A642.6.3.RB - Practicing Creative Thinking Skills

A642.6.3.RB - Practicing Creative Thinking Skills

As the business world becomes increasingly competitive and the effects of globalization and technology intensify, companies are striving for new ways to create competitive advantages. In this blog I will be reflecting and identifying five strategies that I think can help lead innovation projects, that I have learn of from my weekly reading.

McKeown (2014) pointed out, “innovation is a journey into the unknown “. Schroeder’s innovation journey notes that all innovation moves from chaos to order. And we as leaders and innovators must recognize the patterns. Successful innovation-to-outcome system does not operate in isolation. Planned innovations are expected innovations, where a company identifies and takes steps to address a gap in their product or service range, usually with an external aim, with resources allocated and processes established to maximize return on investment.

The importance of innovation as a mechanism for growth is well documented. As a driver of sustainable success and even survival, companies need to innovate to compete effectively in business.

Next I think the creative problem solving strategy is very useful. This strategy is divided into three stages. Stage one is exploring the challenge, step two is generating ideas, and the third step is preparing for action. Before anything is done you must first explore the challenge. This allows you to see what the mission is for the innovation. From that point, you can find facts that will help you map out your brainstorming process. These facts allow you to gather information about everything involved. Once this is done you take those facts and begin to develop ideas. This is all leading you to the last step which is preparing you for action. In the end, you use these steps to find a solution.

I had never heard of the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). But it was very interesting to read how successful it was in creating military applications that are now common everyday feature in our lives. But even more noteworthy was how difficult it was to emulate. With its unconventional approach, speed, and effectiveness, DARPA has created a “special forces” model of innovation. There have been many attempts to apply the DARPA model in other organizations in the private and public sectors. (Dugan & Gabriel, 2013)

Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats technique is an extremely useful way to debate an issue, solve a problem or to arrive at an important decision. The technique encourages a group to approach the issue at hand from all possible angles. Because the technique allows an issue or problem to be examined from each angle in turn, no single view (or person) can dominate a meeting or group discussion. Ideas, decisions and solutions that are reached using the Six Thinking Hats method should, therefore, be more robust and effective than they might otherwise have been. The technique also encourages participants to approach any future issues or problems they encounter more holistically. Although most commonly used by a group, the Six Thinking Hats technique can also be used effectively by any individual who wishes to take a rounded approach to issues and problems.

Henderson and Clark’s four type of innovation. Incremental and radical innovation have always been the centerpiece and basis of a company’s innovation strategy. Henderson and Clark however, attempt to bring another categorization of innovation to the foreground. Termed as architectural innovation, they define it as “innovations that change the way in which the components of a product are linked together, while leaving the core design concepts untouched”. This type of innovation serves to make established architectural knowledge, knowledge of how individual components interact with each other, obsolete. (McKeown, 2014)

References

Canfield, J., & Smith, G. (2011). Imagine. Holland: Black Lake Press.

Dugan, R. E., & Gabriel, K. J. (2013, October). Special forces innovation: How DARPA attacks problems. Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2013/10/special-forces-innovation-how-darpa-attacks-problems

McKeown, M. (2014). The Innovation Book. Harlow: Pearson.