We are still following our conversation about the future skills that everyone needs to succeed, which were based on the World Economic Conference's recommendations in 2016 from the choices of a variety of recruiters in the world's largest companies.

In 2015, creativity came in the last place. According to recent recommendations, it came to occupy third place, which explains the great difference in the labor market and its desires. While traditional solutions have become inappropriate now, creative thinking has become more interested in work.

Creative thinking: the idea alone is not enough .. what about the application?

We can define creative thinking to see different problems and situations from a new perspective that offers unconventional solutions to the current situation. There is often a feeling of anxiety at first about different ideas, so the situation requires the need to properly evaluate them by using additional techniques such as storming Golden or lateral thinking about it.

Despite this, people sometimes make mistakes in directing attention to the abstract idea, describing it as creative simply because of its difference or theoretical distinction. Still, the right thing is to focus on the applicability of the idea and its application in reality. This is why creativity is associated with another term, which is innovation.

Creativity enables you to break out of the ordinary in thinking and rely on imagination in creating ideas. Still, innovation comes to put these things into practice. It turns them into solutions that fit the current situation and available capabilities, which ultimately creates the real value of the creative process as a whole.

How can you develop creative thinking skills?

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Although some are convinced that creativity cannot be taught, some studies indicate the opposite. Among them, a study conducted by George Land indicates that we are naturally creative, and what we learn over time is what controls the continuity of this matter or not. Creativity is a skill that can be developed And fully managed.

Creativity begins with learning and knowledge and developing it into what brings it to creativity and innovation. You can learn how to become more creative by experimenting, exploring, and developing imagination in different situations. Some studies have also indicated the behaviors that help to achieve this, as it consists of five main behaviors that improve creativity, as follows:

Linking

The ability to draw connections between different details, whether by asking a group of questions or by gathering components and ideas that may not be related in one perception. Linking increases the effectiveness of benefiting from ideas and leads to creating new ideas without inventing them from the beginning. It is considered an important behavior in developing creativity.

Questioning

The ability to ask questions about different situations and circumstances, which means not accepting the familiar without research, but always trying to focus on open questions that make there the ability to see things from a perspective other than the current one. Questioning frees the boundaries that we set around the mind, which always control its path of thinking and make it accept traditional answers, and thus creativity can improve from that.

Observation

Creativity cannot be developed without the ability to observe and scrutinize the way things happen around us because this is what makes us understand traditional methods, and then the possibility of finding different ways to implement them.

Networking

One of the most important tools in developing creative thinking is meeting different people, ideas, and points of view than usual. As long as we surround ourselves with completely similar people, this makes there a great deal of similarity in ideas and thus increases imitation and familiarity with one way of dealing. The encounter with different people completely changes our view of things because it makes us see the world from their eyes and then form different perceptions.

Experimentation

You cannot be satisfied with previous behaviors without experimenting with the ideas that will appear, so it is always necessary to do a variety of experiments to try to find out the ideas that will result from this matter and how its impact will be in reality, even if this is just a simple presentation of the different perceptions that appear as a result of that.

How can you apply creative thinking in practical steps?

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It follows from the previous two paragraphs to realize that the biggest secret to success is not only in the absolute creative thinking, but in the ability to create real value from this creativity, and by developing behaviors that facilitate this occurrence, and at the same time using a methodology in its application on the ground, that can be represented In the following steps:

Preparation

The first step in creative thinking begins with identifying the exact current situation that exists. Is there a problem with customers and their lack of conviction in the product? Do you want to achieve more about what is present and increase sales? The specific definition of the current situation is what will guide your thinking.

After completing the current situation's determination, it is necessary to search for the information associated with it, whether statistics, figures, or previous reports, from which you can understand everything related to the specific situation. It is important in the preparation step not to place any restrictions on it to govern it, but always care to search in all directions to help you, whether inside or outside your work.

Psychological readiness for creativity

One of the most important reasons that lead to the failure of many creative ideas is our adherence to the ideas that we are familiar with, even if the data says the opposite, so the creative process needs to be well prepared for it, to show our acceptance by leaving the comfort zones that we are used to. In dealing with problems, while demonstrating the ability to take risks.

At the same time, we must realize that creative thinking necessarily means thinking outside the box. Rather the creative ideas may be from inside the box. Still, by thinking about them differently, in the end, the goal is to come up with ideas that are achievable in reality, not good fictional ideas but rather Not applicable.

In fact, this is incompatible with the meaning of creativity and innovation, so it is important to realize that creativity is not magic to make an idea work. Still, rather it only helps you see things from a different perspective. The simplest approach to creative thinking maybe to use elements that already exist and transform and merge them in another form.

Incubation... What are the available solutions?

In this step, you can start employing a skill such as problem-solving to identify appropriate ideas. Here you do not choose any solution to implement them. Still, you work to collect and absorb all the ideas presented and embrace them together, and from there, you lay the foundation for The appropriate way to implement it better in the next steps.

Enlightenment.. to put your hand on the appropriate idea

In this step, you can start comparing ideas until you can choose the most appropriate idea, and at this point, in particular, you can say that you have shifted to the state of innovation, where you left the realm of theoretical perceptions and started to The stage of the practical application of ideas.

Verify the solution's effectiveness

After your idea is fully developed, you must judge its ability to work successfully or not. In fact, the best in this step is to seek judgment from your colleagues or experts in the field so that you can make sure that the idea is acceptable Or, it needs adjustments, whether minor or major or completely rejected. Therefore the process must be repeated completely.

Critical thinking

In this step of creative thinking, you must shift to the adoption of critical thinking. You see things with a critical view and evaluate their feasibility by anticipating problems that may occur and how they should be dealt with. This step differs from the previous one in that it is often only personal.

You can understand through the steps of the creative thinking process why it came in third place after both solving complex problems and critical thinking in recommendations about future skills because true creativity requires your possession of the two previous skills together and adds to the great value because the future needs your ability to think differently. Types of it in the first place, this is what guarantees you success in any task assigned to you in any work.

Thanks for reading

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