BEING CREATIVE / 203USE PRESSURE
A tight deadline can increase
your creativity. You will
often find that with a short
deadline you’ll come up with
more alternatives and often
a better solution. However,
it’s also true that if you
have a complex problem,
“sleeping on it” can help
you find the answer.Asking the right questions Tip
When you are faced with a problem, it
is often the boundaries or rules that
constrain your thinking. “We can’t do
this because...” is a phrase that stifles
creativity. Instead, asking the question:
“What if this constraint wasn’t there?” will
allow you to consider all the new options
and benefits open to you, and can create
a new world in your mind. You will often
find the opportunities open to you when
you remove a constraint are so great that
it is worth the time and effort it takes
to remove it. Did James Dyson ask the
question “What if we don’t have a bag?”
when he invented his revolutionary
bagless vacuum cleaner?
Using benchmarking
Not every problem has to be solved
again from scratch. Most problems
have been solved before so all you have
to do is find the solution. Benchmarking
is a very useful tool for doing this.
Benchmarking is about comparing
processes. It is about weighing up the
way your organization does something
against the way in which that another
organization performs the same
function. Start by making sure that
you understand your own processes.
Who does what, when, how, and why?
Just doing this will create ideas for
improvement, but it also forms the
basis for benchmarking: comparing
your processes with those of your
chosen benchmark subject.
Who should you benchmark yourself
against? Ideally, find an organization
that is really good at the process you
are trying to improve—for example,
if you want to improve your delivery
function, you might benchmark yourself
against a company that is efficient at
dealing with complex orders.US_202-203_Being_creative.indd 203 30/05/16 3:03 pm