Creativity Tops the List

Creativity tops the list of leadership qualities seen contributing to business success over the next five years, based on an IBM survey of over 1,500 CEOs.

When prompted for examples of creative genius, many of us conjure up images of Archimedes and his overflowing tub (“Eureka”), Newton and the falling apple or Franklin and his kite.

While moments of insight and sheer brilliance often appear to come out of nowhere, this is not always the case.

Creativity requires seeing things differently and managing our fear of the unknown. To effectively build and maintain a creative culture, it is also important to avoid the most common creativity killers including premature editing, groupthink and playing it safe.

One creativity tool used by several leading companies is a process known as SCAMPER, which asks the following questions that explore a number of possible changes to any existing product, service, methodology or process.

Substitute – Are there any components of our product that can be substituted or replaced with something else? (Think substituting artificial sweeteners for sugar in soda pop to create the diet soda product line.)

Combine – Can our product be combined with other products to create a new product? (Think smartphones that combine the traditional phone with other capabilities such as a camera, a GPS, etc.)

Adapt – Are there ideas from other industries that we can borrow and apply to our product? (Think electric cars that are adapting the use of laptop batteries as their energy storage medium.)

Maximize or Minimize – Are there components of the product that can be enlarged or shrunken? (Think iPAD mini.)

Put to Other Uses – Are there completely different uses for your product? (Think many pharmaceutical agents designed initially to manage one condition that are found to effectively treat other ailments.)

Eliminate – Are there components or features of your product that can be eliminated? (Think gluten-free foods.)

Rearrange or Reverse – Is there an opportunity to rearrange or reverse engineer the process? (Think Soda Stream as a means of making your own soda pop.)

How can you apply SCAMPER to your own products and processes to unlock the creative potential of your team?