What is Creative Problem Solving?

Gathering research data is key when solving a problem. However there are cases where we can’t clearly understand the root cause of a problem because we have minimal information to go off. It could be when there is not enough time given to gather the resources to understand where exactly the problem is or to run over different opinions from the parties to get a hold on the issue at hand.

For such situations, creative problem solving will be useful, as you could come up with solutions even if the problem is not narrowed down.

Creative problem solving is less directive than some other forms of innovation and places emphasis on coming up with open ended solutions; IT also has a focus on creativity and insight. Key benefits include;

• Novel answers to difficult problems; Feedback from user research can fall short in communicating the complexity of a situation. All other innovation processes depend on this type of information, but creative problem solving generates novel answers regardless.
• Adaptability over change; Business constantly evolves and business leaders need to adapt. Creative problem solving allows you to meet last minute challenges and to provide new solutions to challenging problems.
• Sparking innovation and growth; Along with the solution to the problem, creative problem solving can also identify novel ideas for the company that can be used to drive growth. This may mean new product lines or services, or a new way to organise operations that improves efficiency.
• Creative problem solving is traditionally based on the following key principles;

1. Balance Divergent and Convergent Thinking

• Creative Problem solving uses two types of practises, broadly called divergence and convergence, to come up with solutions; Divergence is the generation of ideas in response to a problem. Convergence is the narrowing of ideas down to a shortlist by limiting the number of alternatives   in other words, focusing. The first pair is a kind of spectrum, balancing ideas against reality and the second relates these practises to solutions.

2. Reframe Problems as Questions

When you frame any problem solution as a question you remove attention from obstacles and instead open yourself up to possibilities.

3. Defer Judgement of Ideas

When Brainstorming, ideas are usually given a thumbs up or a thumbs down at the moment of creation. The usual problem is that immediate judgements of the effectiveness of new ideas interfere with the generation process.

4. Focus on “Yes and” Instead of “No, But”

The use of negative words such as ‘no’ can shut down the creative process. So, it is important to use positive language to develop an environment favourable to creating, maintaining and developing novel and creative ideas.

Creative Problem Solving Tools

Though there are a multitude of tools for creative problem solving, here are three you should know;

Creating a Problem Story

One way to be innovative is to create a story about a problem   in order to understand how it is perceived by users and what types of solutions would fit best the users’ needs. You can use this tool as follows.

1. Identify a UDP

Draw up a UDP story to characterise the undesirable phenomena (UDP) For example, the UDP is our company manufactures printers that overheat.

2. Move Forward in Time

If you want to move forwards one step in time, ask; ‘Why is that a problem?’ Minor damage may be one of the consequences if the machines overheat. In the worst case scenario, printers may catch fire. Feel free to tell a different story about a different problem if you think of a second UDP.

3. Move Backward in Time

To move back, ask yourself; ‘What is the UDP upstream of this UDP?’ Answer that question and you will know where to find the most likely root cause. If you’re stuck, try asking; ‘What normally triggers this UDP?’ In the case of the melting printers, you may suspect overuse.

Following the three step framework above helps illustrate a clear problem story;

• The printer is overused.
• The printer overheats.
• The printer breaks down.

And you can stretch the problem story forward or backwards by carrying it another cause and effect step. That’s the exercise.

4. Break the Chains

By now, you should have many independent UDP storylines. Pick two that are the most similar and start looking for points where the chains tying them together can be broken. You can break the chains using inversion or neutralisation. Creating a problem story may not get you a solution, but it’s still likely to give users some context that’s useful in analysing their problems, as well as generating more ideas to consider. Since divergence is one of the core practises of creative problem solving, you may want to include it in every tool you use.

Brainstorming

As a tool, brainstorming can be powerfully combined with the iterative qualities of the design thinking process. Brainstorming is about discussing and debating ideas and topics as a group, which in turn builds idea generation and ideation, as team members consider the same thing from different perspectives.

Brainstorming session can produce problems (groupthink or social loafing) in the host organisation and its partners. To address this, use the three step method involving divergence and convergence;

1. Every team member should try to come up with as many ideas as they can and write them down so the exercise doesn’t get bogged down in terminology.
2. Keep diverging! Share the idea and discuss it together. Then discuss other ideas. If people just listen to one person, there is less chance that new ideas will arise. The objective with this set up is to set an environment where people can discover new ways of looking at things through discussing together.
3. Look for opportunities for convergence by winnowing the candidate ideas down to as few as make sense to look into There’s no ‘right’ number of candidate ideas. (Though don’t be shy to entertain all of them, provided that you have the resources to do so.)

Different Perspectives

Looking at things from different perspectives helps us to develop empathy. It also develops a more sophisticated form of creative problem solving; It asks you to imagine how someone in their space or circumstances would approach the same situation. For example if you’re worried that the printers you manufacture also tend to overheat and catch fire, ask yourself a the question; how would someone in a different industry deal with the problem? By looking at things from different perspectives and considering them we can gain more information to assist with our problem solving. This is not the end of ideation, but rather a recurring step in the process. By identifying options, ideation continues by ‘diverging’ to create new possibilities.