In article ,
"Tom Gardner" wrote:

On one of my recent posts, you kind people pointed out that there are many
ways of doing something. Simple observations are often the most profound.
I'm not a master at being able to see a problem from different angles and
visualize different solutions. It seems that some parts of one idea affect
another so the ideas are not independent, not "clean" and compartmentalized.
I met with my guys today and discussed if we could figure out how to think
about different ways of doing things we are developing. I want multiple
solutions presented and thinking out of the box. It seems there is always a
brute-force method of doing something yet the "other" idea, the one that
springs into existence at the odd hour, is often better, cheaper and more
elegant. How do you attract those "other" ideas?

Is there a method or exercises to develop creative thinking? Cutting metal
and drilling holes is the easy part, how do you completely forget an idea in
order to "see" a new idea? This may come easily for an intelligent person
but I struggle with my mental limitations.

There are many brainstorming methods, and most of them can work.

The problem is usually deeper - fear of failure, fear of looking stupid.
And 90% of good-looking ideas nonetheless fail, so the fear is not
unreasonable.

As the boss-man, you shape the culture, but fine speeches won't do it.

What I've done in similar circumstances is to redefine success and
failure by stating from the outset that I expect the first attempt to
fail, but hope that it will yield much information that will inform the
second attempt, and so on.

Reducing the perceived reputation cost of failure increases people's
willingness to try new things.

Public praise and reward for good ideas also helps.

However, people will not really believe you until after the first
failure. They will be watching like hawks for the slightest hint of
displeasure, the slightest twitch or flash, and they know you very well.
Smile and talk only about how much has been learned, and what the next
attempt will look like. Otherwise, it will all be for naught.

Joe Gwinn