In a world full of uncertainty with a rapid pace of constant change, businesses must do all they can to keep up. With constant technological, social, and economic shifts, change has become the only constant.
Often businesses fall into the trap of sticking to what they know and playing follow the leader because it is the safe thing to do. It’s human nature to avoid uncertainty by taking the path of least resistance. But that’s also the easiest way to get lost in the crowd. It takes bold thinking to break from the comfort zone, do something different and move away from the status quo.
If businesses don’t embrace the change needed to align with human behaviours and demands, they face a growing risk of irrelevance: being outmanoeuvred by their ever-changing competitive environment.
These businesses need to become a driver of change themselves; to get ahead of it, rather than become a victim of it. It’s time to step away from a boxed, closed off perspective and instead embrace the ugly truths and unorthodox when facing challenges.
Businesses need to get creative when it comes to problem-solving but what is creative problem-solving?
It’s a process that challenges the norm and solves complex problems in unconventional and innovative ways. It inspires the unexpected and helps brands stay agile during uncertain and challenging times. By shedding light on uncomfortable realities, it compels individuals and society to confront issues that might have been ignored.
Raw honesty stirs emotions, sparking innovation. Creatives draw inspiration from these undeniable truths, channelling their creativity to provoke thought and ignite conversations.
In today’s volatile landscape, businesses need this unconventional process that breaks down widely held assumptions to challenge perceived wisdom and stand out from the crowd.
Getting on the front foot
Instead of firefighting, organisations need to get on the front foot and set a long-term vision of doing what’s right for its consumers.
The dangers of remaining reactive are clear: your business is a leaf in the wind; constantly at the mercy of external forces, with no ability to chart your own course.
Reactiveness means decisions instantly become harder to make with any sort of certainty. Subjective choices are made due to a lack of direction: sales team target sectors for short-term gain rather than long term value, product and marketing teams misalign, employees feel rudderless and unclear on the right decisions to take.
Considering that, in our recent research, 39% of business leaders admitted their company’s tendency to react rather than proactively address challenges, it’s evident that businesses need to change their footing and lead their own destiny.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always easy stepping out of the comfort zone.
But not being proactive means not changing, which is even more perilous in this climate. Embracing creative problem-solving gives differentiating and unconventional ideas the chance to be explored, providing unique opportunities to get on the front foot and unlock new areas of growth.
And with 66% of business leaders agreeing that a proactive business model is essential for overcoming obstacles, it’s clear that businesses need to get on the front foot or risk being left behind.
Proactiveness is also about staying ahead of change because as your business boldly sets new groundbreaking standards others quickly catch up until it becomes the norm. Change doesn’t take a break, so you need to be proactive to stay ahead of it.
Embracing change for reward
A myth exists that creative thinking creates uncertainties, with 60% of business leaders believing that implementing creative problem-solving is a risk.
But all this mindset serves to do is put the brakes on a collective mission to make positive change and drive the business forward.
Yet, even if they want to do better, most organisations simply aren’t set up to embrace creative problem-solving that could deliver new opportunities. Nor do they know where to seek support.
It’s often the case that pockets of creative problem-solving do exist within organisations. But rather than running throughout, it’s confined to its own silo. And with 32% of business leaders saying their departments have little interest in each other, the chance of the business-wide collusion that is so often the cradle of innovation is greatly reduced.
Like a band where the singer, drummer and guitarist were all doing their own thing.
That’s the beauty of creative problem-solving. Gathering the views of all stakeholders and fusing their perspective together offers new solutions to previously unsolvable problems.
Curiosity and collaboration are essential traits. The more you ask why, the more you understand, and the more you can influence positive change. If you challenge and in return welcome challenge you can push an idea from something good to something irresistible and impactful.
When 37% of leaders see a lack of creative thinking as the top internal barrier preventing their organisation from overcoming challenges, businesses need to think about how to create a culture that celebrates and embraces this free, creative approach in all aspects: strategy, operations, decision-making and innovation.
Creative problem solving allows businesses to rise above the noise and the chaos of the market.
And in a world where people are looking for brands and businesses to create a better life and a better planet, it’s creative problem-solving that will provide the new thinking and unexpected solutions that will ignite imaginations and create positive and meaningful change.
