Articles and News

Need to bolster your creativity? It’s easy if, first, you remember that creative thinking and creativity isn’t the preserve of the marketing team or the R&D department and, second, you learn, develop and practice the appropriate thinking techniques. And here are some of the key techniques on offer:
1.Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats® approach
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Creative thinking in business is one way to turn problems and challenges into opportunities and better ways to work. In this article, Richard Evans, Marketing Manager of Illumine Training provides an insight into how he harnesses and stimulates business creativity…

Creativity enables people to make breakthroughs in their thinking and find better ways of working. According to Clive Lewis at Illumine Training it is precisely for these reasons that trainers need to know how to stimulate creativity among their participants.
If you are a manager, trainer or facilitator you probably think of yourself as being creative. [...]

Most creativity techniques are concerned with forcing us out of our usual ways of looking at things.
The lateral thinking techniques of Edward de Bono are typical. De Bono is renowned for his highly effective systematic approaches to generate alternative points of view. However, while the term that De Bono popularised, ‘lateral thinking’ is often used [...]

As part of a global innovation programme, the worldwide insurer, Allianz, has been looking to develop practical creativity in the workplace. Here Anthony Landale outlines the drivers for innovation and reports on the drive for new thinking at all levels of the business.

Innovation is a big game in business. It promises to break open rigid [...]

What do you do when faced by a difficult problem?
In many organisations, the only technique used to try to generate fresh thinking and new ideas is ‘the brainstorm’. Results from brainstorming sessions are often disappointing for all concerned. Then, you also have to work out how to deal with mental blocks.
The truth is that we [...]

Problem = something difficult to deal with or solve; question or puzzle set for solution
Opportunity = favourable time or condition; good chance
What are your problems?
As soon as you start thinking about the exact nature of your problems you’ll recognise that they come in two rather different shapes. In the first instance, you will tend to [...]

Effective Innovation – John Adair (Mind Map showing key points from the book) – Click map for bigger version

Elements of Creativity Mind Map - Click map for bigger version

Innovation: ‘The introduction of a new idea into the marketplace in the form of a new product or service; an improvement in organisation or process.’

Creativity: ‘Creativity (or creativeness) [...]

As part of an Advanced Leadership Programme, the National School of Government has been teaching top civil servants how to get creative.Here Anthony Landale outlines the approach taken and reports on some of the key techniques they have been learning.
Every organisation wants to encourage creativity in its people. Why? Because it is through creativity that [...]