Creative Problem Solving for Insightful Solutions

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(upbeat music) Let's explore how creative problem solving and the two types of thinking, divergent and convergent can help you develop more insightful and successful solutions to your problems. Creative problem solving is a method that can be used to deliberately produce a creative idea, product, or service. You can use it to create a new marketing plan for your business, discover methods for improving customer service or customer journeys, increasing your customer base, or making an improvement that takes time and consideration. The process of creative problem solving involves the use of two types of thinking, divergent and convergent. Divergent thinking is the act of generating multiple solutions for one problem. Convergent thinking is the act of examining the ideas and deciding on the best solution to the problem. Understanding the significance of both can help us overcome barriers to creative thinking. Let's begin with this. School generally teaches us that there's only one right answer to each problem. This means that many of us are trained to excel at convergent thinking. We check the one right answer or fill in the blank with the one solution the instructor is looking for. However, we solve original problems starting with divergent thinking. We need to think of all the possible solutions and consider our options. In other words, both convergent and divergent thinking are important for creativity, but we must deliberately separate the two when problem solving. This brings us to the next point. We often try to use divergent thinking and convergent thinking at the same time. Think about the last time you were in a brainstorming session and were asked to think of solutions to a problem your group was facing. One person offers an idea, then someone else makes a suggestion. Then one or two people began providing feedback about the probability of the solution. Maybe they say, "No, that won't work because of this." Or, "We tried that before and it was a huge failure. "I don't ever want to hear about it again." They're using convergent thinking and divergent thinking at the same time. Their feedback just killed the creative flow and could cost the company a lot of money because they dismissed a potential idea. Before we go any further, it's important that we discuss the four guidelines to divergent thinking that must be followed. Forego judgment of ideas. Think of wild and crazy ideas. Go for quantity, not quality. And build on ideas of others. You are being creative and therefore have no idea what the best solution for your problem will be. Let go of assumptions, think of impossible ideas, work as a team, and give yourself hours to brainstorm. The idea you're looking for could make thousands of dollars for your company or gain more customers. So it's worth spending enough time on the process. You may even want to post these guidelines somewhere visible during your brainstorming session. Explain them to team members and support both their mistakes and their efforts in the process. These guidelines may not initially make sense, but once people witness their benefits, they will begin to appreciate them and may even remind you about them later.