Creative Thinking in Strategic Planning

Image: Kelly Sikkema via Unsplash

In an era where change is the only constant, traditional strategic planning approaches often fall short in navigating volatility and fostering innovation. It's not enough anymore to create a 3-5 year plan and stick to it. To truly thrive, organizations and individuals alike must embrace creative thinking as the cornerstone of their strategic planning efforts. Let's delve into why creative thinking is indispensable for success and how it can catalyze innovation, collaboration, and inclusivity across all levels - both personal and professional.

Defining Creative Thinking:

Creative thinking is the ability to approach problems, challenges, and opportunities with originality, flexibility, and imagination. It transcends conventional thinking to generate fresh ideas, novel perspectives, and innovative solutions. Creative thinkers excel at connecting disparate concepts, embracing experimentation, and viewing failure as a stepping stone to success. 

Creative thinking is indeed a mindset characterized by curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to challenge the what you've taken for granted. It moves past the concept of only artistic or cultural output, and shifts from an understanding of creativity being an activity to one as a way of being.

Benefits of Creative Thinking at Different Levels

For Individuals:
At the individual level, creative thinking entails embracing curiosity, exploring new ideas, and challenging the status quo. It's about being open-minded, adaptable, and willing to take risks. By tapping into your innate creative thinking styles, you can unlock new opportunities for personal and professional growth while building confidence and resilience. You also grow your emotional intelligence by better understanding how you function in the world. Imagine facing setbacks as challenges that can be overcome, instead of facing insurmountable obstacles.

For Teams:
Creative thinking within teams fosters collaboration by encouraging diverse perspectives and innovative ideas. Teams that embrace creative thinking can develop robust strategies that address a wide range of possibilities. Sometimes the solution is hiding in plain sight, and it takes a new approach to see it. By harnessing the collective intelligence and creativity of team members, organizations can drive innovation and achieve sustainable success. Teams can also expect a deeper appreciation of the diverse thinking styles across members, which fosters increased inclusivity and appreciation.

For Organizations:
Creative thinking at the organizational level means staying ahead of the curve, adapting to change, and driving innovation. It involves embracing a growth mindset and being willing to experiment and learn from failure. Creative organizations don’t have to be flashy, but they do need to be clever. By fostering a culture of creativity and innovation (both incremental and disruptive), organizations can position themselves for long-term success in a rapidly evolving business landscape.

Applied Creativity Techniques in Strategic Planning

In strategic planning, creativity isn't just about generating wild ideas. It's about applying dynamic thinking to solve complex problems and uncover new opportunities. The overlap between analytical thinking and creative thinking is much more vast than it may appear.

Here are some applied creativity techniques that can enhance your strategic planning process:

Confirming the Question: Ensure you're asking the right questions before diving into solutions. Don't spend your scarce resources of time and money on the wrong issue. Spend extra time up front confirming the problem you're trying to solve. It's crucial for directing creative efforts effectively.

False Constraints: Introduce artificial limitations or temporarily eliminate existing constraints to encourage outside-the-box thinking. Create a false deadline, suspend the budget for brainstorming, or cho0se three key areas to focus on. Breaking free from constraints can lead to innovative solutions.

Human-Centered Design: Adopt a human-centered approach, like creating ideally targeted personas or empathy maps, to gain deeper insights into the needs and preferences of stakeholders. Understanding the human element is essential for developing solutions that resonate with users.

Challenging Assumptions: Identify and challenge underlying assumptions that may be limiting your perspective. Frame your assumptions as the opposite to see if the original holds weight. By questioning established beliefs, you open up space for alternative viewpoints and fresh ideas.

Cross-Pollination of Ideas: Expand your knowledge base by learning from diverse industries and domains. Create teams from departments that don't typically collaborate. Borrow ideas from a non-competing individual or company. Drawing inspiration from unrelated fields can spark creativity and lead to unexpected insights applicable to strategic planning.

Imagining Opposite Results: Consider the opposite of the desired outcome and explore solutions for that scenario. What if you caused the problem you're trying to solve? This technique encourages creative problem-solving by challenging conventional thinking patterns and encouraging innovative approaches.

Redefining Resources: Think creatively about available resources and explore unconventional ways to leverage them. Expand beyond the tangible to include intangibles, like identity, spaces, seasons or cycles. By redefining what constitutes a resource, you can uncover untapped potential and drive innovation in strategic planning.

Conclusion

Creative thinking is indispensable for strategic planning success in today's dynamic work and business environment. By embracing creativity at the individual, team, or organizational levels, you can navigate uncertainty, foster collaboration, drive innovation, promote inclusivity and belonging, and ultimately achieve sustainable success that can adapt when the unexpected happens. As you look to the future, remember that creative thinking isn't just a skill—it's a mindset that empowers you to adapt, innovate, and thrive in an ever-changing world.

Are you in the process of an important and strategic planning process? Maybe it could use an infusion of creative thinking. Reach out to discuss how Goldfinch Leadership can help. 


About: I’m Veronica Scarpellino, Founder of Goldfinch Leadership, a Creativity + Innovation Coach, and a Creative Intelligence Practitioner. I work with individuals and organizations to tap the underutilized resource of human creativity to promote growth, success, wellbeing and joy. I teach Applied Creativity, work with individuals in career transition, and deliver unique team building workshops across industries.