Use of creativity techniques | What do they really achieve?

Creativity techniques, also known as creative methods, are a central tool in innovation work. Especially in very traditional organizations that have little to no inspiring role models (as is the case with Apple and Co., for example), innovation is extremely difficult without the help of creativity techniques.

The world of creative methods is huge, there are a huge number of different methods. Once you sit down and start googling creativity techniques, you end up in a vast universe of methods and may be completely overwhelmed at first. Questions like:

• Why are there so many methods?
• Which method is suitable for my problem?
• How do I find the right method?
• What result can I expect when using a creativity technique?

may be a deterrent. However, these are classic questions that we also encounter time and again in our daily work with customers. I would therefore like to take a closer look at the topic of creativity techniques.

What are creativity techniques for?

We humans are absolute creatures of habit. Routine processes and tried-and-tested thought patterns are simple and save us time and energy. For most of us, this is also a great advantage, especially when we have to devote ourselves to daily (often repetitive) activities.

But when we find ourselves in an innovation project, it becomes difficult. We are simply not used to moving outside our familiar thought patterns. What we don’t know is difficult and frustrates us. What’s more, we don’t have the necessary knowledge of how idea generation works. Most people do “a little brainstorming” and wonder why no ideas come out of it. For these reasons, many people also say of themselves that they are not creative. But this belief is wrong! It has been scientifically proven that we humans are all equally creative. Some people simply train their creativity more often and therefore find it easier to think more creatively and leave the beaten track. However, those who rarely or never do this must first learn to do so again. And this is exactly where creativity techniques come into play.

Simply put, a creative method is a technique that helps us to be systematically creative. They accompany us through our creative process and offer us the necessary support to reliably and almost intuitively come up with new ideas. You can think of a creativity technique as a guide to finding ideas, which in most cases is structured roughly like this.

1. Formulate your problem/question in an appropriate and structured way
2. Get all the necessary materials and provide a suitable environment
3. Carry out steps 1 – X for brainstorming
4. Write everything down
5. Reflect on your results and decide on the next step

Creativity techniques are therefore thinking aids that provide us with a helpful structure in our brainstorming to make it easier to come up with new, unfamiliar ways of thinking and thus new ideas. But what can I expect from using these techniques?

What do creativity techniques do?

The first insight into the definition of creativity techniques leads to the assumption that they are a panacea for innovation and that you only need to apply enough methods to arrive at the golden idea. But this is exactly where caution is required.

Let’s first take a look at what creativity techniques can really achieve:

• They can generate a large number of new ideas: Using creative methods encourages the team to think outside the box and come up with new, innovative ideas, completely detached from our inner censor. This results in an unusually high number of ideas, which is exactly what we want to achieve! The keyword here is “It’s the quantity that counts!”, as this is the only way to increase the probability of finding the famous golden idea among these many ideas.
• They can help to solve problems: Especially when problems have been with us for a long time, we develop a difficult relationship with them. The problem is getting bigger and bigger and seems increasingly unsolvable. Creativity techniques help to look at even “old-established” challenges and problems from different perspectives in order to find different new solutions.
• They can promote collaboration within the team: At team level, the use of creativity techniques has another valuable effect: they promote team collaboration by encouraging each person involved to value and utilize the ideas and perspectives of all team members. This connects and builds trust.
• They can improve communication: In addition to better collaboration, the use of creative methods can also strengthen communication with one another. If we as a team stick to implementing the methods step by step, we create a safe space for sharing ideas and thoughts.
• They can increase motivation: Last but not least, creativity techniques are simply fun. Through new and unusual combinations, we arrive at completely different perspectives, which often create an exuberant and good atmosphere. This increases the motivation and commitment of the team, as it makes the innovation process more interesting and varied.

It all sounds pretty promising, doesn’t it? With these possibilities in mind, however, I would also like to discuss the limitations of using creativity techniques.

What are the limits of using creativity techniques?

As beneficial as creativity techniques may be in innovation work, they also have certain limitations. It is important to be aware of them in order to meet them at eye level and be able to derive appropriate measures.

• They are no guarantee of quality: this is probably the most important and most underestimated aspect. Creativity techniques used correctly can increase the number of ideas generated, but they do not necessarily guarantee the quality of the ideas. You have to be aware that not every idea generated in the process is practicable, economically viable or even innovative.
• They do not automatically produce the best idea: creative methods help to generate more ideas in a certain amount of time than if you were to spend the same amount of time without a creative method. However, they do not help to select the best idea. An additional analysis is required to select the best, or rather the most suitable idea. Additional methods for evaluation and decision-making help here.
• They only work in the right environment: in addition to a suitable space for creative work, the environment in the company must also be right. The best method does not help if the organizational culture or management is not open to promoting creativity. A person who is permanently exposed to headwinds cannot think openly, even if the right methods are chosen.
• They can lead to conflicts: A central factor that is particularly underestimated by workshop moderators is the potential for conflicts to arise during the brainstorming process. If you generate a lot of ideas in a team, you show different opinions and perspectives. These can lead to different views within the team, as they encourage thinking outside the box. If these differences in the team are not moderated in a proactive and structured manner, conflicts and resistance are inevitable.

As daunting as these boundaries may feel, the good news is that they can be circumvented and dissolved. The magic words at this point are good preparation and good moderation. A trained innovation coach is fully prepared for any kind of brainstorming session, be it 2 hours or 2 days. There are alternative methods as a backup, he has spoken to all the participants personally in advance to assess their mindset and knows possible conflict potentials, so-called dysfunctions, and how to deal with them.

But even if you are not a trained innovation coach, you can lead a team through an idea generation process. Your own confident demeanor, sensitivity to the mood in the group and consistent moderation through all the necessary steps are more than half the battle. If you also promote agile teamwork, nothing stands in the way of a successful brainstorming session.

How do I find the right creative method?

Advantages and limitations are all well and good, but the question remains: Why are there so many creative methods and how do I find the right one?

Which method is most suitable essentially depends on four factors:

1. Goal of the ideation
2. Number of people involved
3. Attitude/mindset of the people involved
4. Available time

In preparation for brainstorming, I have to ask myself the following questions:

1. What exactly do I want to achieve with the ideation? What exactly is our problem? Are we really aware of the full range of our challenge?
2. How many people would I like to start the session with? How many people do I have available? How many people makes sense?
3. What is the mindset of the team I want to work with? How do they feel about the problem to be solved? Are they open to creative solutions? What is their relationship with the other people in the team?
4. How much time do we have available? When do we need the first results?

These questions already make it clear why there are so many different creative methods: There are no identical goals, no identical resources, no identical people. Every organization has completely different requirements, plans, market positions and thus pursues completely different goals. Added to this is the completely natural individuality of us humans. With our own values, experiences, ideas, wishes and fears, we all go into ideation with completely different attitudes. Last but not least, every organization has different amounts of resources available, both in terms of personnel and time. Where small companies in particular can only deploy a few people, larger companies tend to have the opposite problem: they have many willing people who all want to be involved. Small companies also tend to have less time, whereas larger companies can certainly afford more time.

So there is not just simply the right and perfect method. However, if you are aware of the four factors mentioned and know the answers to the questions mentioned, you can quickly narrow down the selection of the appropriate method. In our Innovation Wiki, and in parts of our large Innovation Handbook and the large Digital Transformation Handbook, we take precisely these factors into account in the filter options of the method search (Pro account required). The available methods can be filtered by:

• the innovation phase: what phase of my process am I currently in?
• the obstacle effect: what is the mindset and attitude of my team, what conflicts could arise
• the team size: how many people do I plan my session with
• the implementation time: how much time do I have available

So if I have all these factors clear, choosing the right method becomes much easier. Nevertheless, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We often have to try out and test several methods to find out which creativity technique works best for my situation.

Tips for using creativity techniques

Especially when I’m still inexperienced myself and don’t know much about choosing the right method and applying creativity techniques, I have the feeling that I’m doing a lot of things wrong. I would therefore like to give you a few tips that can make working with creative methods easier:

1. Choose correctly and use correctly: As I have already explained, it is important to select the appropriate technique for the situation and all circumstances. When it comes to application, we tend to skim over the steps and think we have understood everything. But a deep understanding of the respective techniques, including their advantages/disadvantages and all the necessary steps, is essential. I can only come up with new ideas if I use the right technique in a correct way.
2. Create a balance between idea generation and implementation: While the generation of ideas is an important part of the innovation process, the implementation of these ideas is just as crucial. Many teams focus on generating lots and lots of ideas, but don’t think them through any further. However, there should be a balance between generating ideas and implementing them. This is the only way I can really make progress in my process.
3. Provide an inspiring work environment: As already emphasized, an open, supportive and creative work environment is important because it can help to increase the effectiveness of creativity techniques. Nobody would claim to come up with truly new ideas at their own desk, where they spend many hours a day working on their tasks. It is therefore important to create an inspiring environment.
4. Be aware of group thinking and take action: It is important to be aware of the risk of group thinking and take action to avoid it early on. In addition to consistent moderation of the brainstorming process, this also includes promoting open discussions, valuing diversity of opinion and encouraging constructive criticism.
5. Keep expectations realistic: Although creativity techniques can offer many benefits, realistic expectations should be set and communicated within the team accordingly. Not every idea generated by creativity techniques will be a success. If you want to innovate successfully, you have to throw away a lot of ideas.

Finally, I would like to encourage you to embrace the full power of creativity techniques. If you pay attention to a few factors and prepare yourself sufficiently, the use of creativity techniques is a powerful tool in the innovation process and increases the probability of finding the groundbreaking golden idea by a lot.