why is creative problem solving important in the workplace

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Why Is Creative Problem Solving Important – 15 Possible Reasons

Why is creative problem-solving important? The main reason is: to keep up with the competition in today’s ever-changing business landscape.

Developing innovative solutions to complex problems is a critical skill for any organization.

15 Reasons Why Is Creative Problem Solving Important

There are many advantages to using creative problem-solving techniques in the workplace.

They can change the way employees think about problems. And it can help organizations to be more agile and adaptable.

Some of the benefits of creative problem-solving include the following:

1. Encourages Out-Of-The-Box Thinking:

Creative problem-solving techniques encourage employees to think outside the box. They come up with innovative solutions to problems.

This type of thinking is essential in today’s rapidly changing business environment .

When it comes to problem-solving, organizations need to adapt and change quickly . That’s why it’s important to have creative employees who can think outside the box.

When faced with a problem, they can devise an innovative solution others may not have thought of.

And to be able to do this, they need to be encouraged to think creatively.

2. Helps You Solve Complex Problems:

Creative problem-solving can also help you solve complex problems. Often, complex problems require more than one solution.

The alternatives through creative thinking can help you find the best possible solution.

With creative problem-solving, you’re not just looking for the first solution that comes to mind. Instead, you’re looking for the best possible solution.

So effective problem-solving requires both creative and critical thinking .

Thinking creatively can also help you find new ways to look at old problems. This can give you a different perspective and help you find new solutions.

3. Encourages Innovation:

Innovation is important for businesses to stay ahead of the competition. And it let them be able to offer new products and services .

Creative problem-solving can help encourage innovation . It allows businesses to develop new ideas and find new ways to do things.

Some of the world’s most successful businesses have grown because they innovated.

With time, many businesses lose their ability to be creative and innovative. This can lead to them becoming stagnant and eventually fail.

You can take Nokia as an example. The company was once the world’s leading mobile phone manufacturer.

However, it needed to innovate and keep up with the competition. As a result, its market share declined sharply, and it is now struggling to survive.

4. Builds Confidence:

Confidence is important in all areas of life. When you’re confident, you’re more likely to take risks and seize opportunities .

Learning how to solve problems creatively can help you build your confidence .

This is because you’ll know you have the skills to deal with whatever challenges come your way.

Some people are born confident. But for most of us, confidence needs to be developed.

If you lack confidence, solving problems creatively can help you build them up.

Your comfort zone is what limits you. So you must push yourself to try new things and solve problems uniquely. And you’ll slowly expand your comfort zone.

This can ripple effect on other areas of your life, making you more confident in everything you do.

5. Makes You More Resilient:

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and keep going despite difficulties.

It’s a key quality for anyone who wants to achieve their goals.

And creative problem-solving can help you develop resilience.

When you face a problem, it’s natural to feel discouraged . But you need to view problems as opportunities to learn and grow. You’ll be more likely to find a creative solution .

This mindset will help you persevere when things get tough and overcome obstacles.

Some people are naturally more resilient than others. But everyone can benefit from developing this quality.

And creative problem-solving is one of the best ways to do

6. Develops Your Analytical Skills:

Creative problem solving doesn’t mean you never use logic or analysis. But, best solutions often come from a combination of creative and logical thinking.

To find a truly original solution, you need to be able to see problems from different angles. This requires both left-brain (logical) and right-brain (creative) thinking.

With creative problem-solving, you develop ability to analyze problems from many perspectives.

This will make you better at finding innovative solutions to complex challenges.

With better analytical skills, you’ll also be better equipped to handle difficult decisions. And you can solve problems quickly and efficiently.

7. Teaches You How to Be Proactive:

Proactive people don’t wait for things to happen. They make things happen.

The best way to achieve success is to take the initiative and be proactive.

When you’re proactive , you don’t wait for opportunities to come knocking on your door. Instead, you go out and create your opportunities .

When you’re proactive, you always look for ways to improve your situation. You’re constantly looking for ways to take your life to the next level.

8. It Helps You Develop A Positive Attitude:

A positive attitude is essential for achieving success in any area of life.

If you want to be successful, you need to start thinking positive thoughts .

Creative problem-solving helps you develop a positive attitude. It forces you to look at problems in a different light.

It helps you see that every problem has a solution. And, it helps you understand that every challenge is an opportunity to learn and grow.

Some people see problems as roadblocks . They think that every problem is a negative thing.

This way of thinking will only hold you back.

Creative problem-solving helps you see problems as opportunities. In addition, it helps you develop a positive attitude that will lead to success.

9. Helps Employees Handle Change:

Change is a constant in today’s business world. And it can be difficult for employees to deal with.

They’ll be better equipped to handle change if they’re trained in creative problem-solving.

They’ll be able to adapt and find new solutions to problems. Change is no longer a negative thing but an opportunity to grow.

When you embrace change, you open up a world of possibilities .

10. Maintains Employee Engagement:

Employee engagement is important for any business. And creative problem-solving can help maintain employee engagement.

Engaged employees are more likely to be productive and motivated . They’re also less likely to leave the company.

Engaged employees are an asset to any business. And creative problem-solving can help keep them engaged and resourceful .

Some ways you can encourage employee engagement through creative problem-solving are:

– Encourage employees to come up with new ideas and solutions to problems.

– Solicit feedback from employees regularly .

– Encourage employees to share their ideas with others.

– Create an environment that is conducive to creativity and innovation.

– Make sure employees feel like their work

11. Encourage Teamwork:

When employees work together to solve problems, it can help build morale. And it can foster a sense of camaraderie.

Creative thinking activities can help employees learn to work together and build trust .

Most creative thinking activities are in the form of groups. People in groups can share their ideas with each other and build on each other’s ideas.

Some examples of creative thinking activities that encourage teamwork are:

– Brainstorming

– Group discussion

– Team building exercises

12. Be Willing to Take Risks:

To encourage creative problem-solving, you need to be willing to take risks.

Encourage employees to experiment and try new things.

Make sure they feel comfortable making mistakes. And you can suggest ways to turn those mistakes into learning opportunities.

Some examples of ways to take risks are:

– Encourage employees to experiment

– Try new things

– Make mistakes and learn from them

13. Encourage A Growth Mindset:

A growth mindset is a belief that intelligence can be developed.

People with a growth mindset believe that they can improve their abilities by:

– Good teaching, and

– Persistence.

Creative problem solving requires a growth mindset. Without it, people give up too easily when they encounter a problem.

They may also be afraid to take risks, because they don’t want to look foolish.

Encouraging a growth mindset will help employees feel more confident about their abilities. And it can make them more likely to take risks and try new things.

14. Striving For Originality:

In order to be creative, you have to be willing to take risks. This means that you need to be okay with the possibility of failing.

You also need to be open to new ideas . And you need to be willing to experiment .

One way to encourage creativity is to set aside time for employees to explore new ideas . This can be through brainstorming sessions or another type of creativity exercise.

Originality comes from taking existing ideas and making them your own. This means that you need to be able to see the potential in other people’s ideas.

It also means that you need to be able to take those ideas and build on them. This takes a lot of imagination and creative thinking.

15. Be Persistent:

Creative problem-solving is not a one-time event. Instead, it’s a process you must go through again and again.

You need to be persistent in your search for new ideas. You also need to be persistent in trying out new solutions .

Keep going even if your first attempt doesn’t work. Instead, keep trying until you find a solution that does work.

And with creative problem solving, the more you practice , the better you’ll become at it.

So keep at it, and soon you’ll solve problems like a pro!

Final Word:

Why is creative problem-solving important? Above are some of the reasons why creative problem-solving is important. As you can see, it’s a very useful skill to have.

And it’s one that you can use in all areas of your life, both personal and professional.

So start practicing creative problem-solving today. And you will see how it can help you succeed in all areas of your life.

Last Updated on 10 hours by Shahzaib Arshad

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March 19, 2020

The importance of creative problem-solving in the workplace

by University of Jyväskylä

Creativity in working life can be approached as a learning process. Researchers Soila Lemmetty and Kaija Collin from the University of Jyväskylä, Department of Education investigated what it means to be creative for experts in technology sector. By observing and interviewing tens of employees, they found that creativity is an important element of employees' everyday practices.

The importance of creativity for organizations' competitiveness has long been discussed. Creativity is often connected to innovations and novel products. Creativity is also often linked to the creative arts and individual personalities. However, at the same time, there is an emerging need to see that creativity is important in every kind of job, and it should be more strongly connected to everyday problem solving.

"The starting point of our study was that anyone can act creatively at work, and it could even be a desired activity, at least for the experts," Lemmetty says, explaining the background of the research. "Creativity is not dependent only on an individual's will or the decision to be creative though. Instead, many other factors outside of the individual affect the creative process ."

How to arrive at a creative solution depends on the situation and the nature of the problem at hand.

After all, it is all about learning. The problem-solver, in the other words the creative actor, is a learner in the process. The learner assesses the learning needs and methods in the situation and the quality of the solution required by the problem. However, learning does not need to be a lonely process, but colleagues and supervisors should support and help, by, for example, searching for information and sharing it.

Sometimes, especially in software development, problem-solving looks like a boring effort, but in reality, there are many kinds of processes occurring on the screen and under the surface. Actually, many of these processes relate to looking for information by discussing with colleagues, reading blogs, or testing different solutions.

"Googling was said to be one of the most important means for learning. Simultaneously, source critique, competence and experience were also called for," Lemmetty says.

However, Googling is not enough for a job to be creative, but to be creative the process should fulfil certain criteria: in a beautiful solution, for example, the code should be clear, simple and understandable by people other than experts themselves, such as by colleagues and clients.

"We cannot talk about creativity until there is an outcome. If the outcome is 'a mess' that cannot be understood, the process itself obviously cannot be creative either. Also copying the available solution was perceived as producing new problems rather than as solving them."

According to the study, it is not possible to support creativity in the technology sector just by hiring creative people , but by paying attention to the circumstances and frames of work. Essential elements of the creative learning process include the prevailing supervision and culture, experience sharing and clear aims. At the same time, however, there should be enough freedom to make decisions concerning one's own job and flexibility in scheduling and organizing work.

Why is it important to understand the nature of creative activity in the workplace? Different kinds of expert work will increase in the future, and a variety of technology will be a part of everybody's work. Therefore, it is expected that creative activity will be emphasized even more. This is why it is important to understand creative activity as an essential process of the work itself, alongside continuous learning and coping at work.

"It is fortunate that there are many kinds of people in the workplace: both inquisitive young people who are used to Googling to find solutions and more experienced employees who are familiar with sparring and guiding others," says Lemmetty. "When these younger and more experienced practitioners are part of the same team, the possibilities for creative and successful outcomes increase."

For the article published in Journal of Creative Behavior , altogether 46 employees from three Finnish technology enterprises were interviewed. In addition, employees were observed in their work for nearly 150 hours. The study was conducted as part of HeRMo, a larger research project funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund. Soila Lemmetty works as a doctoral student and examines self-directed learning in the technology sector, while Kaija Collin is a senior researcher at the University of Jyväskylä.

Provided by University of Jyväskylä

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The importance of creativity at work and 9 ways to improve it

Whatever industry you’re in, creativity in the workplace is an important element of success. here’s how you can bring more creativity into your company..

What is creativity in the workplace?

When you think of creativity at work, you might be imagining architects at drawing boards, graphic designers creating artwork for bold campaigns, or fashion designers running up masterpieces on their sewing machines. All these are definitely creative activities in the workplace, but they’re not the only kind of creativity that matters in a business.

Creativity in the broadest sense is about having a mindset that is imaginative, curious and open to doing things differently. Anyone can be creative, and it doesn’t need to be restricted to specific departments or job roles. Whether or not you feel you have artistic talent or a natural gift for design, your creativity is a valuable contribution to your workplace.

In recognition of this, more and more businesses are adopting design thinking, a process for innovation and problem-solving that developed in the creative industries but can be applied to workplaces of all kinds. Design thinking solves problems by focusing on human experiences and empathy. By better understanding how people think, feel and behave in relation to an interaction, you are better able to find solutions that work.

The design thinking process encourages lots of ideation and welcomes different approaches to the creative challenge at hand. It allows for plenty of trial and error too, so that different possibilities can be explored.

In order for creativity to thrive, it needs to be understood and valued at all levels of a business. Leaders can model a creative mindset in order to foster a culture of creativity. By valuing novel ideas and being open to new solutions, they can send a message that creativity and innovation is welcome. They can also help by allowing time and space for creativity.

Learn how global HR leaders build company culture

Download these 6 expert tips to discover the link between employee engagement and company culture.

Why is creativity important in the workplace?

Intuitively, we understand creativity as a positive thing. But from a business perspective, why does it make sense to prioritize creativity in your company? There are two principal factors that make a creative workplace a smart option for your bottom line.

Firstly, a creative workplace is more likely to be an enjoyable one for employees. There is a well-researched link between wellbeing and creativity, with studies showing that happier people are more creative, and that creativity makes us happier too. Aside from being pleasant to work with and more likely to be engaged in their jobs, happy employees are 13% more productive, according to Oxford University’s Saïd Business School.

A creative environment can improve the employee experience in other ways, too. Creativity at work tends to involve collaborative problem solving and teamwork, which strengthens work relationships and fosters a feeling of belonging. There’s also a sense of ownership that comes with having helped to solve a problem, and employees who feel this way tend to be more engaged at work.

The second organizational benefit of creativity is its ability to drive growth – according to Forrester data, companies that show creativity grow 2.6x faster than their peers – and innovation . Innovation is what helps companies stay relevant and competitive in a changing market, and it’s what allows them to adapt to external changes large and small, from regulatory changes to major world events. A business that always does what it has always done, sticking to the same processes and technologies it adopted at its inception, becomes progressively more vulnerable to obsolescence or to being outpaced by its competitors over time.

Creativity and innovation are different things, although they are closely related. As Eli Amdur puts it, writing in Forbes,

“Creativity is a trait – whether personal or organizational – that leads to something new. Innovation is that something new.”

So, if innovation is the business benefit, creativity is the road that will take you there.

Improving creativity at work

In a Gallup poll of around 16,000 employees, three factors emerged as the necessary building blocks of a creative workplace.

Expectations to be creative at work

Time to be creative

Freedom to take the risks necessary to be creative

But how can you put these insights to work? Here are 9 ways to make your company more creative.

1. Effective brainstorming

Brainstorming is a perennially popular technique for generating ideas, and most people are familiar with it. But it still requires a bit of preparation to make a brainstorming session as useful as possible. Try involving different modes of communication, including spoken words, writing, drawing and contributing to a group document. You can also help get the creative circuits firing with a group exercise. Make sure your chosen brainstorming location has plenty of space and isn’t subject to too much interruption. It can also help to keep the temperature and noise levels comfortable to help reduce stress.

2. Diverse teams

The more varied your teams are, the more ideas they will be able to bring to the table. There is a proven link between multi-cultural experiences and creativity, with research showing that the more multicultural experiences a person has, the greater their creative performance. Your company’s creativity will benefit from having a wealth of cultural experiences in your team, from different backgrounds and different age groups to diversity of ethnicity, ability and gender.

Hiring a more diverse workforce may be a medium to long-term goal, rather than something you can implement right now. But you can introduce some fresh thinking to your creative process straight away by involving a mix of people from different teams, departments and even different seniority levels.

3. Creative problem solving

Creative problem solving (CPS) was developed in the 1940s by Alex Osborn of the Creative Education Foundation. Osborn is also responsible for the phenomenon of brainstorming, which forms part of the CPS process. CPS is a tried and tested process that’s worth considering if you want to address a business challenge creatively.

CPS involves starting with divergent thinking, i.e., coming up with as many ideas as possible in a brainstorming session, before moving to convergent thinking, where you select the most viable outputs from the brainstorm and develop them further. In CPS, problems are framed as questions, inviting answers that take the form of solutions.

Another hallmark of the process is responding positively to suggestions - always ‘yes and…’ rather than ‘no’.

4. Big-picture thinking

When you adopt big-picture thinking, you broaden your perspective to include the wider context of what you’re thinking about. As well as considering it in the present, you might consider how and why it started and what might happen in the future if you take one path or another in your work. Big-picture thinking can help prevent you getting stuck in the details of a problem or challenge so you can move towards a solution.

5. Encouraging creative risk taking

For many businesses, taking risks can be a sticking point in developing a more creative culture. Because creativity involves thinking of things afresh, it can challenge established processes, products and ways of working. It can also put things like profit and growth on the line when you take a plunge into the unknown and try something that may not turn out as you hope.

However, risk is inherent to creativity, and it’s important not to let aversion to risk prevent your business reaping the benefits. That means giving employees permission to come up with ideas that fail, and praising them for trying things out even when they don’t ultimately work.

6. Avoiding blame

Blame culture helps nobody. When things go wrong, move immediately to learning why it happened and what lessons can be learned from it so you can do things differently in the future.

7. Giving time for projects to mature

Creativity isn’t like other forms of work that can be made to go faster by adding more pressure. A person or team’s creative process might be non-linear, with new ideas and modifications emerging unpredictably through a process of intuition. While you can certainly lay fertile ground for creative activity to take place, you can’t demand that it happens faster, or indeed happens at all.

Research at Harvard Business School suggests that there may be a ‘sweet spot’ where creativity and time-pressure optimally interact. Too much pressure will reduce creativity, while no pressure at all could lead to a state of inertia.

8. Giving time for passion projects

Giving employees time and space to carry out passion projects, over which they have ownership and autonomy, can strengthen their sense of ownership and engagement. It may also be a way to pursue some of the fruits of your divergent thinking during the creative problem solving or brainstorming process – i.e., the ones that didn’t get carried forward into development but still have potential to add value.

9. Encouraging collaboration

Shared creativity can amplify each person’s contribution, adding motivation and inspiration as ideas are validated and encouraged by the group. However, collaboration is not a one size fits all approach, as some people find group work less inspiring than working alone. For truly creative collaboration , it’s important that you find the blend of autonomy, group work and idea sharing that works best for your team.

Keep reading:

• How to avoid groupthink
• Six essential skills for the future of work
• How to improve your personal productivity

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Creative Problem Solving

Finding innovative solutions to challenges.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Imagine that you're vacuuming your house in a hurry because you've got friends coming over. Frustratingly, you're working hard but you're not getting very far. You kneel down, open up the vacuum cleaner, and pull out the bag. In a cloud of dust, you realize that it's full... again. Coughing, you empty it and wonder why vacuum cleaners with bags still exist!

James Dyson, inventor and founder of Dyson® vacuum cleaners, had exactly the same problem, and he used creative problem solving to find the answer. While many companies focused on developing a better vacuum cleaner filter, he realized that he had to think differently and find a more creative solution. So, he devised a revolutionary way to separate the dirt from the air, and invented the world's first bagless vacuum cleaner. [1]

Creative problem solving (CPS) is a way of solving problems or identifying opportunities when conventional thinking has failed. It encourages you to find fresh perspectives and come up with innovative solutions, so that you can formulate a plan to overcome obstacles and reach your goals.

In this article, we'll explore what CPS is, and we'll look at its key principles. We'll also provide a model that you can use to generate creative solutions.

About Creative Problem Solving

Alex Osborn, founder of the Creative Education Foundation, first developed creative problem solving in the 1940s, along with the term "brainstorming." And, together with Sid Parnes, he developed the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process. Despite its age, this model remains a valuable approach to problem solving. [2]

The early Osborn-Parnes model inspired a number of other tools. One of these is the 2011 CPS Learner's Model, also from the Creative Education Foundation, developed by Dr Gerard J. Puccio, Marie Mance, and co-workers. In this article, we'll use this modern four-step model to explore how you can use CPS to generate innovative, effective solutions.

Why Use Creative Problem Solving?

Dealing with obstacles and challenges is a regular part of working life, and overcoming them isn't always easy. To improve your products, services, communications, and interpersonal skills, and for you and your organization to excel, you need to encourage creative thinking and find innovative solutions that work.

CPS asks you to separate your "divergent" and "convergent" thinking as a way to do this. Divergent thinking is the process of generating lots of potential solutions and possibilities, otherwise known as brainstorming. And convergent thinking involves evaluating those options and choosing the most promising one. Often, we use a combination of the two to develop new ideas or solutions. However, using them simultaneously can result in unbalanced or biased decisions, and can stifle idea generation.

For more on divergent and convergent thinking, and for a useful diagram, see the book "Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making." [3]

Core Principles of Creative Problem Solving

CPS has four core principles. Let's explore each one in more detail:

• Divergent and convergent thinking must be balanced. The key to creativity is learning how to identify and balance divergent and convergent thinking (done separately), and knowing when to practice each one.
• Ask problems as questions. When you rephrase problems and challenges as open-ended questions with multiple possibilities, it's easier to come up with solutions. Asking these types of questions generates lots of rich information, while asking closed questions tends to elicit short answers, such as confirmations or disagreements. Problem statements tend to generate limited responses, or none at all.
• Defer or suspend judgment. As Alex Osborn learned from his work on brainstorming, judging solutions early on tends to shut down idea generation. Instead, there's an appropriate and necessary time to judge ideas during the convergence stage.
• Focus on "Yes, and," rather than "No, but." Language matters when you're generating information and ideas. "Yes, and" encourages people to expand their thoughts, which is necessary during certain stages of CPS. Using the word "but" – preceded by "yes" or "no" – ends conversation, and often negates what's come before it.

How to Use the Tool

Let's explore how you can use each of the four steps of the CPS Learner's Model (shown in figure 1, below) to generate innovative ideas and solutions.

Figure 1 – CPS Learner's Model

Explore the Vision

Identify your goal, desire or challenge. This is a crucial first step because it's easy to assume, incorrectly, that you know what the problem is. However, you may have missed something or have failed to understand the issue fully, and defining your objective can provide clarity. Read our article, 5 Whys , for more on getting to the root of a problem quickly.

Gather Data

Once you've identified and understood the problem, you can collect information about it and develop a clear understanding of it. Make a note of details such as who and what is involved, all the relevant facts, and everyone's feelings and opinions.

Formulate Questions

When you've increased your awareness of the challenge or problem you've identified, ask questions that will generate solutions. Think about the obstacles you might face and the opportunities they could present.

Explore Ideas

Generate ideas that answer the challenge questions you identified in step 1. It can be tempting to consider solutions that you've tried before, as our minds tend to return to habitual thinking patterns that stop us from producing new ideas. However, this is a chance to use your creativity .

Brainstorming and Mind Maps are great ways to explore ideas during this divergent stage of CPS. And our articles, Encouraging Team Creativity , Problem Solving , Rolestorming , Hurson's Productive Thinking Model , and The Four-Step Innovation Process , can also help boost your creativity.

See our Brainstorming resources within our Creativity section for more on this.

Formulate Solutions

This is the convergent stage of CPS, where you begin to focus on evaluating all of your possible options and come up with solutions. Analyze whether potential solutions meet your needs and criteria, and decide whether you can implement them successfully. Next, consider how you can strengthen them and determine which ones are the best "fit." Our articles, Critical Thinking and ORAPAPA , are useful here.

4. Implement

Formulate a plan.

Once you've chosen the best solution, it's time to develop a plan of action. Start by identifying resources and actions that will allow you to implement your chosen solution. Next, communicate your plan and make sure that everyone involved understands and accepts it.

There have been many adaptations of CPS since its inception, because nobody owns the idea.

For example, Scott Isaksen and Donald Treffinger formed The Creative Problem Solving Group Inc . and the Center for Creative Learning , and their model has evolved over many versions. Blair Miller, Jonathan Vehar and Roger L. Firestien also created their own version, and Dr Gerard J. Puccio, Mary C. Murdock, and Marie Mance developed CPS: The Thinking Skills Model. [4] Tim Hurson created The Productive Thinking Model , and Paul Reali developed CPS: Competencies Model. [5]

Sid Parnes continued to adapt the CPS model by adding concepts such as imagery and visualization , and he founded the Creative Studies Project to teach CPS. For more information on the evolution and development of the CPS process, see Creative Problem Solving Version 6.1 by Donald J. Treffinger, Scott G. Isaksen, and K. Brian Dorval. [6]

Creative Problem Solving (CPS) Infographic

See our infographic on Creative Problem Solving .

Creative problem solving (CPS) is a way of using your creativity to develop new ideas and solutions to problems. The process is based on separating divergent and convergent thinking styles, so that you can focus your mind on creating at the first stage, and then evaluating at the second stage.

There have been many adaptations of the original Osborn-Parnes model, but they all involve a clear structure of identifying the problem, generating new ideas, evaluating the options, and then formulating a plan for successful implementation.

[1] Entrepreneur (2012). James Dyson on Using Failure to Drive Success [online]. Available here . [Accessed May 27, 2022.]

[2] Creative Education Foundation (2015). The CPS Process [online]. Available here . [Accessed May 26, 2022.]

[3] Kaner, S. et al. (2014). 'Facilitator′s Guide to Participatory Decision–Making,' San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

[4] Puccio, G., Mance, M., and Murdock, M. (2011). 'Creative Leadership: Skils That Drive Change' (2nd Ed.), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

[5] OmniSkills (2013). Creative Problem Solving [online]. Available here . [Accessed May 26, 2022].

[6] Treffinger, G., Isaksen, S., and Dorval, B. (2010). Creative Problem Solving (CPS Version 6.1). Center for Creative Learning, Inc. & Creative Problem Solving Group, Inc. Available here .

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The Importance of Creativity in Business

• 25 Jan 2022

When you think of creativity, job titles such as graphic designer or marketer may come to mind. Yet, creativity and innovation are important across all industries because business challenges require inventive solutions.

Here’s an overview of creativity’s importance in business, how it pairs with design thinking, and how to encourage it in the workplace.

Access your free e-book today.

Why Is Creativity Important?

Creativity serves several purposes. It not only combats stagnation but facilitates growth and innovation. Here's why creativity is important in business.

1. It Accompanies Innovation

For something to be innovative, there are two requirements: It must be novel and useful. While creativity is crucial to generate ideas that are both unique and original, they’re not always inherently useful. Innovative solutions can’t exist, however, without a component of creativity.

2. It Increases Productivity

Creativity gives you the space to work smarter instead of harder, which can increase productivity and combat stagnation in the workplace. Routine and structure are incredibly important but shouldn’t be implemented at the expense of improvement and growth. When a creative and innovative environment is established, a business’s productivity level can spike upward.

3. It Allows for Adaptability

Sometimes events—both internal and external—can disrupt an organization’s structure. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed how the present-day business world functions . In such instances, imaginative thinking and innovation are critical to maintaining business operations.

Creatively approaching challenges requires adaptability but doesn’t always necessitate significantly adjusting your business model. For example, you might develop a new product or service or slightly modify the structure of your operations to improve efficiency. Big problems don’t always require big solutions, so don’t reject an idea because it doesn’t match a problem’s scale.

Change is inevitable in the business world, and creative solutions are vital to adapting to it.

4. It’s Necessary for Growth

One of the main hindrances to a business’s growth is cognitive fixedness, or the idea that there’s only one way to interpret or approach a situation or challenge.

Cognitive fixedness is an easy trap to fall into, as it can be tempting to approach every situation similar to how you have in the past. But every situation is different.

If a business’s leaders don’t take the time to clearly understand the circumstances they face, encourage creative thinking, and act on findings, their company can stagnate—one of the biggest barriers to growth.

5. It’s an In-Demand Skill

Creativity and innovation are skills commonly sought after in top industries, including health care and manufacturing. This is largely because every industry has complex challenges that require creative solutions.

Learning skills such as design thinking and creative problem-solving can help job seekers set themselves apart when applying to roles.

Creativity and Design Thinking

While creativity is highly important in business, it’s an abstract process that works best with a concrete structure. This is where design thinking comes into play.

Design thinking —a concept gaining popularity in the business world—is a solutions-based process that ventures between the concrete and abstract. Creativity and innovation are key to the design thinking process.

In Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar’s course Design Thinking and Innovation , the process is broken down into four iterative stages:

• Clarify: In this stage, observation and empathy are critical. Observations can be either concrete and based on metrics and facts or abstract and gleaned from understanding and empathy. The goal during this stage is to gain an understanding of the situation and individuals impacted.
• Ideate: The ideation stage is abstract and involves creativity and idea generation. Creativity is a major focus, as the ideation phase provides the freedom to brainstorm and think through solutions.
• Develop: The development phase is a concrete stage that involves experimentation and trial and error. Critiquing and prototyping are important because the ideas generated from the ideation stage are formed into testable solutions.
• Implement: The fourth stage is solution implementation. This involves communicating the solution’s value and overcoming preexisting biases.

The value of design thinking is that it connects creativity and routine structure by encouraging using both the operational and innovation worlds. But what are these worlds, and how do they interact?

The Operational World

The operational world is the concrete, structured side of business. This world focuses on improving key metrics and achieving results. Those results are typically achieved through routine, structure, and decision-making.

The operational world has many analytical tools needed for the functional side of business, but not the innovative side. Furthermore, creativity and curiosity are typically valued less than in the innovation world. Employees who initiate unsuccessful, risky endeavors are more likely to be reprimanded than promoted.

The Innovation World

The innovation world requires curiosity, speculation, creativity, and experimentation. This world is important for a company’s growth and can bring about the aforementioned benefits of creativity in business.

This world focuses more on open-ended thinking and exploration rather than a company’s functional side. Although risky endeavors are encouraged, there’s little structure to ensure a business runs efficiently and successfully.

Connecting the Two Worlds

Although the operational world and innovation world are equally important to a business’s success, they’re separate . Business leaders must be ambidextrous when navigating between them and provide environments for each to flourish.

Creativity should be encouraged and innovation fostered, but never at the expense of a business’s functionality. The design thinking process is an excellent way to leverage both worlds and provides an environment for each to succeed.

Since the design thinking process moves between the concrete and abstract, it navigates the tension between operations and innovation. Remember: The operational world is the implementation of the innovative world, and innovation can often be inspired by observations from the operational world.

How to Encourage Creativity and Innovation

If you want to facilitate an innovative workplace, here are seven tips for encouraging creativity.

1. Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks

Creativity often entails moving past your comfort zone. While you don't want to take risks that could potentially cripple your business, risk-taking is a necessary ingredient of innovation and growth. Therefore, providing an environment where it’s encouraged can be highly beneficial.

2. Don’t Punish Failure

Provide your team with the freedom to innovate without fear of reprisal if their ideas don’t work. Some of the best innovations in history were the product of many failures. View failure as an opportunity to learn and improve for the future rather than defeat.

3. Provide the Resources Necessary to Innovate

While it can be tempting to simply tell your team to innovate, creativity is more than just a state of mind. If your colleagues have the opportunity to be creative, you need to provide the resources to promote innovation. Whether that entails a financial investment, tools, or training materials, it’s in your best interest to invest in your team to produce innovative results.

4. Don’t Try to Measure Results Too Quickly

If an innovative idea doesn’t produce desirable results within a few months, you may consider discarding it entirely. Doing so could result in a lost opportunity because some ideas take longer to yield positive outcomes.

Patience is an important element of creativity, so don't try to measure results too quickly. Give your team the freedom to improve and experiment without the pressure of strict time constraints.

5. Maintain an Open Mind

One of the most important components of an environment that fosters creativity and innovation is keeping an open mind. Innovation requires constantly working against your biases. Continually ask questions, be open to the answers you receive, and don't require fully conceptualized ideas before proceeding with innovation.

6. Foster Collaboration

Collaborative environments are vital for innovation. When teams work together in pursuit of a common goal, innovation flourishes. To achieve this, ensure everyone has a voice. One way to do so is by hosting brainstorming sessions where each member contributes and shares ideas.

7. Encourage Diversity

Diversity fosters creativity and combats groupthink, as each individual brings a unique outlook to the table. Consider forming teams with members from different cultural backgrounds who haven’t previously worked together. Getting people to step outside their comfort zones is an effective way to encourage innovation.

Learning to Be Creative in Business

Creativity and innovation are immensely important skills whether you’re a job seeker, employer, or aspiring entrepreneur.

Want to learn more about design thinking? Start by finding fellow professionals willing to discuss and debate solutions using its framework. Take advantage of these interactions to consider how you can best leverage design thinking and devise different approaches to business challenges.

This exposure to real-world scenarios is crucial to deciding whether learning about design thinking is right for you. Another option is to take an online course to learn about design thinking with like-minded peers.

If you’re ready to take your innovation skills to the next level, explore our online course Design Thinking and Innovation , one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

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Why Creativity Is the Key to a Successful Workplace

Providing opportunities for employees to be creative can build emotional intelligence and psychological safety, two critical traits for navigating times of economic uncertainty. 

In the current climate of economic uncertainty, many workers in tech are facing the fear of potential layoffs . In response, employers can take proactive steps to alleviate these anxieties and foster a culture of creativity that will help employees to tap into their emotions and feel more psychologically safe. 

Those skills allow colleagues to build stronger connections and generate meaningful change in an organization. It also helps to foster an environment where thoughtful, sympathetic leadership can thrive. A recent report from Harvard Business Review suggests that emotional intelligence plays an important role in this process.

5 Ways to Foster Creativity on Your Team

• Create opportunities for employees to share their experiences.
• Promote an inclusive environment.
• Lead with trust and accountability.
• Create opportunities for cross-functional collaboration
•  Encourage creative team bonding

By fostering a place of emotional intelligence, employees can build trust with their colleagues, improve their self-awareness and ultimately be more effective in their role at work. According to McKinsey ,  the demand for emotional intelligence skills is expected to grow by 26 percent by 2030. 

While some teams may be stretched thin, making time for creative opportunities can aid in the development of emotional intelligence and yield more effective team collaboration. Here’s how. 

How to Foster Creativity and Emotional Intelligence 

In times of a looming recession, when organizations face shrinking budgets, employers can empower their workforce to tackle challenges and show increased resilience by honoring creativity. A Harvard Business Review report cites research that revealed the importance of “safe communication climates,” which is similar to psychological safety, as a key for creative workplaces to thrive. 

Here are some steps you can take to foster creativity on your team.

More on Company Culture It’s Time to Kill the Daily Stand-Up

Create Opportunities for Employees to Share Their Experiences

One way to foster creativity within your team is to organize informal learning sessions during lunch breaks in which employees can present their skills, hobbies or recent learnings on a subject relevant to the team. This is also a great way to help team members build rapport with each other, a necessity for a creative environment. You can also schedule regular creative feedback sessions, during which employees can openly share their perspectives and suggestions for change. 

Another great way to engage employees across the scope of the business is to provide opportunities for employees to create their own content to use for blog or marketing purposes. The goal is to give team members a space to write about their work, their accomplishments and their passions. This helps build confidence and allows them to feel understood. When sharing this content, put their names on it and make sure to tag them on social media. By uplifting the voices and experience of your employees, you can empower them to share more of their ideas openly and foster trust in this creative space.

It’s also important to lead by example. Demonstrate your own commitment to creativity by actively participating in team brainstorms and sharing your own ideas. Prove you are open to new perspectives by asking your team questions. Embracing a growth mindset and showing you can be flexible when presented with new information or a different viewpoint will set the tone for your team and inspire them to follow your lead.

Promote an Inclusive Environment 

To promote an inclusive environment and foster psychological safety, it’s essential to make it clear to your team that you value open and honest communication that goes both ways. As a team leader or manager, asking questions like, “What am I not doing, understanding, or seeing?” and “In what ways can I be helpful to you as your manager right now?,” are critical to creating the right communication channels that allow for psychological safety. 

What Is Psychological Safety?

Psychological safety is a term coined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson that refers to a belief among team members that they can make mistakes, share ideas and take risks without fear of negative consequences. 

Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson originally coined the term psychological safety , which refers to a shared belief among team members that they can take risks, express concerns or ideas, ask  questions and admit mistakes without fear of negative consequences. 

Consider implementing weekly one-on-one meetings to discuss tasks and workflow, as well as recurring monthly check-ins, during which, managers and team leaders can dive into how a team member is doing, what support they need and how you can improve processes. Having regular conversations will help you foster creativity and ensure that your team members feel heard and valued.

Encouraging open communication and providing the space for regular check-ins and opportunities for leadership to address team concerns without retribution fosters an environment where employees feel comfortable expressing their ideas and opinions. 

More on Company Culture Want People to Return to the Office? Focus on Relationships.

Lead With Trust and Accountability 

In today’s world of side hustles and polyworking , flexibility means empowering employees to work in ways that suit their needs and interests. This requires a foundation of trust and accountability. According to the National Institute of Health ,  micromanaging is one of the three top reasons that an employee will resign. It’s critical to give your employee the flexibility to balance their work and life . This means setting clear expectations while holding people accountable to make sure they get their work done. It requires not questioning if they are online exactly from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or caring about whether they took a yoga class in the middle of the day. 

Instead, the goal is to show that you are confident you hired the right person to do their job and trust they will complete their work. Holding regular check-ins with each employee allows you to be honest and upfront about performance, expectations and feedback. Providing resources like unlimited PTO so an employee doesn’t have to take a sick day when their child is ill is another example of great remote work leadership . 

Remember that teams lead by example, so it’s important for leaders to do the things they hope to see in teams. Be upfront right away about a disappointment or confusion with their work so that they know what the expectations are and are not surprised later down the road. Ultimately, flexible work is about creating an environment that supports personal and professional growth, while also driving business success.

Create Opportunities for Cross-Functional Collaboration 

Collaboration across departments exposes employees to different perspectives, ideas, and approaches to problem solving. It's essential to cultivate a work culture that values experimentation and encourages employees to be creative. This type of collaboration can foster creativity by breaking down silos and encourages new ways of thinking. 

Employers should offer opportunities for collaboration across different departments and encourage employees to explore new assignments that align with their passion and skills. For example, start a mentorship program for junior employees to shadow other senior executives, or encourage walking meetings that allow employees to connect outside or around the office. 

Consider implementing a hackathon , which are once quarterly, day-long events that allow teams to come together and develop unique solutions to problems. 

Another example is giving employees a professional development stipend so that they can access courses they’re interested in, and then blocking off dedicated time each month to allow employees to work on these projects. Afterward, come together as a team to discuss what everyone learned and the new tools or skills they found valuable. 

Encourage Creative Team Bonding

A  recent Gallup report   revealed that feelings of isolation reduce employee productivity up to 21 percent. Creating experiences to promote team bonding helps employees develop new skills and better understand their colleague’s perspectives while also creating a supportive work environment that values creativity and personal growth.  

Organizing occasional off-site events, such as team-building activities or workshops, can be a great way to build relationships and explore new perspectives. Consider planning company-wide or smaller in-person team events that allow employees to attend creative workshops or training sessions focused on emotional intelligence. These events encourage personal and professional growth and create a supportive work environment where employees feel valued and connected. 

More on Company Culture 7 Ways to Define and Create Your Aspirational Culture

Why Creativity Is Important for Employee Well-Being

In times of uncertainty employee well-being and productivity is at risk. A way to mitigate this risk is by highlighting the importance of psychological safety and emotional intelligence in the workplace. To achieve this, employers have an opportunity to promote creativity as a vehicle to foster a supportive and inclusive work environment. 

By giving employees the opportunity to express themselves and take risks, and prioritizing their creative pursuits and personal growth, employers can facilitate stronger, more meaningful connections between employees and their work. It can also help a team to understand each other’s perspectives and feel more resilient to new challenges. Embracing this perspective can lead to breakthrough ideas, new opportunities and a more innovative and resilient organization

Recent Expert Contributors Articles

What Is Creative Problem Solving and Why Is It Important?

Numerous studies, including ones from the US Department of Education , World Economic Forum , and Bloomberg indicate that tomorrow’s jobs will demand “creative problem solving skills.” But what exactly are creative problem solving skills? And are they being taught effectively to the next generation who will face competition for jobs from automation? To learn more about creative problem solving in the classroom, Adobe conducted a new study to understand how educators and policymakers think about creative problem solving skills, how critical these skills are to future jobs, and how they are currently being nurtured in schools today.

We asked educators and policymakers to talk to us about creative problem solving based upon the following definition: “Creative Problem Solving is the process of redefining problems and opportunities, coming up with new, innovative responses and solutions, and then taking action.” We wanted to know how skills like independent learning, learning through success or failure, and working with diverse teams are critical to a students’ ability to succeed in the future workforce.

What we discovered was extremely illuminating. Three quarters of the educators surveyed believe that students need to develop these skills to protect their futures, as the professions that require creative problem solving are less likely to be impacted by automation. However, it isn’t just job-protection where creative problem solving makes a difference. Almost 90 percent of respondents believe students who excel at creative problem solving will have higher-earning job opportunities in the future, and 85 percent agreed that these same skills are in high demand by today’s employers for senior-level and higher-paying careers.

Knowing that 90 percent of educators believe creative problem solving should be integrated across all curricula, and that policymakers are in vehement agreement, it’s reasonable to assume that schools are already providing opportunities for students to develop these skills. Alarmingly though, this critical skillset is not emphasized enough in schools today due to the barriers educators face – from tight budgets and lack of resources to outdated testing requirements. Coupled with the fact that more than half of educators explain that they do not have the training or knowledge to help students develop creative problem solving skills, the challenge that educators and students face is vast.

Adobe believes that we need to support educators who are teaching creative problem solving, get technology into the hands of schools and students, and inspire young people to create. While technology alone is not the answer, it plays a key role. That is why Adobe is working to update its licensing models, so students – including those under the age of 13, consistent with U.S children’s privacy regulations – can access Creative Cloud in the classroom and at home using just their school I.D. to log in. This will reap benefits for the users, as the educators surveyed who use Creative Cloud in the classroom report that their students are more prepared for the jobs of the future .

Adobe is also constantly developing new storytelling tools like Spark, so students can easily create high quality, visually compelling reports, research papers, posters, writing assignments, presentations and so much more. Lastly, Adobe recognizes that it is critical to challenge students and encourage them to create and to have a positive social impact. That is why we created Project 1324 , which works with emerging creatives and leading youth arts organizations around the world to showcase artists who create the art and change they want to see in their communities.

To read the full study findings, and to learn more about how Adobe is working to get much-needed technology into the hands of students and educators, support educators in teaching creative problem solving skills, and inspire students to create, please visit Creative Problem Solving .

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What is problem-solving? And why is it important in the workplace?

September 28, 2023 by MindManager Blog

If there’s one thing you can count on as a business professional, it’s that you’ll never run short of new problems to solve. Thankfully, whether it includes handling difficult or unexpected situations in the workplace, or resolving complex organizational challenges, we all have the capacity to develop our business problem-solving skills.

The best way to get better at tackling problems productively is to start at the beginning. After all, the better you understand what problem-solving is – and the significant role it plays in every organization – the easier you’ll find it to improve on problem-solving skills in the workplace.

Let’s dive in!

What is problem-solving?

Problem-solving refers to the act of find solutions to difficult or complex issues.

A good problem-solving definition might be finding solutions to difficult or complex issues . In practice, however, solving problems in the workplace is a little more immersive than that.

In the workplace, problem-solving includes a variety of tools, resources, and techniques to:

• Identify what’s not working.
• Figure out why it’s broken.
• Determine the best course of action to fix it.

Whether you know them as obstacles, glitches, or setbacks, problems are a part of our everyday lives. The good news is that our brains excel at reasoning out intricate scenarios and making calculations in situations we’ve never experienced before. That means every one of us is hard-wired to be an adept problem-solver.

The trick is to learn how to take that innate ability and apply it in a deliberate and practiced way.

However, one thing is certain: successfully resolving business and workplace issues is essential.

Not only does effective problem-solving create value that encourages growth, it goes hand-in-hand with impactful decision making.

What are the benefits of problem-solving in business?

Practically speaking, problem-solving provides a golden opportunity to improve your processes, products, and systems – especially when you work through those challenges with others.

Learning to face difficulties calmly, and deal with them intentionally, can also:

• Ramp up your confidence.
• Increase your resilience.
• Help you develop valuable critical thinking skills.

Applying problem-solving skills in the face of an obstacle that seems insurmountable trains you to shift your perspective and look at potential hurdles in a different way.

It also gets you used to examining multiple options for dealing with a problem, which can help you feel more confident in the direction you take.

Solving problems as a team

Business problem solving as a team offers an even wider range of benefits since active collaboration tends to make good things happen at both the individual and group level.

For example:

• Team-based problem-solving is akin to having a built-in sounding board when you explore new approaches and ideas.
• As each team member’s critical thinking skills evolve, they bring fresh insights to the collective problem-solving process, bearing out the old adage that many heads are better than one.
• Solving problems as a team also reduces the feeling of personal risk and exposure that’s common when one person is tasked with solving a puzzle. When that same problem is shared, the sense of risk gets dispersed, and individual team members are less likely to feel singled out.

Not only is there less chance of arriving at an unreasonable or biased solution when you problem-solve as a group, team members assigned to carry that solution out will feel more invested in its success.

Examples of problem solving skills in the workplace

Improving on your problem-solving skills helps you make the most of your brain’s natural capacity to analyze and reason things out.

There are dozens of problem-solving skills that play out in the average workplace – all of which can contribute to your ability to correct oversights, resolve conflict , and work around unexpected obstructions.

Here are a few common examples of problem-solving skills in the workplace, and tips on how to improve them.

1. Data gathering

Figuring out the cause of a problem hinges on collecting relevant data. Consulting efficiently with colleagues, conducting online research, and brainstorming with your team are all valuable data gathering skills.

2. Active listening

As opposed to listening in a purely supportive or empathetic way, active listening involves concentrating fully on what the other person is saying so you can understand the content, respond accordingly, and remember what was said later.

3. Troubleshooting

The ability to analyze and troubleshoot a situation with the help of any data and human input you’ve gathered is essential for drilling down into the core of a problem, and scrutinizing potential solutions.

4. Brainstorming

Brainstorming has become synonymous with creative thinking, innovative idea generation, and problem-solving. The more productive your brainstorming sessions, the more likely you and your group are to put together a list of quality, workable solutions.

It’s interesting to note that effective decision making is both a contributor to, and a by-product of, effective problem-solving.

For example, honing your analytical abilities and other problem-solving skills will inevitably help you make better decisions. The more efficient your decision-making process becomes, meanwhile, the better you’ll get at uncovering and acting on the most promising solution to any dilemma.

A simple problem-solving scenario

It’s clear that we can all benefit from getting more comfortable with problem-solving in the workplace.

Examples of situations where your problem-solving skills will come in handy aren’t difficult to find, and might include:

• Fixing a technical issue for your customer.
• Improving your student’s test performance.
• Reducing the theft of your in-store merchandise.
• Bumping up your marketing reach.

But, here’s the interesting thing. While it’s evident in each of these situations that there’s a problem to be solved, the exact nature of that problem isn’t so obvious.

In the student’s case, for example, you’d need additional input to help you figure out why they’re performing poorly. Only then would you be able to take steps to find the best-fit solution and achieve the desired learning outcome.

Here’s a simple scenario to help demonstrate that idea:

Bringing new customers onboard in a timely manner is an important part of your client relations strategy. Since hiring Alex a few weeks ago, however, your onboarding process has been taking longer than it should and team members are beginning to complain.

While you can see that the problem in this scenario is the fact that your team isn’t meeting their client onboarding goals, the key is to get clear on exactly what’s causing the hold-up.

You could jump to the conclusion that Alex has time management issues and that it’s time to start looking for a replacement. But, since one of the most common mistakes in business problem-solving is attempting to seize on a solution right away, that might cause you to waste time and resources on a remedy that ultimately proves unnecessary, or that doesn’t provide a viable fix.

Instead, it’s time to put your problem-solving skills to work.

Using data gathering and troubleshooting to pinpoint and clarify the bottleneck in your onboarding process – and active listening to interpret the situation from Alex’s perspective – you soon determine that the real cause of the problem is not what you thought.

In truth, an administrative oversight during the hiring process (yet another problem to be solved!) left Alex unaware of, and without access to, the business process map that’s so vital to efficiently onboarding new customers. Once you provide the necessary resources, it doesn’t take Alex long to get up to speed – and your client onboarding process to revert back to the well-oiled machine that it was.

Even with a team of eager problem-solvers by your side, the truth is that it’s often necessary to have the right problem-solving tools in place to achieve your desired results. That’s where versatile mind mapping software can help.

Not only does MindManager® provide a visual framework that fully supports the problem-solving process, it improves comprehension, inspires more creative solutions, and boosts your ability to make the best possible decisions.

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What is creative thinking and why does it matter?

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What is creative thinking?

Types of creative thinking, why is creative thinking important, how creative thinking works, what are some examples of creative thinking, the benefits of creative thinking, how to make your thinking process more creative, start fostering your creative thinking skills.

Few things feel better than a stroke of creative genius. A new creative idea can make you feel brilliant and unstoppable.

But, when the great ideas stop flowing, it’s easy to get discouraged and declare that you’re just not a creative thinker.

Many people believe that creative thinking is something that strikes at random. In reality, there are many ways to use creative problem-solving every day, even if you don’t think you have innate creativity. While thinking creatively isn’t difficult, it does take practice. 

Building your creative skills is the key to innovation. But where do you start?

In this article, we’ll cover what creative thinking is, how it works, and how to strengthen your creative skill.

Creative thinking may feel like a superpower reserved only for a “creative person.” Thankfully, creative geniuses aren’t the only ones who can have innovative ideas. 

At its core, creative thinking is intentionally gaining new insights and different ideas through existing information.

Often, creative thought involves tapping into different styles of thinking and examining information from different viewpoints to see new patterns. Anyone can foster a creative mind with some practice!

Using a wide variety of brainstorming strategies can help you discover new solutions for issues in every area of your life, including at work.

In fact, 61% of employees say they’re expected to come up with creative ideas or new ways to do things at work. But, with only 30% of employees saying they’re given time to think or discuss new ideas daily, it’s becoming increasingly important to develop our creative thinking muscles.

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Fostering creative thinking starts with changing your perspective. Learning new and different styles of thinking can help give birth to powerful idea generation. 

Aesthetic thinking, divergent thinking, lateral thinking, convergent thinking, and inspirational thinking are five types of innovative thinking to get the ball rolling.

( Image source )

Divergent and convergent thinking are the most common ways to foster more creative thought. 

Divergent thinking is like a traditional brainstorming session, where you come up with as many possible solutions as your imagination will allow. 

Meanwhile, convergent thinking takes a more logical approach, encouraging you to gather facts and discover the most common solution to a problem. These strategies are frequently used together to conjure new creative solutions.

Inspirational thinking focuses on imagining the best-case scenarios to find a new way to solve a problem, while lateral thinking involves letting ideas flow in a step-by-step format. 

Aesthetic thinking focuses on reframing the problem to see its inherent beauty and value, like looking at a painting.

It’s easy to get stuck in the same thought patterns, especially at work. However, those thought patterns may be hampering your innovation and keeping you stuck in routines that don’t serve you. 

Creative thinking shows us that there are many solutions to any problem, and developing your creative thinking skills helps you recognize innovative solutions more quickly. 

Plus, creativity was the most sought-after soft skill in 2020, so strengthening your creativity skills can set you apart at work, too.

Alongside critical thinking and focus , creative thinking is crucial to help recognize patterns that may not be obvious at first glance. Thinking creatively makes you a better problem-solver, which has far-reaching benefits in both your work and personal life.

Expressive, creative thinking helps us challenge our own assumptions, discover new things about ourselves and our perspective, stay mentally sharp, and even be more optimistic .

Many business leaders see creativity and innovation as something unpredictable, with 53% of businesses reporting that innovation occurs by chance. However, with the right tools, you can tap into creative thinking whenever you want.

There are many ways to get your creative juices flowing, and practicing creative thinking strategies can help you think outside the box more readily and more often. 

Creative thinking works by igniting our curiosity. Getting curious about a problem looks different for various industries.

A go-to example for creative thinking may be the advertising executive coming up with creative campaigns by brainstorming with divergent thinking. However, that’s far from the only way to use creative thinking. 

In STEM industries like biomedicine, stimulating creativity by asking open-ended questions and creating fictional scenarios helps professionals find innovative solutions to health problems. 

These questions encourage medical professionals to experiment and discover new ways of solving a persistent problem. 

Through creative thinking, professionals in any field can discover unique answers to pressing problems.

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Creative thinking is valuable in many situations, not just traditionally creative industries. Whether you’re solving a problem, organizing your calendar, or at an impasse with your team, creative thinking can come in handy.

One way creative thinking is valuable is for identifying the right problem . 

Using divergent thinking strategies can help you examine a problem from every angle and identify the true root of the issue. 

Once you’ve found the root problem, you can use lateral thinking or convergent thinking to discover new solutions that may not have been available to you before.

Adding constraints , like a timeline or budget for your project, can also help you guide a creative thinking session. 

For example, you could brainstorm how you'd handle a particular problem if your existing budget was cut in half. Constraints can help spur unique ideas you may have missed.

Creative thinking doesn’t just make you a better employee; it also makes you a better parent, student, and leader, too. By developing your creative thinking skills, the benefits of thinking creatively can show up throughout your daily life.

Here are a few major benefits of creative thinking.

Improved problem-solving capabilities

We don’t just solve problems at work, and we shouldn’t only use our creative thinking skills at work, either! Developing your creative thinking abilities can help you solve a wide variety of problems faster. 

As your mind becomes more accustomed to using different thought techniques, you’ll quickly recognize patterns that you might not have before.

Stronger interpersonal connections

Creative thinking can help you communicate your ideas more clearly, which leads to better conversations and relationships with your friends, family, and coworkers. 

Plus, many creative thinking methods work best when they’re done in a group. Developing new ideas together can strengthen bonds and help you combine ideas to create something truly innovative.

Heightened productivity

It may seem like creative thinking is a time-consuming distraction from your work, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

When we get stuck in thought patterns, it’s easy to get frustrated when something isn’t working correctly. That frustration can cause our productivity to plummet. 

Taking a moment and engaging in a creative thinking strategy can renew your motivation, reinvigorate your passion, and help you find new solutions when you’re stuck. 

Higher self-awareness

Creative thinking allows you to try on perspectives that you may not have considered before. 

As you’re exploring new perspectives, you may discover something about your own assumptions, viewpoints, or biases that you never noticed. 

Challenging your traditional way of thinking can offer higher self-awareness and build your emotional intelligence. With creative thinking, you strengthen your ability to reframe your perspective and harness a growth mindset.

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Now that we see how important creative thinking skills are, building our creative capabilities is the next step to reap the benefits. 

There are many ways to encourage more creative thinking in your daily life. While practicing different thinking strategies and brainstorming with your team at work help to develop these skills, they’re far from the only way to foster a more creative thought process. 

One powerful way to get your creativity flowing is to meet new people, especially if they’re in the arts or in a different industry from you. Sharing your interests and listening to others can inspire you to view the world differently. 

Practicing boredom can help you develop your creativity, too. Allowing yourself to become bored and seeing what pulls your interest can help you practice letting your curiosity lead the way. 

Another tactic is to ask questions about everything that piques your interest, and come up with possible answers before you look up the actual answer.

Coaching can also help you hone your creative thinking. 

In fact, 71% of employers see managerial coaching as helpful for creative development. When you’re feeling distracted or uninspired, coaching can refocus your attention and help you get curious about your experience.

Breaking away from your normal routine and trying something new is the key to fostering creative thinking in your daily life.

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Thinking more creatively can take effort, but a little practice can offer a ton of benefits. Honing your skills to recognize patterns and find solutions shifts your perspective and offers a new vantage point for you to explore. 

Not only can creative thinking improve your performance at work, but it can also improve every other area of your life too. 

Coaching is a powerful tool to help foster your creativity skills. Are you ready to become more innovative? 

Start working with a dedicated coach today to develop your own creative thinking skills.

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Maggie Wooll, MBA

Maggie Wooll is a researcher, author, and speaker focused on the evolving future of work. Formerly the lead researcher at the Deloitte Center for the Edge, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Maggie is passionate about creating better work and greater opportunities for all.

What is lateral thinking? 7 techniques to encourage creative ideas

Why creativity isn't just for creatives and how to find it anywhere, thinking outside the box: 8 ways to become a creative problem solver, from crisis to creativity, 8 creative solutions to your most challenging problems, the whole person model: a holistic way to build inspiring leaders and thriving teams, how to develop critical thinking skills, what is a bullet journal, and how can it boost your productivity, superhero-ines: 3 skills women use to conquer obstacles at work, similar articles, what is cognitive flexibility, and why does it matter, 8 brainstorming techniques to harness the power of teamwork, how to improve your creative skills for effective problem-solving, how divergent thinking can drive your creativity, what’s convergent thinking how to be a better problem-solver, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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Why are problem solving skills in the workplace so important? Subskills, benefits, scenarios

Test your candidates' problem-solving skills with testgorilla.

The importance of problem-solving skills in the workplace can’t be overstated. Every business and job role has its problems. From entry-level hires to senior staffers, every one of your employees will face challenges that don’t can’t be answered by doing a quick Google search – or asking ChatGPT to come up with solutions.

That’s why employers must hire people with excellent problem-solving skills, especially for roles that require dealing with complex business challenges, tight deadlines, and changing variables – for example, when recruiting leaders .

But what are problem-solving skills? What role do they play in the workplace? 

And, most importantly, how can you evaluate candidates’ skills before you hire them?

Table of contents

What are problem solving skills, the benefits of problem solving skills: why are problem solving skills important , examples of problems at the workplace – and how problem solving skills can help, how to assess problem solving skills, evaluate problem solving skills and hire candidates who can think for themselves.

To fully understand the importance of problem-solving skills in the workplace, it’s important first to understand the broad skill set that we commonly refer to as “problem solving skills”. 

Generally, problem-solving refers to a person’s ability to successfully manage and find solutions for complex and unexpected situations. 

Candidates with great problem-solving skills have a combination of analytical and creative thinking. They’re comfortable with making decisions and confident enough to rise to challenges in the workplace.

These candidates possess a combination of analytical, creative, and critical-thinking skills – and a high level of attention to detail . As a result, they will quickly identify problems when they arise and identify the most effective solutions. 

They’ll also identify the factors and forces that might have caused the problem and instigate changes to mitigate future challenges.

There are six key problem-solving skills that you should look for when assessing job candidates: 

1. Listening skills

Active listeners are generally great problem solvers. 

They can listen to those around them to gather the information needed to solve the problem at hand. They also recognize the importance of valuing others’ opinions and experiences to help understand why the problem occurred and define the best course of action to remedy it. 

2. Analytical thinking skills 

Analytical thinkers can identify the logical reasons why a problem occurred, what the long-term effects of the issue could be, and identify how effective different solutions might be to select the most practical one. 

That’s why it’s essential to assess analytical thinking skills during recruitment.

3. Creative thinking skills

Creative thinkers can balance their analytical skills with creative approaches to challenges. Creative thinking skills enable individuals to uncover innovative and progressive solutions to problems. 

In this way, they’re able to provide new perspectives and provide imaginative and experimental solutions to all kinds of problems. 

4. Communication skills 

Problem solvers should also possess great communication skills . The ability to effectively relay complex information thoroughly yet succinctly is a huge benefit for employers working in fast-paced environments. 

5. Decision-making skills 

Those with problem-solving skills will also possess the ability to make decisions and be confident in them. This is important, because most problem-solving involves making firm decisions to reach a successful outcome. 

6. Teamwork

Although problem-solvers need to be independent thinkers, it’s also vital for them to work well as part of a team . 

Determining the best solution often requires collaboration, so it’s important that candidates can demonstrate how they can motivate others to come up with the best solutions and work with them to help develop and implement solutions. 

Problem-solving skills enable you to find candidates who are cognitively equipped to handle anything their jobs throw at them.

Problem solvers can observe, judge, and act quickly when difficulties arise when they inevitably do. Moreover, they are not afraid of the unknown, which is invaluable to employers who rely on their employees to identify and solve problems. 

There are several important benefits of problem-solving skills in the workplace. Below, we’ll go through five of the most significant ones that all problem solvers can bring to their roles and workplaces: 

1. Ability to organize their time intelligently 

Time management skills can often be underlooked as one of the benefits of problem-solving skills in the workplace. 

However, those with problem-solving abilities also typically possess stellar time-management skills. The ability to manage their time wisely and laser-focus on what’s important to the business will lead to better decision-making and business impact. 

2. Ability to prioritize, plan, and execute strategies

Problem solvers have no issue with carefully assessing customer and business needs and deciding how to prioritize, plan, and execute strategies to meet them. They can manage all moving parts and strategize to meet multiple unique demands.

3. Ability to think outside the box

Problem solvers can often identify hidden opportunities in problems. Thinking outside of the box is an important problem-solving skill in the workplace, because it can often lead to better outcomes than the originally expected ones. 

4. Ability to work under pressure

This is often one of the most important benefits of problem-solving skills in the workplace. Problem solvers often work well under pressure, for example when dealing with short deadlines and changing project requirements.

Depending on your workplace culture, you might prefer someone who can deliver quick solutions or someone who takes their time to identify the next steps. Both are valid and important problem solving qualities. 

5. Ability to address risk

Planning is an important problem-solving skill. Problem solvers are not just equipped to deal with the problem at hand but are also able to anticipate problems that will arise in the future based on trends, patterns, experience, and current events.

Let’s now look at some specific examples of problems that could arise at the workplace – at any workplace, really – and how employees’ problem solving skills can help address each issue. 

Below, you’ll find five typical scenarios where problem solving skills are essential.

Conflict between team members

Poor team dynamics or lack of a collaborative spirit might result in frequent workplace conflicts – especially within larger teams.

For example, members of cross-functional teams might disagree on the way they should address a particular issue or even on the priority they should give to it. 

How problem solving skills can help: 

Teamwork is essential when solving conflict – and a cornerstone of effective cross-functional team leadership .

For this, coworkers need to share a common understanding of the team’s goals and also be willing to work towards achieving them, even when they disagree on the specific approaches to each goal.  The ability to understand others’ perspectives, analyze information critically, and come up with a few different solutions is key to finding a common ground and making progress on the team’s objectives.

Inefficient processes

Outdated, inefficient processes can reduce productivity and frustrate employees.

Multi-step approval processes are a typical example of this. Having multiple layers of approval for routine decisions can significantly slow down team progress and lead to missed opportunities.

Analytical thinking skills are key in identifying inefficiencies and building better procedures. Employees or team leads can build flowcharts that speed up decision making without having to ask a supervisor’s permission at every step of the process. 

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Poor communication can lead to misunderstandings and lack of clarity and direction – which, in turn, can be detrimental to team performance. 

For example, if you’re a remote-first company, maintaining clear and effective remote communication can be challenging. 

The over-reliance on emails and messaging apps might make it feel like teams are communicating effectively and are always connected. However, the lack of non-verbal cues and face-to-face interactions might make it more difficult to build rapport and a positive workplace culture .

Listening skills are essential to solving communication issues – and good listeners are often excellent at solving problems by recognizing, understanding, and acknowledging others’ points of view. 

One-on-one meetings enable people to communicate more freely and effectively and solve challenges together, so consider encouraging team members to hop on a call each time they encounter a difficult challenge.

Additionally, you can help employees bond with each other with some remote team building activities to improve team cohesion. Plus, problem solving challenges can be excellent team building exercises.

Technological disruptions 

New technologies often disrupt the usual ways of doing things – and sometimes, this can be disruptive for entire teams’ work. 

For example, generative AI and automation technologies have revolutionized numerous types of work, including data analysis, marketing, customer service, and even content creation.

Creative thinking and cognitive flexibility are among the top 10 most important skills of the future , according to the World Economic Forum. Both are essential for adopting new technologies successfully – and finding ways to make the most out of each new tool to improve productivity. 

Insufficient onboarding resources 

Team members may struggle to do their best work if they haven't received proper training or resources.

For example, start-ups that experience rapid growth might hire a few employees at once – or even entire teams. 

If they fail to allocate sufficient time and resources to onboarding new hires, this might lead to lost productivity, a lacking sense of belonging, or increased turnover. That’s true not only for junior employees but also for newly hired senior leaders , as the Harvard Business Review points out.

Your leadership team’s analytical and decision-making skills are crucial in enabling them to distribute limited resources in a way that would give their teams the best chances of success. 

To build a solid onboarding process , you need leaders who are able to take ownership of it – and who have the right problem-solving skills.

Many organizations use problem-solving interview questions to identify the right candidates for their job openings. However, the most effective way to assess problem-solving skills is with pre-employment skills assessments . 

That’s because skills tests provide an objective way to quantify a candidate’s problem-solving skills in a way that isn’t possible during an interview.

How problem solving skills tests work

Tests like TestGorilla’s problem-solving skills test assist organizations in finding candidates who are able to quickly identify the key elements of the problem and work through the problem at speed without making mistakes. 

By presenting candidates with a wide range of questions related to typical problem-solving scenarios, hiring teams can rank their candidates based on an intensive assessment of each candidate’s skill level.

The test specifically evaluates whether a candidate can perform problem-solving tasks like:

Creating and adjust schedules

Prioritizing items based on a given set of rules

Interpreting data and applying logic to make decisions

Analyzing textual and numerical information to draw conclusions

As you can see, even the best interviewer would have trouble assessing each of these skill areas while still covering all the other questions that they need to ask. 

If you’re convinced of the importance of problem-solving skills in the workplace and want to build a team of employees that can think independently and solve their own problems without constant supervision, assess problem-solving skills during the hiring process. 

Problem-solving skills tests like ours are an excellent way to achieve this – especially if you combine them with other skills tests. Check out our extensive test library for other tests you can use in your talent assessment process to hire the best talent. 

Sign up for our free plan to start building your first assessment – or schedule a demo with one of our experts to see how to evaluate applicants’ problem solving skills quickly, efficiently, and without bias. 

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Why Problem Solving Skills are Important in the Workplace

Posted 26/10/2021 by Vicki Mann

You can read this in 8 minutes.

In the modern workplace, problem solving skills are no less than essential. Needless to say, the world of work is not always plain sailing. No matter what role or industry you find yourself in, challenging situations are not just likely, but to be very much expected. Every role imaginable will come with its own unique set of problems that need to be solved, but what ties these situations together is their spontaneity and their need to be met with problem-solving and creative thinking. Unforeseen circumstances that will continuously arise can only be approached with practicality, common sense and personal skill. Problem solving techniques are at the heart of these abilities, and they can be applied to just about every work-related task, from organisation to communication and collaboration, managing deadlines to maintaining interpersonal relationships with colleagues. Due to the necessity of problem-solving techniques in every workplace, it could not be more important that employers use cognitive ability tests when sifting through applications to optimise recruitment selection.  

What are problem solving skills?

So, what are problem-solving skills? Problem-solving in the workplace entails a range of techniques: working around unexpected new issues, managing changing variables, the confidence to approach a new task and the knowledge of how to solve interpersonal problems. It also includes certain intrinsic qualities, such as practicality and confidence: that is, the capacity to spot when something is going wrong and raise questions which might help to solve it in the workplace. A problem solver can confidently find and manage solutions for complex and unexpected situations. Problem-solving skills involve a balance of analytical thinking, creative thinking, and critical thinking skills. Analytical thinking skills are crucial when it comes to identifying a problem, and creativity is key in finding methods to solve it. Critical thinking enables somebody to see which solution might be the most effective. Problem-solving skills are useful both in the short-term and the long-term. A candidate with good problem-solving skills will ensure that obstacles are surmounted in the moment, and the best solution is found, but they will also be able to identify the variables that gave rise to the problem in the first place, and make changes to prevent similar issues occurring in the future. In this sense, problem-solving skills are the key to approaching most complex issues and finding more enduring solutions. A good problem-solver is an asset to any organisation, and is likely to perform their job more successfully. In order to make objective hiring decisions and select the candidates with the best problem-solving capacities, your organisation will need to test for specific skills. These skills involve the ways in which a person deals with real life situations, and may not be apparent from conventional techniques such as interview questions, which do not necessarily indicate how a candidate would solve a problem in the workplace. Pre-employment skills tests, on the other hand, are a bias-free solution, ensuring that your organisation hires the applicants best suited to their roles. When assessing an applicant's capacity for problem-solving, there are six key skills which are tested.  

1. Collaboration Skills

Although problem-solving is something which exists within each individual to a greater or lesser degree, it also determines how an individual is able to interact with a group and complete a task collaboratively. Reaching a good solution and setting it in motion often requires collaboration. A problem solver knows that working with others successfully (regardless of their  personality type ) is the best route to solve most of the challenges that crop up both in the workplace and in everyday life.  

2. Communication Skills

When problems arise in any organisation, it is important that employees can approach them calmly, communicate the situation to others in clear and succinct terms and work together to solve it. Complex problems require good communicators, those who can simplify the situation and express the main issues in order to come to an efficient solution.  

3. Decision-Making Skills

The capacity and confidence to make a quick decision and stick to it is a crucial problem-solving technique. In a complicated situation, coming to a level-headed decision quickly and committing to it is crucial to solving the issue.  

4. Analytical Thinking Skills

The analytical mindset is necessary in confronting any problem or task and reaching a solution. It is imperative that a candidate, when faced with an issue, is able to analyse the situation and identify what has gone wrong. Analytical thinking skills are also key in the ability to select the best out of a range of possible solutions.  

5. Creative Thinking Skills

Creative thinking is an important capacity when it comes to coming up with methods to solve a problem in the workplace. The potential to approach a complicated issue from a variety of angles, and to apply the imagination to overcoming a task makes it easier to solve a problem in an efficient way.  

6. Listening Skills

Problem-solving skills rely on the fundamental faculty of listening. Listening is the surest method to collect information about an issue, weigh up different perspectives and opinions, and begin to understand a problem in order to solve it. The facility to listen to coworkers in the workplace is also a way to prevent complicated and problematic situations from occurring in the first place! Needless to say, in the world of work today, these techniques are invaluable, and it is essential that employers use psychometric measures to test for problem-solving skills in order to improve recruitment. Knowing a candidate's ability in these key areas is important, and can prevent the risk of a bad hire. Recruitment tests are very important, as getting the hire wrong does not just cost money, it also results in a loss of time and loss of productivity. Pre-employment testing, particularly tests which measure an applicant's capacity to solve a problem, and decide on the best solution, are a cost-efficient means to improve the recruitment process and ensure your company's success and growth.  

How to assess candidates' problem-solving skills

We offer different pre-employment tests which accurately assess an applicant's strength in key areas and their technique in identifying good solutions to problems in the workplace.

Situational Judgement Tests

The  Situational Judgement Test  is a kind of psychometric test that measures soft skills such as common sense, non-academic behaviours, technique in identifying solutions and practical intelligence. The tests work in a realistic and practical way, presenting applicants with a variety of different workplace situations which they might encounter when performing the functions that the job requires. Undoubtedly, the capacity to see which course of action a prospective employee would take or which solution they would choose in a given situation gives the employer a valuable insight into their specific skill set, and how they might respond to the demands of the job.

Logic-Based Aptitude Tests

Our  logical reasoning tests  measure a candidate's non-verbal intelligence - their capacity to analyse situations, extract rules, and find the right solution using logical and abstract reasoning. This is an in-depth cognitive test and so it provides an accurate indication of how successful a candidate will be when faced with workplace problems which they have to solve. Unlike most aptitude tests, logical reasoning tests do not measure knowledge in a particular subject area, simply their thought problem-solving process. This means that it is a useful tool in the recruitment process for any employer to evaluate applicants in any field.

Bespoke Tests

The option to  create your own tests  tailored to the demands of your organisation is a successful means of guaranteeing the right hires and ensuring good job performance. At Skillsarena, we have the expertise to create a quiz or any other testing experience that will assess the problem-solving skills that are most necessary to your particular company.   The importance of problem-solving skills in the modern workplace cannot be overstated. In order to make sure that your company grows, it is imperative that employees have the analytical and creative skills necessary to solve any problems they might face in their jobs. Our  Situational Judgement Tests ,  Logical Reasoning Tests , and  Bespoke Tests  are the best method of guaranteeing a good hire, testing an applicant's capacity to solve a real problem in ways that can't be measured by interview questions alone. As an employer, you know which skills and problem-solving techniques are most important for your particular company. At Skillsarena, we help you evaluate these abilities in applicants, and in doing so we make sure that your organisation is productive and successful. Get started with Skillsarena today to bring out the best in your candidates. After taking a look through our test offerings,  create an account with our self-service system . This way, we can get you started with your Skillsarena profile as soon as possible. If you require any assistance, give us a call on 0203 693 2201 or send an email to [email protected] . We look forward to hearing from you!

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