Take the Mindset of Being A Creative Problem Solver

Coming up with a creative idea can be extremely challenging and frustrating – especially for a creative team. I’ve given a lot of thought to why this is, and I personally believe that it’s because the value of a great creative idea is often very subjective. Knowing for sure that you’ve come up with a great idea doesn’t usually come until much later – once it’s spent some time out in the world and received validation from your coworkers, your family, the client and their stakeholders. And it’s usually at this point that a better idea hits you.

What can an individual or team do when this occurs?

There are a number of steps you can take to overcome this, and one that I’ve personally found very helpful is to think of your creative challenge as a problem that needs solving. When you do this, you create a desired-end-result. This is incredibly valuable because it allows you to evaluate the ideas you come up with based on whether or not they help you achieve your desired-end-result.  

With clients, I like to bring up the desired-end-result as an analogy of planning a road trip – when you’re planning a road trip you have many routes you can choose from and many sights you can see. Do you take a Winnebago or a red convertible? There are many decisions you need to make when planning a road trip, but imagine how difficult those decisions would be if you didn’t know where you were going to end up. In my experience the client might not know exactly where the want to end up, but they’ll know if they’re looking for a relaxing beach vacation versus a ski trip.

Focusing on ideas that solve problems is #8 on this list: 9 Habits That Make It Easy To Come Up With Great Ideas. What items on this list do you find useful? Do you have your own tips? Let us know! 🙂