innovation_reading_material.pdf

Innovation The Way to Growth in Future

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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 peop le 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 customer-perceived 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, ope rations, 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, self-serving, 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 potentia l 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 t o 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 im plementation of new concepts, if those ideas are ultimately going t o 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:

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

Product Process Strategy

Breakthrough

Substantial

Incremental


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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 Gro wth and will continue to be, as without Process Excellence, Product or St rategy 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 company s 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 g oals 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. Break-through Inventions can sometimes lead to Breakthrough Innovations.

C. Approach for 21 st 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 entrepreneuri al 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 e asily 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 t o happen. What is more important is that the ideas generated by this tinkering are championed by the management into products that mee t 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 redu ction 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 resear chers 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 reco gnized 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 entreprene urial 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 t hings.

Precisely, this is the Path of Innovation, DOING TH INGS 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 the other to find a better one)

Selective (seeks to judge)

Looks for Questions

Looks for Answers

Says "generate other ways of looking at things"

Says "this is the right way of looking at things."

Thinking is Provocative

Thinking is Analytical

Interested in, where an idea leads to

Interested in, where an idea comes from

Used to MAKE something happen

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

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Expertise

Creative Thinking Skills

Creativity

Motivation

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

Creative-Thinking Skills Determine how flexibly and imaginatively people approach problems

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/Decision-Making 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 Inadequa te 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:

Possibility Thinking

Practicality Thinking

No Judgement No Criticism No Evaluation 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 TECHNIQU E

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

blubber-lipped

angular

egg-shaped

slanty

lumpy

bow-like

chunky

furrowed forehead

swollen red eyes

Broad fibrous

Beefy twisted

projecting 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 patterns and free information to come together in provocative new ways.

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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