It is remarkable how many people are under the false assumption that companies are either innovative or not.  This is a very polarizing and simplistic perspective that does not take into account the different types of innovations that companies can and do pursue.

For this post, let’s break down innovation into two dimensions:  Technology and Market, which gives us the following 4 types of innovation:

1. Incremental Innovation

Incremental Innovation is the most common form of innovation. It utilizes your existing technology and increases value to the customer (features, design changes, etc.) within your existing market. Almost all companies engage in incremental innovation in one form or another.

Examples include adding new features to existing products or services or even removing features (value through simplification). Even small updates to user experience can add value, for example below is an older version of Constant Contact’s email schedule page.

2. Disruptive Innovation

Disruptive innovation, also known as stealth innovation, involves applying new technology or processes to your company’s current market. It is stealthy in nature since newer tech will often be inferior to existing market technology.   This newer technology is often more expensive, has fewer features, is harder to use, and is not as aesthetically pleasing. It is only after a few iterations that the newer tech surpasses the old and disrupts all existing companies. By then, it might be too late for the established companies to quickly compete with the newer technology.

There are quite a few examples of disruptive innovation, one of the more prominent being Apple’s iPhone disruption of the mobile phone market. Prior to the iPhone, most popular phones relied on buttons, keypads or scroll wheels for user input. The iPhone was the result of a technological movement that was years in making, mostly iterated by Palm Treo phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Frequently you will find that it is not the first mover who ends up disrupting the existing market.  In order to disrupt the mobile phone market, Apple had to cobble together an amazing touch screen that had a simple to use interface, and provide users access to a large assortment of built-in and third-party mobile applications.

3. Architectural Innovation

Architectural innovation is simply taking the lessons, skills and overall technology and applying them within a different market. This innovation is amazing at increasing new customers as long as the new market is receptive. Most of the time, the risk involved in architectural innovation is low due to the reliance and reintroduction of proven technology.   Though most of the time it requires tweaking to match the requirements of the new market.

In 1966, NASA’s Ames Research Center attempted to improve the safety of aircraft cushions. They succeeded by creating a new type of foam, which reacts to the pressure applied to it, yet magically forms back to its original shape.    Originally it was commercially marketed as medical equipment table pads and sports equipment, before having larger success as use in mattresses. This “slow spring back foam” technology falls under architectural innovation. It is commonly known as memory foam.

4. Radical Innovation

Radical innovation is what we think of mostly when considering innovation. It gives birth to new industries (or swallows existing ones) and involves creating revolutionary technology. The airplane, for example, was not the first mode of transportation, but it is revolutionary as it allowed commercialized air travel to develop and prosper.

The four different types of innovation mentioned here – Incremental, Disruptive, Architectural and Radical – help illustrate the various ways that companies can innovate. There are more ways to innovate than these four. The important thing is to find the type(s) that suit your company and turn those into success.

Innovation Strategies

1. Proactive

Companies with proactive innovation strategies tend to have strong research orientation and first-mover advantage, and be a technology market leader. They access knowledge from a broad range of sources and take big bets/high risks. Examples include: Dupont, Apple and Singapore Airlines.

The types of technological innovation used in a proactive innovation strategy are:

• Radical: Breakthroughs that change the nature of products and services
• Incremental: The constant technological or process changes that lead to improved performance of products and services.

2. Active

Active innovation strategies involve defending existing technologies and markets while being prepared to respond quickly once markets and technologies are proven. Companies using this approach also have broad sources of knowledge and medium-to-low risk exposure; they tend to hedge their bets. Examples include Microsoft, Dell and British Airways.

These companies use mainly incremental innovation with in-house applied research and development.

3. Reactive

The reactive innovation strategy is used by companies:

• Which are followers
• Have a focus on operations
• Take a wait-and-see approach
• Look for low-risk opportunities.

They copy proven innovation and use entirely incremental innovators. An example is Ryanair, a budget airline which has successfully copied the no-frills service model of Southwest Airlines.

4. Passive

Companies with passive innovation strategies wait until their customers demand a change in their products or services. Examples include automotive supply companies as they wait for their customers to demand changes to specification before implementing these.

Innovation management is a combination of the management of innovation processes, and change management. It refers to product, business process, marketing and organizational innovation.

Innovation management includes a set of tools that allow managers plus workers or users to cooperate with a common understanding of processes and goals. Innovation management allows the organization to respond to external or internal opportunities, and use its creativity to introduce new ideas, processes or products. It is not relegated to R&D; it involves workers or users at every level in contributing creatively to an organization’s product or service development and marketing.

By utilizing innovation management tools, management can trigger and deploy the creative capabilities of the work force for the continuous development of an organization. Common tools include brainstorming, prototyping, product lifecycle management, idea management, design thinking, TRIZ, Phase–gate model, project management, product line planning and portfolio management. The process can be viewed as an evolutionary integration of organization, technology and market by iterating series of activities: search, select, implement and capture.

The product lifecycle of products or services is getting shorter because of increased competition and quicker time-to-market, forcing organizations to reduce their time-to-market. Innovation managers must therefore decrease development time, without sacrificing quality or meeting the needs of the market.

The key aspects of innovation management

As virtually any new development in the organization can be considered to be related to innovation, it can be quite difficult to grasp what innovation management means in practice.

Through our experience in helping organizations with their innovation activities, we’ve found that the simplest way to understand the topic is to break it down and discuss each of the key aspects related to innovation management separately.

1. Capabilities

Capabilities is an umbrella term used to cover the different abilities and resources the organization has for creating and managing innovation.

The capabilities aspect revolves primarily around people, as innovation relies heavily on the abilities of both individuals and teams collectively. It refers first and foremost to the abilities, unique insights, know-how and practical skills of the people working for the organization. However, it also covers areas, such as the information capital and tacit knowledge of the organization, as well as their other resources and available financial capital, all of which might be required to create innovation.

2. Structures

The difference between structures and capabilities is that structures enable the effective use of the said capabilities.

In practice, this means the organizational structure, processes, and infrastructure of the organization.

The right structures can work as a force multiplier allowing the organization to operate and innovate much more effectively.

For example, without the right communication channels, the right processes for making decisions, and the right infrastructure for implementing ideas, very few of the ideas that people are coming up with will actually see the light of day. This is where tools, such as innovation management software, can make a difference.

Organizational structure is one of the keys here. If every new innovative initiative is forced to go through the same chain-of-command and same processes as minor changes to the existing organization, it’s very likely that many innovations will be smothered.

Teams working on innovation need to be able to move fast and adapt to their environment, as well as make decisions independent of the traditional ways of doing things in the organization.

So, don’t try to force the same rules and processes for everyone in your organization. Economics of scale simply don’t work when it comes to innovation.

One of the more popular approaches for starting to create a more innovative organization is to work towards building a so-called ambidextrous organization. This simply means that the organization is structured in a way that allows new businesses to be independent from the pre-existing ones.

Structures can also be used to reinforce (or if done poorly, erode) the culture of the organization, which brings us to our next aspect.

3. Culture

If structures allow the effective use of capabilities, culture is what enables the organization to acquire the capabilities related to people.

With the right kind of pro-innovation culture, the organization is much more likely to be able to recruit and keep the right people in the organization.

An appropriate pro-innovation culture encourages the right kind of behavior and discourages the wrong kind. As the effects quickly cumulate, culture can make a tremendous difference for the innovativeness of an organization. Here are some of the more commonly accepted traits for an innovative culture:

• Emphasizes the need to always think of ways to get better
• Values speed, learning and experiments
• Considers failure as just a normal part of the process for creating anything new
• Provides enough freedom and responsibility and is led primarily with vision and culture instead of a chain-of-command approach

4. Strategy

Last but not least, is strategy. Strategy is, simply put, the plan the organization has for achieving long-term success.

But what’s critical to understand is that strategy is ultimately about making a deliberate choice between a number of feasible options to have the best chance of “winning” and this choice shouldn’t obviously be separate from the execution.

The link between innovation and strategy is quite an extensive topic, but in essence, innovation is simply one of the means to achieving your strategic goals.

There are of course cases where “accidental” innovation can reveal unrivalled opportunities that might be large enough to justify changing your strategy entirely, but these are quite rare and virtually impossible to prepare for.

Thus, the key is for your innovation activities to be aligned with your strategy, which however, is often easier said than done.

All four aspects affect the organization’s ability to innovate and manage innovation, which is exactly why improving it is rarely a straightforward exercise with a simple solution.

If you want to be effective at managing innovation, it’s paramount for you to be able to understand both the big picture, as well as the individual components that make it up.

Strive to maintain an innovative edge if they want to stay ahead in the game. One of the best ways of improving a service, a product or even a business’s overall efficiency is to source ideas directly from employees, vendors and clients. These groups, especially employees, experience the daily hustle and bustle and can offer innovative solutions to current problems or new ideas to propel the company forward. Too often, great ideas are left unsaid or not followed through.

Innovation management software is key if you want to ensure these ideas are registered, tracked and evaluated properly. From there, they can become the catalyst for new insights and solutions, carried through from the initial design stage through to project definition, execution and completion. By letting you collect, develop, prioritise and implement innovative ideas, idea management software enables you to digitally manage your company’s innovation strategy and processes.

If you’re considering an investment in innovation management software, there are several key functionalities you should look out for. Discover the following 6 essential features for innovation management software platform that can be leveraged to transform great ideas into tangible results.

1. Self-Driving Innovation

Idea management tools can be configured to your workflow and according to your needs. Thanks to AI technology and powerful context-based search, AI-driven idea management tools auto-discover information from all public and private data sources you have access to and easily automate routine tasks. Not only will this save you a lot of time, but will help you focus your limited tie on your innovation strategy and idea development instead of manually searching for, mining and identifying relevant or potentially actionable information.

2. Crowdsourcing

A collaborative idea management platform that supports a range of different innovation activities is another important feature of innovation management software. Crowdsourcing allows you to easily tap into the wisdom and expertise of your employees, customers, partners and your community to collect and develop creative ideas and find new solutions by planning and running various types of innovation activities.

Your software should let you plan and run any number of different innovation activities such as jam sessions, challenges, innovation days, shark tanks, and internal idea competitions. This will empower your team members and foster an innovation culture within your company, continuously driving it forward.

3. Adaptive Interface and Business Rule Engine

If you want to work efficiently, any software you consider should have a user-friendly, intuitive, and adaptive interface that lets you design idea submission and evaluation forms and work processes. You should be able to search for and look at ideas in different ways such as list, tile and tree views, and drive actions based on your requirements and business rules with zero customization.

4. Gamified Collaboration

One of the best ways to improve a service, a process or a product is to source ideas directly from your employees, customers and business partners. If you want to ensure they are committed to innovation, you must create a sense of engagement. This is why innovation management software offer a gamified collaboration as an essential feature. Gamified collaboration means engaged and happy participants who are excited to get involved in and contribute to innovation. For example, Planbox offers such a platform where participants earn points and badges for every action they take so you can measure, recognize and reward their contributions.

5. Agile Concept Development and Experiments

Agile concept development is another important feature of innovation management software. This feature will allow you to use a quick evaluation approach as a first pass filtering method where many ideas can be screened and evaluated quickly by designated reviewers and subject matter experts. In addition, Agile experimentation features will allow you to experiment on and develop the best ideas into actionable solutions.

6. Actionable Analytics

If you want to optimize your investment in ideation software, ensure you are making smart decisions with the help of actionable analytics. Choose software that offers configurable dashboards, flexible role-based ad-hoc reporting and the technology that will enable you to identify the most promising ideas and act upon them. As such, you will be able to quickly track and report on all the metrics and trends that are important to you.

In conclusion, if you’re looking for the right software to help you implement innovation within your company, there are several key factors to look for. Ensure your innovation management software has proven AI technology that will automate routine tasks and save you time. Your platform must also offer a crowdsourced innovation activity design and execution feature. It has been shown that running a range of different crowdsourced innovation activities is one of the most effective approaches, yielding impressive return on innovation investments.

An adaptive interface that allows you to easily design processes and identify the best ideas so you can pursue them is also a must have. A gamification option will also create engagement among all participants and ignite a culture of innovation within the company and its community of partners and customers. Agile concept development and experimentation features is also highly beneficial so you can quickly run agile proof of concept experiments, along with actionable analytics that will allow you to track and report on the metrics that matter most.

Innovation refers to creating more effective processes, products, and ideas. For a business, it could mean implementing new ideas, improving services or creating dynamic products. It can act as a catalyst that can make your business grow and can help you adapt in the marketplace.

By innovation, we mean changing your business model and making changes in the existing environment to deliver better products or services. Successful innovation should be a part of your business strategy, where you can create a culture of innovation and make a way for creative thinking. It can also increase the likelihood of your business succeeding and can create more efficient processes that can result in better productivity and performance.

For that, business owners need innovation and creativity to find new things. Try adopting and creating new ideas that will help you grow beyond your competition.

1. Solve Problems Easily

You need to come up with creative answers to solve certain problems in your business. Many times you’ll face problems that don’t seem to go away. You need to think outside the box to find an answer you’ve never come up with. This way you can make your product, store your inventory and find a creative solution to make your business better.

2. Increase Your Productivity

If you ever feel that you are bogged down with work and struggle to get everything done, it’s time that you should become more productive. To do this, start finding a new process.

In order to work smarter, think creatively. Focus on what things you should streamline and what things you need to cut out. Also, focus on the programs and workflows that you can use to increase productivity.

For example, You can use a homegrown project tracker system to assign, monitor and prioritize tasks. You may use other methods to do this, but building one to meet your specific demands is recommended. As your needs changes, you can update the software anytime to remain productive.

In businesses, it is always preferred to test new ideas. You will be surprised by the combination of ideas that work together to make productivity plans that work for your company.

3. Market Your Business

You can use various creative ideas and innovation to make your business stand out from the crowd. Here, small business marketing comes in. In order to make people remember your business, you need innovative ideas. You can create a new brand, develop a quirky business or can work with any non- profit organization.

Once you develop a unique character in your business, you should market it. Just innovate a marketing plan that suits your business’ personality. Stand out from all other businesses and this will help you make a unique identity among customers.

4. Beat Your Competitors

When you think innovatively, it becomes very easy to beat out your competition. You just need to put in a little creativity and you can easily come up with better ways to design products and connect with customers. Along with this, creativity will help you figure out the right marketing techniques that will help your business grow.

Now that you have read about some various advantages of innovation, you need to add it to your business. It is not a one-time deal. It must be non-stop so that you have a continuous stream of ways to improve your business.

5. Innovation Keeps Organizations Relevant

The world around us is constantly changing, and in order for your business to remain relevant and profitable, it will eventually need to adapt in order to meet these new realities.

Technology continually proves to be a driving factor in the need for change. To quantify the recent impact, look at the facts:

• 90 percent of the world’s data has been created in the last couple of years.
• More than 570 new websites are created every minute.
• 8 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020.

These changes have led to a new age of innovation across business models and industries, allowing new businesses to enter the market and disrupt incumbents in serious ways. In fact, executives today believe 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies will be wiped out in the coming decade due to this level of digital disruption. Just as a start-up often innovates in order to break into an industry, established organizations need to innovate in order to fend off competition and remain relevant in this changing environment.

6. Innovation Helps Organizations Differentiate Themselves

At the core, innovation is about doing something differently from everyone else operating in your space. If your organization is using innovation on its products, for example, then the goal is to develop or update the products until there is nothing else on the market like it. If your organization is using innovation on its processes, it’s because doing so will save you time, money, or other resources, and give you a competitive advantage over other companies stuck in their systems. In either scenario, your organization is taking the time to try something new because sticking to the status quo simply isn’t working.

While the natural success that this brings can be reward enough for many companies, it would be a mistake to overlook another key advantage: innovation helps an organization differentiate itself and its products from the competition, which can be particularly powerful in an oversaturated industry or market.

While delivering value to your customers should always be a company’s main focus, doing so in a way that is memorable and different from everyone else can become a standout element of your brand identity and business strategy, as well.

How to Embrace Innovation?

In order to drive business growth, stay relevant in changing times, and differentiate from the competition, business leaders must be able to think creatively and embrace innovation into their business models. This doesn’t mean that a willingness to innovate is the only ingredient for success, however: leaders must also have a solid understanding of how to go about bringing that innovation to life.

One way to do this is by gaining experience working on exciting, challenging, and innovative projects, as doing so will expose you to the skills needed to become an innovation driver within your organization. A master’s degree in innovation is designed to not only help you hone these specific skill sets, but also provide you with real-world, hands-on experiences that will make you an effective innovator.

1. Product vs Process Innovation

In my opinion, this is the highest level break-out of the painfully broad term “Innovation”. Product innovation is developing a new product (iPhone). Process innovation is improving the processes employed to produce or deliver the product, and to make it more efficient or productive (eg. Robot welders on the factory floor at GM). Process innovation often falls under names like (Six Sigma or Operational Excellence). Generally product innovation is concerned with increasing revenue and process innovation with reducing costs. It’s very difficult to do both at the same time, for a given product, and the emergence of a “dominant design” is what triggers the shift of effort from product to process innovation.

2. Scale of Innovation

While it may seem obvious, innovation happens at different scales. Broad-based adoption of Personal Computers in the 80s represented a “big” innovation and by contrast the mute button on your remote control is small. Scale is determined by: size of investment, time to ROI, change in user behavior, risk of success, risk of adoption, etc. and is a relative measure. While many terms are used, I prefer: Incremental, Sustaining & Disruptive (for small, medium and large). The non-obvious part is that it is important to always keep in mind when thinking about innovation, because the rules are totally different if you are working on a incremental process improvement vs a disruptive new product.

3. Technology Adoption Curve

Adoption is the risk for any innovation. New tools and practices are not adopted overnight. Like a bottle of perfume opened in the corner that slowly spreads throughout the room, innovations slowly diffuse through society. Understanding this process is critical, as new ideas are embraced first by “early adopters” all the way through to “skeptics”. This is articulated in Marketing High Technology and more recently Crossing the Chasm.

4. The Innovators Dilemma

What if your new low cost model cannibalizes the revenue and profit from the old way of doing it? What if you have an Executive VP of Back Office Operations and your new electronic trading system requires no people to operate it? What if your new roll-out requires 10,000 people to be retrained. Most organizations have a natural immune system to change. In many areas this is a good thing you wouldn’t want to change the location of headquarters every month. But with innovation these anti-bodies can block or kill the very initiatives they could have saved a firm when it’s industry is being transformed.

5. Skunkworks

It is often useful to separate a innovative business unit logically and physically from the rigors (standards, reporting, ROI) of the parent company. The term ‘Skunkworks’ derives from a Lockheed Martin group that was separated from the corporate parent and was very successful in developing many new airplanes. This technique was also employed at Apple by the Mac Group that took up separate offices and flew a pirate flag above their building. If you can’t have a separate building, at least create a “War Room” by permanently taking over a conference room and posting all relevant project information on the walls. It’s important for innovative groups to have their own identity so they can defend themselves from forces that might undo their best efforts.

6. Prototype & Iterate

Some flaws are just not that obvious until you try to use the product. On the first typewriters you couldn’t see what you were typing until the page came out of the machine 15-20 lines later! Visible type was considered an innovation in typewriters! Later someone invented the “Shift” key so that keyboards didn’t need separate keys for capital and lowercase letters! This is also why it is important to eat your own dog food so you feel what the user is feeling.

7. Solutions not Technologies

There is a major difference between a technology and a solution. A technology sounds like this: “a networks of orbitals, that constantly send and receive geospatial data streams with synchronized clocks that triangulate position on spherical surface.” A solution sounds like this: “with this GPS, I will never get lost again, anywhere in the world”. There is much work to be done between a new technology and something that solves a problem, and not all technologies make it there. Ask yourself what specific job are you trying to make easier? What problem am I trying to solve? What is the one thing your user trying to do, and how can you help with it. Clarify those questions as precisely as you can, then focus all your energies on designing a solution for just that one task.

8. Economic Value

Despite your grand vision to change the world, the world will ask you to measure your innovation by much humbler means such as: How are you making something Cheaper/Faster/Better? Can we lay-off people if we buy your product? What are the trade-off costs? The switching costs? The trial costs? Why is it better than doing nothing at all? What is the payback? How long till we break even? Is the risk worth the reward? Understanding the nitty gritty of economic value (aka what people are willing to pay for, and why?) will help you sell your idea to the world.

9. Individuals Required

As you probably guessed by now, true innovation isn’t easy. Social pressures, set backs, bean counters… Along the way you will need to rock the boat a bit and probably even just outright break the rules. We’ve all heard the line “Ask for forgiveness not permission” now you’ll have to live it. I have also heard it said “the defining trait of an entrepreneur is that they don’t need to ask anyone for permission.”

10. Quality

The ancient Greeks had a concept called arête which meant quality or goodness. It’s hard to pin down the exact meaning, but it’s the type of thing ‘you know it when you see it’. Take one look at the iPhone and you can feel the Quality. Go to a typical DMV, and chances are you will see a lack of quality (no offense). Quality is important because people will give your new thing a try simply because they like the experience of touching something of quality, and that drives adoption. Quality, and the passion required to pursue it, in any field, is admirable and that gives you your shot.

The human brain is an intricate organ. At approximately 3 pounds, it contains about 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion connections. Your brain is command central of all you think, feel, and do.

Your brain is divided into two halves, or hemispheres. Within each half, particular regions control certain functions.

The two sides of your brain look very much alike, but there’s a huge difference in how they process information. Despite their contrasting styles, the two halves of your brain don’t work independently of each other.

Different parts of your brain are connected by nerve fibers. If a brain injury severed the connection between sides, you could still function. But the lack of integration would cause some impairment.

The human brain is constantly reorganizing itself. It’s adaptable to change, whether it’s physical or through life experience. It’s tailor-made for learning.

As scientists continue mapping the brain, we’re gaining more insight into which parts control necessary functions. This information is vital to advancing research into brain diseases and injuries, and how to recover from them.

The theory is that people are either left-brained or right-brained, meaning that one side of their brain is dominant. If you’re mostly analytical and methodical in your thinking, you’re said to be left-brained. If you tend to be more creative or artistic, you’re thought to be right-brained.

This theory is based on the fact that the brain’s two hemispheres function differently. This first came to light in the 1960s, thanks to the research of psychobiologist and Nobel Prize winner Roger W. Sperry.

The left brain is more verbal, analytical, and orderly than the right brain. It’s sometimes called the digital brain. It’s better at things like reading, writing, and computations.

According to Sperry’s dated research, the left brain is also connected to:

• Logic
• Sequencing
• Linear thinking
• Mathematics
• Facts
• Thinking in words

The right brain is more visual and intuitive. It’s sometimes referred to as the analog brain. It has a more creative and less organized way of thinking.

Sperry’s dated research suggests the right brain is also connected to:

• Imagination
• Holistic thinking
• Intuition
• Arts
• Rhythm
• Nonverbal cues
• Feelings visualization
• Daydreaming

We know the two sides of our brain are different, but does it necessarily follow that we have a dominant brain just as we have a dominant hand?

A team of neuroscientists set out to test this premise. After a two-year analysisTrusted Source, they found no proof that this theory is correct. Magnetic resonance imaging of 1,000 people revealed that the human brain doesn’t actually favor one side over the other. The networks on one side aren’t generally stronger than the networks on the other side.

The two hemispheres are tied together by bundles of nerve fibers, creating an information highway. Although the two sides function differently, they work together and complement each other. You don’t use only one side of your brain at a time.

Whether you’re performing a logical or creative function, you’re receiving input from both sides of your brain. For example, the left brain is credited with language, but the right brain helps you understand context and tone. The left brain handles mathematical equations, but right brain helps out with comparisons and rough estimates.

General personality traits, individual preferences, or learning style don’t translate into the notion that you’re left-brained or right-brained.

Still, it’s a fact that the two sides of your brain are different, and certain areas of your brain do have specialties. The exact areas of some functions can vary a bit from person to person.

Tips for keeping your brain sharp

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, keeping your brain active may help increase vitality and possibly generate new brain cells. They also suggest that a lack of mental stimulation may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Here are a few tips to keep your brain stimulated:

• Spend some time each day reading, writing, or both.
• Never stop learning. Take a class, go to a lecture, or try to acquire a new skill.
• Tackle challenging crossword and sudoku puzzles.
• Play memory games, board games, card games, or video games.
• Take on a new hobby that requires you to focus.

In addition to thinking exercises, your brain benefits from a good physical workout. Just 120 minutes of aerobic exercise a week can help improve learning and verbal memory.

Avoid junk food and be sure to get all the essential nutrients you need through diet or dietary supplements. And, of course, aim for a full night’s sleep every night.

Tips for boosting creativity

If you’re trying to nourish your creative side, here are a few ways to get started:

(i) Read about and listen to the creative ideas of others

You might discover the seed of an idea you can grow, or set your own imagination free.

(ii) Try something new

Take up a creative hobby, such as playing an instrument, drawing, or storytelling. A relaxing hobby can help your mind wander to new places.

(iii) Look within

This can help you gain a deeper understanding of yourself and what makes you tick. Why do you gravitate toward certain activities and not others?

(iv) Keep it fresh

Break your set patterns and go outside your comfort zone. Take a trip to a place you’ve never been. Immerse yourself in another culture. Take a course in a subject you haven’t studied before.

Tips and tricks

• When you get new ideas, write them down and work on developing them further.
• When faced with a problem, try to find several ways to get to a solution.
• When doing simple chores, such as washing the dishes, leave the TV off and let your mind wander to new places.
• Rest, relax, and laugh to let your creative juices flow.

Even something as creative as music takes time, patience, and practice. The more you practice any new activity, the more your brain adapts to the new information.

Creative thinking means looking at something in a new way. It is the very definition of “thinking outside the box.” Often, creativity in this sense involves what is called lateral thinking, or the ability to perceive patterns that are not obvious. The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes uses lateral thinking in one famous story when he realizes that a dog not barking is an important clue in a murder case.

Creative people have the ability to devise new ways to carry out tasks, solve problems, and meet challenges. They bring a fresh, and sometimes unorthodox, perspective to their work. This way of thinking can help departments and organizations move in more productive directions. For these reasons, they are extremely valuable to a company.

Some people are naturally more creative than others, but creative thinking ability can be strengthened with practice.

You can develop creative thinking skills by solving riddles, being aware of (and letting go of) your assumptions, and through play. Play connotes anything unstructured and relaxing, such as walking or daydreaming.

If there is someone in your industry who is known for being creative, you might to try to connect with that person and ask for an informational interview, or ask to job shadow him or her for a day. Watching someone work in creative ways can help you learn to be more creative yourself.

Creative Thinking and the Job Search

Some job descriptions state that creative thinking is required for the position. However, many employers want creative thinkers even though they haven’t articulated it. In either case, think about how your creative nature has helped you in the past and how it might be an asset in the job you’re seeking.

One way to highlight your creative thinking is in your application materials.

In your resume and cover letter, consider including keywords that demonstrate your creativity, such as “fresh” and “innovative.” In your cover letter (and even in the “Employment History” section of your resume), include one or two specific examples of times your creative thinking added value to your employer.

For example, perhaps you came up with a creative way to save your department money, or maybe you developed a new filing system that increased efficiency.

Also come to your interview prepared with specific examples of how you’re able to demonstrate your creativity, just as you would with any other skill. This is especially important if the job description lists creativity or creative thinking as a requirement.

If you’re looking for creative opportunities as a means of personal fulfillment, you can find satisfaction in surprising places. Any job that allows you to put your own spin on your work will end up being and feeling creative.

Top Creative Thinking Skills

• Analysis: Before thinking creatively about something, you first have to be able to understand it. This requires the ability to examine things carefully to understand what they mean. Whether you are looking at a text, a data set, a lesson plan, or an equation, you need to be able to analyze it first.
• Open-Mindedness: Creativity involves thinking of things in a novel way within the context in question. You have to set aside any assumptions or biases you may have, and look at things in a completely new way. By coming to a problem with an open mind, you allow yourself the chance to think creatively.
• Problem Solving: Employers don’t simply want to hire creative people because they are impressive. They want creative employees who will help them to solve work-related issues. Therefore, when applying for jobs, highlight your ability not only to think creatively, but to use your creativity to solve important problems.
• Organization: This might seem counterintuitive: aren’t creative people known for being somewhat disorganized? Actually, organization is an important part of creativity. While you might need to get a bit messy when trying out a new idea, you then need to organize your ideas so that other people will be able to understand and follow through with your vision. Being able to structure a plan of action with clear goals and deadlines is vital.
• Communication: People will only appreciate your creative idea or solution if you can communicate it effectively to the people you work with (or to your clients or vendors). Therefore, you need to have strong written and oral communication skills. You also need to be able to understand a situation fully before thinking creatively about it. Therefore, you also need to be a good listener. By asking the right questions and understanding the problem, you can come up with a unique solution.

Examples of Creative Thinking

Opportunities for creative thought in the workplace vary from the obvious artistic position to the highly technical one. Generally, anything that involves an “Aha” moment is considered creative. Here are some examples of how to display creative thinking in different jobs.

Artistic Creativity

You don’t have to be an artist for your work to have an artistic element. Perhaps you arrange retail displays for maximum impact, or shape the path of an enticing hiking trail. Other artistically creative tasks might include designing logos, writing advertising copy, creating the packaging for a product, or drafting a phone script for a fundraising drive.

• Composing a new fundraising script for volunteers
• Composing dialogue for a television or radio commercial
• Creating an exam to test student knowledge
• Creating packaging for a product
• Designing a logo
• Devising a lesson plan that will engage students
• Proposing a new look for a clothing line
• Writing compelling copy for a print or online advertisement

Creative Problem-Solving

Creative problem-solving stands out as innovative. A creative problem solver will find new solutions rather than simply identifying and implementing the norm. You might brainstorm new ways to cut energy use, find new ways to cut costs during a budget crisis, or develop a unique litigation strategy to defend a client. These all entail creative thinking on your part.

• Brainstorming at a staff meeting to set a strategy for the next year
• Brainstorming ways to cut energy use
• Coming up with new procedures to improve quality
• Devising a more efficient way to process travel reimbursements
• Identifying ways to cut costs during a budget crisis
• Increasing staff productivity by devising performance incentives
• Restructuring a filing system to facilitate easier retrieval of information
• Suggesting new ways of communication to alleviate marital conflict
• Suggesting a way to improve customer service

Creativity in STEM

Some people think of science and engineering as the exact opposite of art and creativity. However, the converse is true. The field of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) is highly creative. For example, designing a more efficient assembly line robot, writing an innovative new computer program, or developing a testable hypothesis, are all highly creative acts.

In fact, the history of science and technology is filled with projects that did not work, not because of errors in technique or methodology, but because people remained stuck in their assumptions and old habits. The STEM field needs radical creativity in order to flourish and grow.

• Constructing a research model to test a hypothesis
• Devising a computer program to automate a billing process
• Devising a social media platform for a cell phone
• Identifying new ways to increase the number of blood donors
• Proposing behavioral changes for a patient who is overweight
• Redesigning machinery on an assembly line to enhance productivity

Traditional Thinking

Traditional thinking refers to the thinking that has traditionally permeated the mindsets, models, decisions, and analyses of Western management. Its basis is in analysis and analytical thinking.

If we added to traditional thinking the abstract idea of change our world becomes tremendously complex. The way we manage the complexity is that we create; we create by introducing generalizations plus other abstractions.

Philosopher, tycoon, philanthropist, author, and international political activist George Soros says in his book “The Age of Fallibility” that “Once it comes to generalizations, the more general they are, the more they simplify matters. This world is best conceived as a general equation in which the present is represented by one set of constants. Change the constants and the same equation will apply to all past and future situations…I shall call this the critical mode of thinking.”

Soros identifies the traditional mode of thinking with an ‘organic society’. He further identifies the critical mode of thinking with the ‘open society’. Each society must find a means to deal with factors that do not conform to the will of the members of that society. In a traditional society, even though it focuses primarily on phenomena that are generally static, nature can be obdurate.

In the traditional mode of thinking the central tenet is that things are as they have always been and the future will be likewise thus they cannot be any other way. The status quo is fate and all we need do is learn that fate and to organize our lives in accordance. In such a world logic and argumentation has no place because there exists no alternatives.

When we examine the nature of epistemology what can we know and how can we know it in such a mode of thinking we quickly illuminate the advantages and drawbacks. In such a society there is no bifurcation between thought and concrete reality. There exists only the objective relationship between knower and known. The validity of traditional truth is unquestioned; there can be no distinction between ideas and reality.

Where a thing exists we give it a name. Without a name a thing does not exist. Only where abstraction exists do we give non-objects a name. In our modern reality we label many non-concrete things and thus arises the separation of reality and thoughts. The way things appear is the way things are; the traditional mode of thinking can penetrate no deeper.

The traditional mode of thinking does not explain the world by cause and effect but everything performs in accordance with its nature. Because there is no distinction between the natural and supernatural and between reality and thought there arise no contradictions. The spirit of the tree is as real as the branch of the tree; past, present, and future melt into one time. Thinking fails to distinguish between thought and reality, truth and falsehood, social and naturals laws. Such is the world of traditional thought and the world of mythological thought.

The traditional mode is very flexible as long as no alternatives are voiced, any new thing quickly becomes the traditional and as long as such a situation meets the needs of the people such a situation will continue to prevail.

To comprehend the traditional mode we must hold in abeyance our ingrained habits of thought, especially our abstract concept of the individual. In a changeless society all is the Whole, the individual does not exist.

The individual is an abstraction that does not exist whereas the Whole, which is in reality an abstraction, exists as a concrete concept for traditional thought. The unity expressed by the Whole is the unity much like an organism. The individuals in this society are like the organs of a creature; they cannot last if separated from the Whole. Society determines which function the individual plays in the society.

The term “organic society” is used often to label this form of culture. When all is peaceful with no significant voices placing forth an alternative then this organic society exists in peace. In this organic society a human slave is no different from any other chattel. In a feudal society the land is more important than the landlord who derives his privileges from the fact that he holds the land.

For 3000 years Egypt was an example such a society. This Egyptian society remained essentially unchanged until 50BC when Western society was led into a different mode of thinking by the Greeks and by Roman conquest.

Creative Thinking

Creative thinking is the ability to look at things differently, and find new ways of solving problems. Creative thinking skills are definitely not just for ‘creative types’ like artists and musicians. Everyone can benefit from creative thinking from time to time.

Creative thinking is a way of looking at problems or situations from a fresh perspective that suggests unorthodox solutions (which may look unsettling at first). Creative thinking can be stimulated both by an unstructured process such as brainstorming, and by a structured process such as lateral thinking.

Creative thinking, therefore, is the ability to think differently: to see a problem or issue from a new angle or perspective. This often allows you find a new solution, or even to see that the problem does not necessarily need a solution.

The need for creative thinking arises because our brains naturally tend to fall into certain ‘short cuts’. Once we have a piece of information, we tend to use it again: that’s how we learn. This has huge advantages for example, it means that we don’t have to learn how to use a knife and fork every time we eat but it also has some disadvantages, in that we tend to stop thinking about things that we do, see or say regularly.

Formal Creative Thinking

Of course it is possible to think creatively all the time. There are some people who simply fizz with new ideas and seem to see everything slightly differently from those around them.

These are the people who are always asking ‘Why?’, and ‘Why not?’.

They are natural problem-solvers and innovators.

However, for most people, creative thinking requires more effort. They prefer to save their creative thinking for when it is really necessary.

Typical examples of times when you might take the time to use creative thinking techniques include:

• When you are facing a major problem or issue, and you cannot see an obvious way forward.
• At times of change, when it is hard to see what might lie ahead, and you want to think about possible scenarios.
• When there is a lot of disagreement about what needs to happen next, and no compromise seems possible without a lot of effort.
• When you need something new, that hasn’t been tried before, but you are not sure what.

On occasions like this, it may be worth doing some ‘formal’ creative thinking, and using a trained facilitator to help the group get the most out of the session.

Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without recourse to conscious reasoning. Different writers give the word “intuition” a great variety of different meanings, ranging from direct access to unconscious knowledge, unconscious cognition, inner sensing, inner insight to unconscious pattern-recognition and the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning.

The word intuition comes from the Latin verb intueri translated as “consider” or from the late middle English word intuit, “to contemplate“.

Intuition is a form of knowledge that appears in consciousness without obvious deliberation. It is not magical but rather a faculty in which hunches are generated by the unconscious mind rapidly sifting through past experience and cumulative knowledge.

Often referred to as “gut feelings,” intuition tends to arise holistically and quickly, without awareness of the underlying mental processing of information. Scientists have repeatedly demonstrated how information can register on the brain without conscious awareness and positively influence decision-making and other behavior.

Where Intuition Comes From?

Psychologists believe that intuition relies on powers of pattern-matching, as the mind combs experience stored in long-term memory for similar situations and presents in-the-moment judgments based on them. The automatic information processing that underlies intuition can be seen in the everyday phenomenon known as “highway hypnosis,” which occurs when a driver travels for miles without a conscious thought about the activity of driving the car.

Is intuition the same as gut feelings?

Intuition is often referred to as “gut feelings,” as they seem to arise fully formed from some deep part of us. In fact, they are the product of brain processing that automatically compares swiftly perceived elements of current experience with past experience and knowledge, and they are delivered to awareness with considerable emotional certainty.

How do gut feelings relate to first impressions?

Intuition, like first impressions, serves the brain’s need to predict and prepare for what will happen next. First impressions are rapid, holistic assessments of people based on subtle perceptual cues and judgment of intent to help or harm. Both rely on automatic processes and, as rapid evaluation systems, both are subject to error, especially from biases we hold.

Here are 10 things that people in touch with their intuition do differently.

1. They listen to that inner voice

The No. 1 thing that distinguishes intuitive people is that they listen to, rather than ignore, the guidance of their intuitions and gut feelings.

“Everybody is connected to their intuition, but some people don’t pay attention to it as intuition,” Burnham say. “I have yet to meet a successful businessman that didn’t say, ‘I don’t know why I did that, it was just a hunch.'”

In order to make our best decisions, we need a balance of intuition which serves to bridge the gap between instinct and reasoning and rational thinking, according to Francis Cholle, author of The Intuitive Compass. But the cultural bias against following one’s instinct or intuition often leads to disregarding our hunches — to our own detriment.

2. They take time for solitude

If you want to get in touch with your intuition, a little time alone may be the most effective way. Just as solitude can help give rise to creative thinking, it can also help us connect to our deepest inner wisdom.

Intuitive people are often introverted, according to Burnham. But whether you’re an introvert or not, taking time for solitude can help you engage in deeper thought and reconnect with yourself.

3. They create

“Creativity does its best work when it functions intuitively,”.

In fact, creative people are highly intuitive, explains Burnham, and just as you can increase your creativity through practice, you can boost your intuition. In fact, practicing one may build up the other.

4. They practice mindfulness

Meditation and other mindfulness practices can be an excellent way to tap into your intuition. As the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute explains, “Mindfulness can help you filter out mental chatter, weigh your options objectively, tune into your intuition and ultimately make a decision that you can stand behind completely.”

Mindfulness can also connect you to your intuition by boosting self-knowledge. A 2013 study published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science showed that mindfulness defined as “paying attention to one’s current experience in a non-judgmental way” may help us to better understand our own personalities. And as Arianna Huffington notes in Thrive, increased intuition, compassion, creativity and peace are all wonderful side effects of meditating.

5. They observe everything

“The first thing to do is notice keep a little journal, and notice when odd things happen,” Burnham says. You’ll gain a keen sense for how often coincidences, surprising connections and on-the-dot intuitions occur in your daily life in other words, you’ll start to tap into your intuition.

6. They listen to their bodies

Intuitive people learn to tune into their bodies and heed their “gut feelings.”

If you’ve ever started feeling sick to your stomach when you knew something was wrong but couldn’t put your finger on what, you understand that intuitions can cause a physical sensation in the body. Our gut feelings are called gut feelings for a reason research suggests that emotion and intuition are very much rooted in the “second brain” in the gut.

7. They connect deeply with others

Mind reading may seem like the stuff of fantasy and pseudo-science, but it’s actually something we do everyday. It’s called empathic accuracy, a term in psychology that refers to the “seemingly magical ability to map someone’s mental terrain from their words, emotions and body language,” according to Psychology Today.

“When you see a spider crawling up someone’s leg, you feel a creepy sensation,” Marcia Reynolds writes in Psychology Today. “Similarly, when you observe someone reach out to a friend and they are pushed away, your brain registers the sensation of rejection. When you watch your team win or a couple embrace on television, you feel their emotions as if you are there. Social emotions like guilt, shame, pride, embarrassment, disgust and lust can all be experienced by watching others.”

8. They pay attention to their dreams

Burnham recommends paying attention to your dreams as a way to get in touch with your mind’s unconscious thinking processes. Both dreams and intuition spring from the unconscious, so you can begin to tap into this part of your mind by paying attention to your dreams.

“At night, when you’re dreaming, you’re receiving information from the unconscious or intuitive part of your brain,”. “If you’re attuned to your dreams, you can get a lot of information about how to live your life.”

9. They enjoy plenty of down time

Few things stifle intuition as easily as constant busyness, multitasking, connectivity to digital devices and stress and burnout. According to Huffington, we always have an intuitive sense about the people in our lives on a deep level, we know the good ones from the “flatterers and dissemblers” but we’re not always awake enough to our intuition to acknowledge the difference to ourselves. The problem is that we’re simply too busy.

10. They mindfully let go of negative emotions

Strong emotions particularly negative ones can cloud our intuition. Many of us know that we feel out of sorts or “not ourselves” when we’re upset, and it may be because we’re disconnected from our intuition.

“When you are very depressed, you may find your intuition fails,”. “When you’re angry or in a heightened emotional state … your intuition fail you completely.”

Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing.

“Creativity is a combinatorial force: it’s our ability to tap into our ‘inner’ pool of resources knowledge, insight, information, inspiration and all the fragments populating our minds that we’ve accumulated over the years just by being present and alive and awake to the world and to combine them in extraordinary new ways.” :Maria Popova, Brainpickings

“Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being. Creativity requires passion and commitment. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness: ecstasy.” :Rollo May, The Courage to Create

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed literary work, or a painting).

Scholarly interest in creativity is found in a number of disciplines, primarily psychology, business studies, and cognitive science, but also education, technology, engineering, philosophy (particularly philosophy of science), theology, sociology, linguistics, and economics, covering the relations between creativity and general intelligence, personality type, mental and neural processes, mental health, or artificial intelligence; the potential for fostering creativity through education and training; the fostering of creativity for national economic benefit, and the application of creative resources to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning.

Types of Creativity

1. Deliberate and Cognitive creativity

People who possess deliberate and cognitive characteristics are purposeful. They have a great amount of knowledge about a particular subject and combine their skills and capabilities to prepare a course of action to achieve something. This type of creativity built when people work for a very long time in a particular area.

People who fall under this type of category of creativity are usually proficient at research, problem- solving, investigation and experimentation. This type of creativity is located in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which is at the front part of the brain. These types of creative people spend a great deal of time every single day testing to develop new solutions.

Thomas Alva Edison is one prominent example of this type of creative people. He ran experiment after experiment before inventing electricity, the light bulb, and telecommunication. Hence, deliberate and cognitive creativity requires a great deal of time, dedication and abundance of knowledge about a particular subject.

2. Deliberate and Emotional Creativity

People who are categorized as deliberate and emotional let their work influenced by their state of emotions. These types of creative people are very emotional and sensitive in nature. These individuals prefer relatively quiet and personal time to reflect and they usually have a habit of diary writing. However, they are equally logical and rational in decision making.

Their creativity is always a balanced product of deliberate emotional thinking and logical actions. This type of creativity is found in the amygdala and cingulate cortex parts of the human brain. Amygdala is responsible for human emotions whereas cingulate cortex helps in learning and information processing. This type of creativity happens to people at random moments. Those moments are usually referred to as “a-ha!” moments when someone suddenly thinks of a solution to some problem or think of some innovative idea.

For example, there are situations when you feel low and emotional which distracts you from your work. In those kinds of situations, you should take 5 minutes and point out the things which are making you sad and keep them aside and focus on the work in hand. It will help you to get improvised results and you will get work done easily. One should seek “quiet time” for deliberate and emotional creativity to happen to them.

3. Spontaneous and Cognitive creativity

There are times when you spend a long time to crack a problem but can’t think of any solution. For example, when you want to make a schedule for a month to get a job done, but you can’t seem to think of any possible way and when you are watching television and having your relaxed time and suddenly you think of a solution and everything falls in place. The same case happened with the great scientist Isaac Newton. He got the idea about the law of gravity when an apple hit his head while he was sitting under a tree and relaxing.

This is the “Eureka!” moments for Newton and an excellent example of a spontaneous and cognitive person. This type of creativity happens when one has the knowledge to get a particular job done, but he requires inspiration and a hint to walk towards the right path. This type of creativity usually happens at the most inconvenient time, such as, when you are in bed with your partner or having a shower. Spontaneous and cognitive creativity takes place when the conscious mind stops working and go to relax and unconscious mind gets a chance to work.

Mostly, this type of creative person stops conscious thinking when they need to do “out of the box” thinking. By indulging in different and unrelated activities, the unconscious mind gets a chance to connect information in new ways which provide solutions to the problems. Therefore, to let this type of creativity happen one should take a break from the problem and get away to let conscious mind overtake.

4. Spontaneous and Emotional Creativity

Spontaneous and emotional creativity takes place in the “amygdala” part of the human brain. Amygdala is responsible for all emotional type of thinking in the human brain. Spontaneous ideas and creativity happen when conscious and Prefrontal brain is resting. This type of creativity is mostly found in a great artist such as musicians, painters, and writers etc. This type of creativity is also related to “epiphanies”.

Epiphany is a sudden realization of something. Spontaneous and emotional creativity is responsible for a scientific breakthrough, religious and also philosophical discoveries. This allows the enlightened person to look at a problem or situation with a different and deeper viewpoint.

Those moments are defined as rare moments when great discoveries take place. There is no need to have specific knowledge for “spontaneous and emotional” creativity to happen but there should be a skill such as writing, musical or artistic. This type of creativity can’t be obtained by working on it.