Most of us are trained to use lots of logical thinking in our work and in our lives. In our education, we’re taught to separate right from wrong and how to know which direction to follow. It’s a great skill to have.

Creative thinking goes a step further: it is about finding alternative options to turn wrong into right. Creative thinking does not accept that there is only one solution to a problem.

I tend to slip into logical thinking and with that leave valuable ideas behind. Asking yourself or the group a set of questions can be a big help. I’m using these a lot:

• Can we come up with a completely different approach? Or: what’s another way we could ___________?
• What would someone without any prior knowledge do in this situation?
• Which solutions absolutely will not work in this case (this one can help discover new ways you haven’t considered before)?
• What would you do if you had nothing to lose?
• What are the main obstacles for ____________, and how will we overcome them?

There is no best solution here. The power lies within having the ability to detect which variant you’re using and having the opportunity to switch over.