Good ideas can solve problems and improve people's lives. Hand in hand with imagination, originality, and - why not - play, marketing teams and other areas can put creative thinking into practice and complement the power of new technologies to achieve more innovative results. In this article, we will tell you some tools so that you can explore this world more.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working," said Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). More recently, Steve Jobs (1955-2011) opined that "creativity is simply connecting things." The question that follows is: how to apply these principles in the daily work of the industry? How to foster a culture of innovation that is based on creative thinking and that helps not only to better connect with consumers but also to enhance the capabilities of each internal team?
Creative thinking is a skill that we can all develop. In fact, creativity is one of the most elaborate and sophisticated forms of human intelligence. And that goes hand in hand with the plasticity of our brain, which allows us to adopt new behaviors, learn and face new circumstances. This creative capacity involves various mental processes and its great characteristic is the generation of ideas that are, at the same time, original and useful.
And since creativity is “putting the imagination to work”, nothing better for each work team than to adopt creative thinking to take innovation one step further. How? Using three basic principles:
1. The Empathy
The ability to “put yourself in someone else's shoes”, to understand their beliefs, thoughts, and intentions is one of the basic tools of creative thinking. And that should not only be sought within the teams, with our colleagues, but also with our final recipients, the consumers. Our own thinking expands and takes hold if we give way to new points of view.
In this sense, it is key to understand the needs of users to offer them innovative solutions. Getting in touch with them, talking to them, and listening to them, getting involved in their experiences is essential to understand who are the people who will choose your brand.
2. The collaboration
The famous brainstorming or expansive thinking also solves problems and is an essential part of creativity. Once again, having everyone contribute their ideas enriches the work teams. And since we are all social beings, it does not matter that ideas do not come to fruition and that we have to continue looking for solutions. That's what it's all about: collaborating since creative processes are enhanced by teamwork and creativity is more powerful when it has a defined purpose.
Also, directing individual efforts toward a common goal is very similar to applying 10x thinking. It is a disruptive way and consists of trying to improve a situation 10 times, instead of 10%. Starting with the identification of a big problem, everyone imagines possible solutions, and then trial and error lead to better results. Of course, for that, collaboration is allied with two other fundamental points: motivation and communication.
3. La experimentación
Once the ideas have been cleared, it is time to test them. That means that after generating as many solutions as possible to a problem, your team will need to evaluate, refine, and implement them. Thus, marketers can resort, for example, to Optimize experiments, designed to adapt to the needs of each company. Another useful tool for marketers is campaign drafts and experiments, which allow you to propose and test changes for actions on the Search Network and the Display Network.
Experimenting, creating prototypes of each project or testing products or services internally before launching them appears, then, as the last - but not least - link in the creative thinking process. It is, in short, the best way to achieve deep empathy with your customers and adopt a culture of innovation that will be useful for any challenge your team faces from now on.
Finally, we leave you some tips so that you can promote creative thinking. Do you dare to put them into practice?
Listen to everyone's ideas and give everyone time to come up with different approaches.
Encourage a culture of suggestions and be open to new ideas.
Use technology to enhance brainstorming.
Generate periodic exchanges between the various teams.
Take risks and learn from mistakes.
Fuente: Google/ Hasso Plattner Institute of Design de la Universidad de Stanford.
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