Before implementing any problem solving strategy, make sure you’ve identified the real problem. To use creative problem solving techniques, we must understand creative thinking.

Creative thinking is allowing our imaginations to feed off our memory, and knowledge, to cause one idea to lead to another, otherwise known as the "association of ideas."

The key factors needed for creative thinking are:

1) No Judgments

By far the most important characteristic of effective creative problem solving, is to have an open mind, don’t criticize any idea that may come to mind, but rather write each idea down.

For example:

PROBLEM:

Not enough money

IDEAS:

Have a yard sale,

Sell any miscellaneous home items I can do without, on eBay and Craigslist

Sell books on Powell.com

Drop pest control

Drop water filter service

Let my hair grow out, dye it myself

No eating out

No more going to the movies

2) Self Assessment

So that we can figure out the best solution to our problem, it’s helpful to identify any opinions we may have about our problem, and about any of our ideas on how to fix the problem. Literally, ask yourself, “Do I have an opinion about this?”

For example:

IDEA: Drop water filter service OPINION: I think unfiltered water is unhealthy

3) Positive Attitude

Develop an attitude that all ideas are good ideas, as cynicism only inhibits creative thinking.

4) Use Checklists

There are a couple reasons why you should write down EVERY idea, no matter how far-fetched it may seem at the moment. Writing down all ideas will ensure that nothing important is forgotten, and will give us an opportunity to go back, and combine parts of one idea with another, letting our ideas feed off each other.

5) Be Self Confident

Remember that many of the world's greatest ideas were ridiculed at first. Have faith in your creativity! Some of our most basic scientific principles like that the Earth is round and revolves around the sun never would have been advanced without the confidence and courage to go against the grain.

Stages in Creative Problem Solving

Orientation Stage

Make sure you have a comfortable, maybe private, place to brainstorm. Generate a list of topic headings, used to gather ideas to solve the problem.

Preparation and Analysis Stage

Think of this step as the fact-finding time. Getting bogged down in too many details at this stage may actually restrain creative thinking efforts. There will be time later to go back and fill in the facts you need as you further develop your ideas.

1) Go back to the headings you created.
Are there any headings that don't seem relevant?

Will gathering facts for these topic headings help me solve my problem? Scratch out any topic headings you think are not truly relevant.

2) Analyze your topic headings now by looking for similarities, and differences. You may end up deleting more headings, or adding a few new ones, or end up combining a few topic-idea headings. This will help you develop a framework for generating your solution.

Brainstorming

Generating possible solutions. The philosophy behind brainstorming is that the more ideas there are on the table, the more likely a suitable solution will emerge. This stage of the process is a "freewheeling" exchange of ideas, to create a list of as many possibilities as you can think up. Remember to write all ideas down, no matter how far-fetched they may seem, and to maintain an open mind at all times. Let ideas feed off one another and feel free to combine parts of one solution with another or alter ideas in various ways.

Incubation

Taking a break to encourage illumination. Incubation is the "time-out" stage of the process you step away from the problem, and potential solutions, freeing up your mind to let your ideas grow and to encourage "illumination" of the correct solution. While a time-out may not always be practical for every problem-solving situation, it is an important part of the creative process, don’t overwork the mind.

Whether the time-out is a quick walk, or a night's sleep, the purpose should be not to force the mind to think about any particular aspect of the problem or solution, but to let the mind meander as it wants. Some of the world's most creative people rely on these moments of silence, and solitude, for their best ideas.

Synthesis and verification

Out of all the possibilities you’ve generated during your brainstorming session, the ideal solution should be a combination of the best qualities of each idea. Rather than continuing to dissect the problem, we now can combine ideas generated by our brainstorming, to come up with the best solution, with recommendations that will solve our problem.

1) Make a list of all the desirable qualities, or disadvantages, that a solution might have, and then rate each idea generated. Each quality or disadvantage can be weighted in terms of its importance, or applied, without weighting. The idea with the best overall profile can then be identified.

You may want to create an outline or grouping of ideas, with similar ideas assigned to the same group, and relations, between groups of ideas, mapped out.

Verification is the final phase of the process and requires testing the solution you have chosen to see if it is able to solve the problem.

For example:

ORIENTATION

1) Save Money 2) Get more consulting jobs 3) Get a full time position 4) Get a part time position 5) Get a loan

PREPARATION

1) Save Money 2) Get a part-time job, and more consulting jobs 3) Get a full-time position

BRAINSTORMING

SAVE MONEY!

1) Communicate more electronically, through emails, text messages, blogs, etc. If I use less toner, than I don’t need to replace the toner as frequently 2) Change grocery chains to a less expensive one (Aldis) 3) Look for additional savings, for needed items, oil change, household cleaning, and bathroom products. 4) Turn off lights more readily 5) Shorter showers 6) Drive less 7) Stop eating out 8) No movies 9) Sell whatever is not being used 10) Avoid shopping centers, and coffee houses

GET MORE CONSULTING JOBS

1) Make everyone in my network know what skills I have, and let them know I’m looking for work 2) Search the web 3) Cold call various business 4) Check back with past customers 5) Search online, fill out every application or related inquiry 6) Go to technical hires

GET A FULL TIME POSITION

1) Update resume 2) Make everyone in my network know what skills I have, and let them know I’m looking for work 3) Search the web 4) Cold call various business 5) Check back with past customers 6) Search online, fill out every application or related inquiry 7) Go to technical hires

SYNTHESIS AND VERIFICATION

SAVE MONEY! (rated between 1-10, with one being least important, and 10 being the most important)

Communicate more electronically, through emails, text messages, blogs, etc.
score: 10

Change grocery chains to a less expensive one (Aldis)
score: 5

Look for additional savings, for needed items, oil change, household cleaning, and bathroom products.
score: 7

Turn off lights, and other electronic equipment
score: 10

Shorter showers
score: 9

Drive less
score: 10

Stop eating out
score: 10

No movies
score: 9

Sell whatever is not being used
score: 10

Avoid shopping centers, and coffee houses
score: 10

GET MORE CONSULTING JOBS and Part time job

Make everyone in my network know what skills I have, and let them know I’m looking for work
score: 10

Search the web
score: 10

Cold call various business
score: 5

Check back with past customers
score: 10

Search online, fill out every application or related inquiry
score: 10

Go to technical hires
score: 10

Take a retail job that doesn’t match my skills
score: 5

GET A FULL TIME POSITION

Update resume
score: 10

Make everyone in my network know what skills I have, and let them know I’m looking for work
score: 10

Search the web
score: 10

Cold call various business
score: 5

Check back with past customers
score: 10

Search online, fill out every application or related inquiry

Go to technical hires
score: 10

Do you have a better understanding of the problem you may have been thinking about when you began reading this article? I hope you were able to figure out a solution.

The following Hubs have instructions, on how to use other problem solving strategies:

Reflective Problem Solving

Conflict-based Problem Solving