Generating Creative Ideas by Challenging Constraints

Creativity is your organization’s growth engine. The problem is we constantly run into constraints to generating creative, new ideas. Many times those constraints are self-imposed. Amazing things can happen when you relax those constraints.

Today’s post is by Paul Smith, thoughtLEADERS principal and bestselling author of Lead With a Story and  Sell With a Story.

Are you trying to make your team more creative? Have you ever searched desperately for new solutions but had trouble coming up with great ideas?

Stepping outside your existing or self-imposed frame of reference can help you identify new solutions. Better yet – sharing examples of situations like that can unleash your team’s creativity.

Here’s a quick video that covers an example of how to think outside self-imposed or existing boundaries. The examples will help you understand the techniques for being more creative and provide you examples of stories you can tell your team to help them apply these methods. Enjoy!

If you’re interested in becoming a better storyteller yourself, check out our Influencing through Storytelling course and our Storytelling for Salespeople course where we can come into your organization and help you build this powerful, critical skill.

Paul Smith is a former director and 20-year veteran of the Procter & Gamble Company, and one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s the bestselling author of three books on harnessing the power of storytelling for some of the most important work we do as humans: Lead with a Story, Parenting with a Story, and Sell with a Story. Paul is also the primary architect of a thoughtLEADERS courses on Influencing through Storytelling and Storytelling for Salespeople.

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Photo: Small Box Open by Meathead Movers and you can find them at Meathead Movers.