What’s the box you’re thinking outside of

‘Be innovative ... but not too innovative,’ said the team leader. 

They wanted creative and innovative thinking, but not too much, not too ‘out there’. 

The need to generate clever and creative ideas is often called ‘thinking outside the box’. 

So... what’s the box? 

And how do you know you’re thinking beyond it or outside it? 

With the team, we identified their current ways and types of thinking, their usual ‘inside the box’ thinking

This helped identify what would be out there... or waaaay out there. 


Being more creative and innovative gets easier the more you do it. But the early days of a team thinking beyond their usual ways can mean taking a big step indeed. 

Courage, risk taking, speaking out, throwing in crazy ideas... and collect a heap of them. 

These are all good practices for extending your thinking beyond your usual boundaries. 

Take a step or two - once you identify what your ‘usual’ thinking is. 

Then you’ll be able to step out, out out of the box of your routine and habitual ways of thinking. 

Do you know how you solve problems

It’s a curious question because we can often blaze ahead problem solving ... without being aware of our process for how we’re actually doing it. 

Perhaps we’re on auto pilot, not conscious of what we’re doing or too busy in the details of the problem solving task to think about it. 

We can’t get better at a critically important skill like problem solving if we’re not tuned in to it. 

The World Economic Forum suggests problem solving is right up there in the skills we need for today and even more frequently in the future. 

So how do you solve problems? 

▫️Do you get all the information you can? 
▫️Assess your options? 
▫️Generate some alternatives? 
▫️Try out some solutions? 
▫️Experiment a little?
▫️Consult with respected peers? 
▫️Try a Google search to see what others have done? 
▫️Or phone a friend? 

Each of these is part of a suite of problem solving tools and techniques. 

As you work through solving your next problem, challenge or tricky situation, make a mental (or physical or digital) note of what you do... and how you do it. 

There’s greater 
▫️possibility, 
▫️efficiency and 
▫️creativity 
on the other side of our awareness. 

Where do you need more creativity

- A tech team wants to be able to come up with more creative solutions. 
- A healthcare group wants more interesting and creative meetings. 
- A business owner needs to offer more clever and creative services. 
- A service business wants to stand out from the competition and work more creatively across the entire organization. 


These are some of the situations in business, work and life that can benefit from more creativity. 


Where would you like it?

🔲 YOU
“I need more creativity” 
We can make things more interesting and work more productively and effectively when we bring more creativity. 

🔲 IT
“The task or project needs more creativity”
To accelerate progress, attract interest and support, or run more effectively, greater creativity can boost project success.

🔲 THEM
“They need more creativity”
Participants, attendees, guests, customers and clients deserve more creative communications, interactions and experiences, particularly if what we’re doing is a little dry, detailed or repetitive. 


Where would you like more creativity? 

Try starting with one and let it spread throughout the others. 

A little more creativity please

You can see I’m a fan of regularly applying the skills of creativity: in thinking, writing and idea generation. 

The World Economic Forum said the top 3 skills we’d need by 2020 would be
- Complex Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Creativity.

In their updated skills list for 2025, creativity features in half of the top 10 skills, in one form or another. 

And here we are… in a world where we’ve been adapting to a global pandemic, working from home, leading remotely, changing business practices, generating new products, serving customers in new ways and ... keeping it together!

Sir Ken Robinson said “...we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it.”

It’s worth putting some of that creativity back in, and learning to be even just a little more creative! 

We need creativity now and for our future.

When you’re stuck for ideas

It’s tough running on the idea wheel, waiting, searching for ideas. 

We often need ideas for:  
- projects
- business or branding
- writing and blogging 
- product naming
- workshops and meeting activities
- presentations and pitches
- problem solving. 

Every day we need to draw on our creative abilities to add our opinion, get something started (or finished) or make something happen. 

If you’re focusing on doing the work of a task, it’s tricky to then switch over into a more creative way of thinking. 

We might expect the magic will just flow... but no 😢

While there are plenty of tips on how to come up with ideas, we don’t usually think of those tips when we’re under pressure to make ideas happen. 

I’ve shared previously my use of an ideas book: a journal or sketchbook that catches what I’m thinking about. I can fill a book every few weeks! 

Then it’s an easy flick through a few pages and something will connect. The power of our creative mind swings into action, connecting something with something else and ... boom... 💥 an idea is born! 

Wait forever for the perfect idea to show up or better still, collect them as they come to you, whenever they come to you.