{"id":133568,"date":"2020-04-29T10:49:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T08:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gamestrategies.io\/blog\/guide-to-mastering-lateral-thinking-in-your-company\/"},"modified":"2024-11-01T17:16:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T16:16:53","slug":"guide-to-mastering-lateral-thinking-in-your-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamestrategies.io\/en\/blog\/guide-to-mastering-lateral-thinking-in-your-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Unleashing the power of lateral thinking in your company"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creativity<\/a> <\/span>has always been a highly sought after skill<\/a> both on the personal and professional side of life. In the business world, it means thinking up exciting ideas to tackle complex and ever-changing situations. It\u2019s the foundation of lateral thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most innovative companies in the world stand out for their commitment to lateral thinking. Breaking the mold of what\u2019s normal or expected means the possibilities are endless and the benefits can show in ways you least expect.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read on for 5 steps to help you best utilize lateral thinking in your company. This guide will help you get the most out of your teams\u2019 skills and push the whole company forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Open your mind<\/h2>\n

Edward de Bono<\/a>, <\/span>a psychologist from the University of Oxford, tells us we must seek new ideas, get out of our comfort zone, and change our perspectives. This allows us to put aside any preexisting stereotypes or traditional concepts in our collective imagination.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through this process, we can change our perceptions to develop new ideas that may have been glossed over or ignored with vertical or logical thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opening our minds allows us to unleash a multitude of possibilities and create a new framework that incorporates the new ideas put forward. The imagination is both endless and collective in the workplace, and all members work together to understand, analyze, and accept new creative limits.<\/span><\/p>\n

A practical example of expanding the limits of the mind is to ask yourself “why?” repeatedly until you get a better picture of the alternatives and underlying intentions of any particular action. By posing this question several times to an action or situation, we can find creative and productive misgivings that may lead us to rethink the norms we\u2019ve become accustomed to, even on the granular level.<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, if a company usually has in-person meetings on Tuesday mornings, ask “why?” It may lead to alternatives like online meetings or changing the day or time for more productive ends. Accepting the idea that new possibilities or mindsets may arise during the process is the first step to opening the doors to creativity.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Promote creativity<\/h2>\n

After broadening mental horizons in the office, it\u2019s important to nurture the flow of creative ideas. As Edward de Bono tells us, \u201ccreativity and simplification complement each other enormously. We must find new, alternative ways of doing things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, not just any idea, just for being simple and different, will be effective. Good ideas need to add value and promote successful business proposals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Visual responses can be a good creative stimuli. For example, a photograph allows us to practice creative interpretation. However, we don\u2019t just interpret our acquired knowledge, we also combine it, reapply it to other contexts, and even develop alternatives to what we previously knew.<\/span><\/p>\n

A photo of a product can produce a wide array of emotions and ideas –from the obvious to the abstract:<\/span><\/p>\n