. It should also be mentioned that these phases do not
always occur in similar time spans. The journey to the generation of an idea can be relatively
fast.
Finally, when an idea is conceived, it is not always ready to be presented, much less to be
implemented. Thus, in the next phase, that of development, it is necessary to mature the idea
and take it to the point where it can be presented. Many times the idea must be faced with
the problem to verify that it definitely offers a solution to the problem or truly addresses the
need that had been identified. Other classifications only include four phases: preparation,
incubation, enlightenment and verification. The content of the phases is similar; the difference
is only in the differentiation between problem identification and finding information on the

Creative Thinking

classification described above, while this other classification only refers to a preparation
phase.

CREATIVE THINKING HOW DOES IT WORKS?

The process of creative thinking is tremendous complex in nature. A large amount of literature
from different fields and areas of research existed due this topic. To summarize them it could
say that until now we have just a rough and briefly understanding of the processes related to
creative thinking. But nevertheless for some points it makes sense to spot on them.

The Way our brain works

The human brains could shortly divide in three parts the Limbic system, the Brainstem and the
Cerebrum.
The Brainstem is the part of the brain, which is responsible for all the autonomous acting
processes of the human body.
The Limbic system is the part where the chemical system of the brain is controlled. In
combination with the Hypothalamus these parts are forming the centre for metabolism,
hormonal balance and sexual function. Related to the process of creativity it is important to
know that stress, time as well as mental pressure is cause the human brain to produce
different kind of chemical reactions, which are hindering creative thinking processes.
The most important and appropriated part of the brain related to thinking and creativity is the
Cerebrum. The Cerebrum is divided into two sections which are interconnected through the
Corpus Callosum. Beside the fact, that each section is controlling the opposite side of the body,
there exist a division of labor between left and right side.
The left side of the Cerebrum is more related to functions as logical and analytical thinking,
numbers, language as well as data and facts. The left side is time bound and is recognizing
details and parts.
The right side is more related to emotional behavior, connectional thinking, Intuition, the thing
as a hole as well as sounds and pictures. It is time free and able to think in visual way.
Hence the function and responsibilities for both sections not fulfill attributed it is widely
accepted that creativity needs the cooperation of both parts of the brain. For that reason most
of the techniques and methods to foster creative thinking are drying to push the participants

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to change the perspectives and with that use both sections of the Cerebrum. This is mostly
done through changing positions to analyze a problem or question.

The Way how our brain works

3 partitions of the brain
Limbic System

The part where the chemical system

of the brain is controlled.

Brainstem

Responsible for autonomous acting

processes.

Cerebrum

The thinking part. Mainly

appropriate for the thinking process.

Left Side

Corpus callosum

Right Side

Logic
Rational
Numbers
Data
Facts
Read
Calculation
Emotional
Sympathetic
Conceptionell
Creativity
Instinct
Intuition
Pictures
Sounds
Experience

Is controlling the right side of the body

Is recognizing details and parts
Analyzing (breaking apart)
Is treating the information's in logical order
Is time-bound, has a sense of time
and goals and your position in relation
to those goals
Is controlling the left side of the body
Wholes and relationships among the
Parts
Simultaneous and holistic thinking
Visual Thinking
Is time free, might lose a sense of time
altogether

Source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Gehirn_lobi_medial.png; http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Gehirn_lobi_basal.png

CREATIVITY HOW TO THINK OUT OF THE BOX

We need:

A Question or Problem to solve

First of all the starting point for being creative necessarily should be a question ore an problem
to solve. This is the starting point for the process of creative thinking and to think outside the
box it is essential to define first what the box is. Therefore in the beginning of every creative
problem solving process stands the defining of the problem to solve. Here it is important to
concentrate on the task to get the right focus for the problem or question ore to cut them into

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suitable partitions. This is due the reason that a creative process based on general ore Meta
questions is difficult to handle and in the end the results are mostly not satisfying.

A team
Experiences and researches show that a group is much more effective and productive in
Creativity than a single individual. The myth of the lonesome inventor how is independently
finding the solution in his enclosed room is widely disproved in the reality as well as in the
literature.
Furthermore the team should as diverse as possible in terms of age, culture, discipline,
background, department etc. The goal should be to involve different perspectives,
backgrounds and experiences into the creative process.

A suitable environment
Based on the fact that thinking and creativity is highly related to emotions and feelings as well
as chemical and hormone functions within our brain and body, a positive and motivating
environment is influencing our way of thinking. Like the Walt Disney Method shows us, to put
myself in different perspectives it could support me to change the room ore place.

Time
Not even that the majority of the methods for creative thinking are time consuming. Also
creative problem solving processes are strategically addressing the future and therefore they
are need adequate time resources.

Freedom of thinking
To enable the creativity process and foster them to effective results it is necessary to think in
absolute freedom. Every Idea is an Idea and from there definition not useless. It might be that
one Idea is better for the explicit problem than another one, but in the end in lots of creative
processes the ideas which were produced below the line leads to successful innovations.
Therefore no hierarchies, no prejudice, no taboos. Craziness is allowed!
For the freedom of thinking sometimes it might be a good solution if the management is not
involved in the idea development because of uncertain hierarchy behavior of the team.

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IDEA MANAGEMENT
Idea Management The Fuzzy Front End of the Innovation Process
Idea Management stands in the beginning of the Innovation Process, right after the demand
analysis and the defined question ore problem to solve. It is also called the Fuzzy front End of
the Innovation Process due the fact, that this part is the most difficult one to handle. Even the
Fuzzy Front End is not the expensive part of the innovation process it is first and foremost the
most time consuming one and the one where the major commitments are made into the
process.
Innovation process inside companies (Chesbrough 2006)

Oportuity
identification

Idea
Management

Concept
Development

FUZZY FRONT END

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

COMMERCIALIZATION

The three components of creativity

In many organizations, the use of creativity tools is considered a synonymous with creativity.
However, fostering creativity depends not only on tools, since there are other elements that
contribute to the fact that an organization can effectively use creativity. One way to
understand these additional elements is the analysis of the three components of creativity by
Ambile (2005): expertise, creative thinking skills and motivation.

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The three components of

creativity

Expertise
Knowledge
technical, procedural
and intellectual.

Expertise

Creative
thinking skills
Creativity

Creative thinking
skills
How felxible and
imaginatively are
people solvin
problems.

Motivation

Source: Amabile (1998) p. 78

Motivation
The inner passion t
solve the problem to
answer the question.

The expertise is all the knowledge the person possesses. This offers different approaches or
ways to find a solution. The development of expertise includes conducting seminars and
courses on a specific topic, studies made by the individual and conferences, among others.
Creative thinking skills refer to the way a person approaches a problem and its solution. It
includes how to seek out ideas, the way in which we analyze the problems, methodologies,
techniques, etc. Creativity techniques are part of these creative thinking skills. It can be
concluded, therefore, that the use of creativity techniques as those described above, to
increase the creativity in an organization, influences only a third part of the creativity.
The creativity of an organization can be influenced by working on the three components of
creativity, but, depending on the organization, the influence that one component or the other
has can be bigger or smaller. Some studies conclude that motivation has the biggest influence
in order to improve creativity (Amabile, 2005); nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind
the other components to get good results.
Besides identifying the three components of creativity, Amabile has identified six practices of
the management contributing to creativity, namely, challenge, freedom, resources, teamwork
characteristics, supervisor encouragement and strong support from the organization.

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Challenge: Refers to assign the right person to fulfill each activity. This involves
collecting information necessary to combine the tasks with the right person to perform
them so that the person has a challenge which can be accomplished.

Freedom: The possibility that employees have to choose how to achieve the
established goals. For this, it is important that goals are clearly defined and not
changing constantly, otherwise freedom does not contribute.

Resources: It consists in obtaining a balance between economic, time and physical

resources to foster an enabling environment for creativity.

Characteristics of teamwork: This practice refers to have an influence in the formation

of teams to achieve diversity and to encourage different points of view, fellowship or
team spirit, the same enthusiasm for the goal and mutual respect. Thus, the creative
team will be more efficient.

Encouragement of supervisor: Refers to the influence that the superior has on the
employees, the way he recognizes their ideas, not extrinsically, but intrinsically, so that
the creativity contributions of the employee are evaluated and taken into account
according to their potential.

Organizational support: Refers to the support of the leaders of the organization

through collaboration and information exchange to stimulate a creative environment.

The stimulation of these factors contributes to increase creativity in organizations, but in each
of these factors is also possible to adversely affect creativity, for example, changing constantly
the goals of the organization, or simply ignoring the initiative of employees, or eliminating any
resource that can be used by an employee to develops ideas which favour the achievement of
goals. There are also other difficulties, as many valid business imperatives such as the pursuit
of productivity, coordination and control affect a creative environment. That is why a balance
between stimulating creativity and control business performance should be found.
Creativity in the organization is something that can be cultivated as a principle and can be
integrated into the philosophy of the organization. It is also something that can be developed.
However, this requires work on it. Creativity should not be left in the hands of the skills of each
person; there must also be a stimulus, if necessary, incorporation into the strategy and
corporate culture of the organization. In order to effectively influence the creativity of the
organization, management must be actively involved to facilitate the actions and elements
that stimulate creativity.

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Structuring the Process

To make the process manageable it is helpful to structure the process into for Steps and to
allocate the different resources and methods to each single step.

Creative Problem Solving

Process
Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Collect

Defining the
Problem

Idea
generation

Step 4

Weight

Select

Idea
selection

Decide

Idea
commercialization

Lateral
Thinking

Vertical / Linear
Thinking

Parallel Thinking

intuitive /
unconscious

discursive /
conscious

discursive &
intuitive

Step 1 Defining the problem

As mentioned above it is first of all necessary to define the problem to solve and the questions
to ask.

Step 2 Idea generation

This step is related to the task of generating us many quality ideas as possible in a compact
timeframe. This step is mainly using methods and techniques which are addressing intuitive
and unconscious way of thinking. Following Edward de Bono this way of thinking could be
defined as lateral thinking.
With logic you start out with certain ingredients just as in playing chess you start out
with given pieces. But what are those pieces? In most real life situations the pieces are
not given, we just assume they are there. We assume certain perceptions, certain
concepts and certain boundaries. Lateral thinking is concerned not with playing with

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the existing pieces but with seeking to change those very pieces. Lateral thinking is
concerned with the perception part of thinking. This is where we organise the external
world into the pieces we can then 'process'.

Step 3 Idea selection

Following the step of Idea generation, now we have to select those ideas which seem to be
most suitable for solving the problem. The Ideas should be selected and weighted; we have to
give them a priority to build the base for the strategic decision in the end which on them
should be implemented or commercialized.
Here more discursive and conscious methods and techniques are helpful to structure the
group discussions. Those are more related to linear and structural thinking.

Step 4 Idea commercialization

In the last step there is to decide which ideas we want to implement. Here it is a necessity to
change the perspective and to involve different people. Idea generation and Idea
commercialization are two different stories and a few people have equal capabilities in both.
After the idea generation and selection process most of the participants love their ideas and
sticking to them. Hence they are not able to change into a market perspective and to adjust or
transform the idea into a product ore solution, which the company can implement ore
commercialized. Because of that reason most companies separating these sections. Let the
people do the things they are able to do well

http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/lateral.htm. Access 04.11.2010

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METHODS AND TECHNIQUES TO FOSTER CREATIVE THINKING

Intuitive Methods
Brainstorming
The History
The method was introduced by Alex F. Osborn the Founder of the Creative Education
Foundation in 1954. With a Bachelor in Philosophy he was for many years active in the US
Marketing Industry. Brainstorming is the most common creative technique worldwide.
The Rules
1. Arrange a meeting with a suitable amount of participants (normally 4 to 8 people)
2. Develop the question, problem ore topic for the session and write them on the board.
3. Make sure that everybody understands the question for the session.
4. Review the ground rules:
a. No critics, comments ore remarks about any idea
b. The ideas should outcome spontaneous as a huge amount in numbers in a
short timeframe.
c. No discussions.
d. Freedom of thinking. Every idea is welcome. No idea is nonsense ore useless.
e. Listen to the other ideas
f.

A suitable timeframe around 10 minutes for each session.

5. Make sure that all ideas are documented during the session. Write them down.
6. The session can go unstructured (everybody can tell his ideas at any time) ore
structured (on after another around the table)
7. Clarify and conclude the session. Show all ideas and discuss the following steps.
For the development of brainstorming, it is recommended to have a moderator. During the
course of brainstorming, the moderator must ensure that each idea is taken into account
without being criticized, regardless of how silly it may sound. Jokes or satires against members
of the group must not be allowed either; this could lead members to feel self-conscious and,
consequently, will refrain from expressing an idea that could result in a solution.
The selection of participants is essential to obtain different points of view, and for this reason,
the moderator must involve all participants.

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Metaplan
The History
The method was developed from the German consultancy company Metaplan GmbH which
was founded in 1972. The method is now well known around all over the world and often used
in consultancy. The method has the aim to structure group discussion in an effective way and
to document them in a visual way.
How it goes
1. First of all material for the visualization is need. Pinboard, Moderation Cards, Pens,
Pins, Metaplan Paper and so on
2. Develop the question, problem ore topic for the session and write them on the top of
the board.
3. Make sure that everybody understands the question for the session.
4. Every participant has now the possibility to write his ideas on a card. Each idea on on
card.
5. The moderator will pin the card on the board and the group will structure and cluster
the ideas around the question or topic.
6. In the End we will have a structured picture about the question and the possible
answers from the group.

Mind Mapping
The History
The method was developed by Tony Buyan a British Mentaltrainer and Author of well known
books about creativity. The Mind Maps are also called spider diagram or conceptual maps and
they are build through tree diagrams.
How it goes
1. We need a large sheet of paper ore a widespread dashboard ore a computer with an
min mapping software
2. Develop the question, problem ore topic for the session and write them in the middle
of the board.
3. Make sure that everybody understands the question for the session.
4. For each major sub topic there we will start a new branch of the tree and label them.
5. For each sub-sub topic we will start a subordinated branch and label them.

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6. And so on and so far we carry on this way.

7. In the End we will have a structured picture about the question and the possible
answers related directly to the question in the centre.

Headstand
This method based on the principle that sometime it is better to answer the question what I
am dont want to be than answering the question what I am want to be. Therefore reversing
the question and putting them top down gives us the possibility to change the perspective in
the opposite.
How it goes
1. Develop the question, problem ore topic for the session and write them in the middle
of the board.
2. Make sure that everybody understands the question for the session.
3. Reverse the question upside down. Dont ask what your company can do for the
customers; ask what the customer can do for your company.
4. After answering the reversed question put them on the ground again and you will have
possibilities to solve the problem.

ABC technique
This is a quickly and very easy creative technique which is also very suitable for individual idea
development.
How it goes
1. Develop the question, problem ore topic for the session and write them in the middle
of the board.
2. Make sure that everybody understands the question for the session.
3. Just write an ABC on a paper or the board.
4. Try now to find answers thereby that each answer is starting with another letter of the
ABC.
5. In the end you will have quickly 26 possibly answers. (for the Latin alphabet)

Analogies (Synectics)
The use of analogies consists in taking the problem that needs to be solved to other
knowledge areas or simply to other scenarios. This stimulates the flexibility of the already
established thinking structures, facilitating linkages to generate new ideas. The essential part
of this method is the selection of the analogy. It is possible that a group cannot find a suitable

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Creative Thinking

analogy or that the found analogy does not lead to the generation of good ideas. We should
also take into account the knowledge of the selected area. Although the overall exercise
simply attempts to make the mind more flexible, a greater knowledge can lead to new
associations and understandings. A good analogy may be done with nature, therefore it is
recommended to have at least one participant who is an expert on the selected area, in this
case, a biologist.
An example could be network intelligence: one of the problems with the proliferation of
communication networks is to find the best way to communicate. In order to develop ideas for
a more efficient communication, we used the analogy with intelligent swarms within nature.
Analyzing the topic, we found that ants leave a pheromone by the places where they walk
through so that other ants can find a more efficient path to go somewhere, for example,
where their food is. In this way, we can also think about leaving a mark on information
packages for instance, in emails that could be read by other messages and thus, make its
transmission and storage more efficient.
How it goes
1. Definition of the problem
2. Search for the analogy
3. Analysis of the selected analogy
4. Search for the analogy elements that are linked to the problem.
5. Generation of ideas from the analogies.
6. Evaluation and development of ideas.

Discursive Methods
Morphological analysis
The History
The method was first developed by Fritz Zwickly, a Swiss astrophysicist and aerospace scientist
at the California Institute of Technology in the 1940s and 50s. The method is build for the
systematical structuring of multidimensional problems and the investigation of complex
relationship constructs. The basic method is also attribute list and is using a matrix for the
visualization.

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Creative Thinking

The morphological analysis consists in the collection and systematic analysis of parameters and
their possible values or characteristics, from which possible solutions or ideas are developed.
The selection of the parameters and the definition of the possible values or characteristics of
each parameter can be made in groups.
Morphological Matrix: Lamp example

In the example of the table above there is a description of parameters of a lamp and possible
characteristics that each of these parameters could have. For example, as light source, it is
possible the use of a candle, a bulb, halogen lighting or a fluorescent tube. The points
connected with lines identify the selection within the possible characteristics of each
parameter.
How it goes
1. Definition of the problem.
2. Definition of the parameters of the object or problem to be solved.
3. Definition of the values or characteristics of each parameter.
4. Preparation of the parameter matrix and its values or characteristics.
5. Selection of the characteristics of each parameter and development of the concept or
solution to the problem.
6. Evaluation of the idea or solution.

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Creative Thinking

Below are some examples of different levels of the morphological analysis through the use of
matrices.
Two-dimensional matrix (Muoz 1994)
A company that produces umbrellas wants to expand their range to include more specialized
and unusual products. The company is looking for new ideas.
The first step is to identify the categories of ideas that would be used as axes of the matrix,
keeping in mind that the goal is to discover opportunities and not reach an immediate
solution. In this case, the axes could be called, one as accessories (additional characteristics
that consumers could appreciate and that could be incorporated to the umbrella), and the
other as scenarios (places or situations in which the umbrella could be used). If these two
axes were selected, the appearance of the matrix could be as follows:

This example shows an 11x11 matrix (121 items) and it is clear that it is possible to add more
items to each axe. With a combination of ideas like this, the possibilities of finding one or two
that are correct increase greatly.

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Creative Thinking

The three-dimensional matrix (Majaro 1994)

A packaging manufacturer wants to find new ideas to build new markets. Again, the success
depends on determining axes that are relevant to the problem and that are appropriate. For
example, a three-dimensional matrix would look like the next Figure. With those three axes
(content, material and shape) 448 (8x8x7) combinations or ideas generated. Moreover, in this
example, the simple addition of a new item in the axis of the shapes would generate other 64
ideas. But even if we limit ourselves to the 448 original ideas, it is possible to expect,
statistically, that from them around seven or eight potentially winner ideas will arise.

Ideas evaluation
Due to its enormous potential to generate ideas, the morphological analysis sometimes poses
a serious problem for those who must evaluate its results. It is obvious that dealing with
computer lists with 10.00 combinations or ideas is a discouraging task. Fortunately, there are
two methods to simplify this task.
Grouping ideas
Instead of focusing on one idea at a time, they can be analyzed in groups; for example, we
can evaluate the combination paper-ball-coffee against each of the scenarios. This approach
reduces to a manageable size the extension of the lists. The fact of evaluating the groups of
ideas against the items in a column tends to focus the attention on that column and often, in

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Creative Thinking

the evaluation session new approaches or items arise; for example, would it be possible to
use this combination in the military service?, in an airline?, etc.
Multi-stage sieving
This approach is based on the principle that often, creative people find it easier to work with
ideas that are expressed visually. This can be achieved in the case of a four-dimensional matrix
if the first three axes are presented in the form of a cube. In this visual representation, the
best ideas are selected and the evaluated in combination with the four axis, using a twodimensional matrix. If it turns out that there is a fifth axis, we must build a new cube in which
we will take the best ideas that were obtained in the first cube to evaluate them in
combination with the two remaining axes.

Force Field Analysis

The History
This method was first developed by Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), a German borne pioneer of the
socialpsychology and founder of the theory of groupdynamic. The method is visualizing the
different factors and topics involved in the problem situation and structure them in the way
how the hinder ore help.
How it goes
1. First a dashboard ore a large paper with moderation material is needed.
2. Develop the question, problem ore topic for the session and write them in the middle
of the board.
3. Make sure that everybody understands the question for the session.
4. The group now has to identify factors which are helping ore hindering the solving
process.
5. Throwing a line in the middle of the paper ore board.
6. Drawing the helping forces with upward arrows over the line and the hindering factors
with downward arrows under the line through discussion within the group.
7. The size and thickness of the arrows can symbolize the power of the factors.
8. Then the group develop ways to strengthen ore add positive forces, to weaken ore
remove negative forces ore should recognize that the negative force are too strong to
solve the problem.

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Creative Thinking

Fishbone Diagram
The History
This method was originally developed during the 1940s by Kaoru Ishikawa, a Japanese
Chemistry and scientist which developed a couple of tools for quality management. The
diagram shows the cause and effects of a certain event ore problem.
How it goes
1. First a dashboard ore a large paper with moderation material is needed.
2. Develop the question, problem ore topic for the session and write them in the middle
of the board.
3. Make sure that everybody understands the question for the session.
4. Draw an on g arrow in the middle and label with topic ore question. This is the
backbone of the fish.
5. Now for every major cause the group can think about one bone in a 45 degree on the
backbone and label them.
6. For every sub cause and beside cause there will be a small arrow ore bone in direction
to the major cause the sub cause is related to.
7. Through group discussion you will define the key cause for an positive effect to the
problem.

Checklist (Osborn)
The History
This method is based on the principle that the solution to a problem may arise from the
structuring of ideas around the formulation of it. With this principle, Alexander Osborn, also
known for developing the brainstorming technique, created a checklist to be used to solve
problems. Each of the items on the checklist does not need to have an answer but each one
must be considered as it may possibly lead to some idea.
How it goes
1. Definition of the problem
2. Review of each item on the checklist, taking the defined problem into consideration.
3. Development of solutions to the problem, starting with the items on the checklist. If at
some point an idea cannot be generated, we should move on to the next one.

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Creative Thinking

4. Evaluation of the generated ideas and, if necessary, case development for some of
them.
Checklist
What is similar?

What function? Similar? Similar material? What parallels are

there?

What other utilization

options?

New usage options? Usage for other people? Other usage

options through changes on the object?

Adapt?

What is it like? What other ideas does the object suggest? Are
there similar examples in the past? What can we adapt from
them? What can be taken as an example?

Change?

Can the object be given a new shape? Can the purpose be

changed? Can the colour, tone, smell or resemblance be
changed? Are there any other possible changes?

Enlarge?

What can be added? Should more time be employed? Can

frequency be increased? Can it be made more robust, bigger,
longer, fatter, and thicker? Can it be given additional value? Can
the number of parts be increased? Can it be duplicated or
multiplied? Can it be exaggerated? Can it be more expensive?

Minimize?

What is unnecessary? Can it be small, more compact, shorter,

lower, flatter? Can it be miniature? Can it be aerodynamic,
slighter? Can it be divided into parts?

Replace?

Who or what can replace it? What other pieces or parts are
possible? What other materials, production processes, energy
sources or places are possible? What other solutions are
possible? What other sound?

Deform?

Is it possible to regroup the parts? Is it possible to develop new

models? Can the order be changed? Exchange the cause and the
effect? Can the speed be changed?

Change to the opposite?

Is it possible to take what is positive instead of what is negative?

Achieve the opposite? Bring the bottom up? Change roles?
Change peoples positions? Change the order of the process?

Combine?

Try a combination? Make a compound? A selection? Group a

new selection? Join multiple objects into one? More action
fields instead of just one? More goals? Less goals?

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Creative Thinking

Combination Methods
Walt Disney Method
The History
The method was developed by Robert Dilts, a pioneer of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming
(NLP), and goes back to Walt Disney and his process of imageneering within the Walt Disney
Company. The method separates on three different roles to play. The dreamer, The realist
and the critic.
The Dreamer
This role is producing the visionary big picture. Everything is aloud even thinking the
unthinkable. There are no boundaries and limits.
The Realist
This role is where everything is organized and structured. Thinking constructive and devise
plans and possibilities to reach the vision. Cut the vision down to suitable and realistic aims
and terms.
The Critic
This is the role which critically will discuss the plan and the solutions of the realist. Here the
role should look behind the scene. What could go wrong, what is missing? What are the
consequences, the cost of the solution? What kind of resources is needed and could they
provide and so on.
The method can be used each individual is playing one role. Also the whole group can jump
from one role to another one. Even it is possible to change the rooms and places. In the Walt
Disney Company for the visionary people there have been huge studios with room and space
to be creative. For the realistic people there have been well structured and organized offices
and for the critical ones there have been tiny and small offices.

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Creative Thinking

Six Thinking Hats of Edward de Bono

The History
The method was developed in the early 1980s by Edward the Bono, a British medical scientist
and author of well famous books about creativity. He is the inventor of the theories and
methods for lateral thinking. This method involves the systematic analysis of a problem or
situation from different points of views. Each view is represented by a hat, which is
characterized in a specific way.
White hat: it is focused on data, facts and information about the problem.

What information is available?

What data, facts or information are missing?

What data must be obtained and by who?

Red hat: with this one, we can express any feeling or intuition about the problem. The
perception and the feelings should be expressed without being criticized by other members
of the team.

How do you feel?

How do you feel about the problem?

What sensation comes to your mind?

Black hat: we must be careful with it. This role indicates the errors and gives a critical look at
the solution of a problem or the implementation of an idea.

Is the possible solution profitable?

Is law any law or regulation violated?

Which are the risks?

Yellow hat: it is optimistic. When wearing the yellow hat, it is necessary to focus on
consciously identifying the benefits of a project or an idea.

What are the advantages?

What does everyone get?

What advantages can it bring to other people?

Green hat: it concentrates on creative thinking. In this space, new ideas can be generated by
complementing the already existing ones.

What are the alternatives?

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Creative Thinking

Where do you think you can have fallen into paradigms?

How can the process be accelerated?

Blue hat: This hat emphasizes the control of methods and processes. The issues that must be
reflected on and the steps to be followed are determined here.

What aspects still need to be considered?

What is not clear yet?

What should be discussed?

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Creative Thinking

LINKS AND LITERATURE

Literature
Amabile, T. (1998), How to kill creativity. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 76, Issue 5, p. 76- 87.
Amabile, T. et al. (2005), Affect and creativity at work, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol.
50(3), p. 367-403.
Amabile, T. et al. (2008), Creativity and the role of the leader. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 86
Issue 10, p. 100-109.
Chesbrough, H. (2006), Open Innovation. The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from
Technology, Boston.
De Bono, E. (1990). The Use of Lateral Thinking, London.
De Bono, E. (1993). Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New
Ideas, New York.
Dornberger. U. et al. [Ed.] (2012), Managing the Fuzzy Front-End of Innovation, Leipzig.
Guilford, J. (1950), Creativity, Psychologis, Vol. 5, p. 444-454.
Herb, R. et al. (2000), TRIZ. Der systematische Weg zur Innovation, Landsberg.
Majaro, S. (1994), Marketing Y Creatividad. Un Enfoque Instrumental, Madrid.
Muoz A. (1994), Mtodos Creativos para Organizaciones, Madrid.
Runco, M. (2004). Creativity, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 55, p. 657-687.

Links
http://www.fepic.eu/UK/index.php
http://www.mycoted.com/Category:Creativity_Techniques
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li5nMsXg1Lk
http://1000ventures.com/
http://www.train4creativity.eu/active.aspx

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