Six tips to innovate and be creative

Imagine walking into a bookstore. You notice all the books facing forward and see handwritten reviews dangling underneath. This totally changes the decision process of what book to buy. Compared to scanning rows of book spines, this is easier. This is creativity. Looking beyond what’s conventional and finding a different and better way. In this article we offer new ways to keep your mind open to creative breakthroughs, based on Google experiences. 

1. Challenge assumptions
   Ask why things happen the way they do and why the world works the way it does. Unless we’re curious, it’s very hard to come up with new ideas.

2. Think of the creative process as starting with a question rather than an answer
   Rather than the standard creative assertion, “I’ve got an idea,” the key is to start with a really interesting question. Allow yourself to wonder. When you have interesting questions, you’ll get to interesting solutions.

3. Reframe problems by asking different questions
   If the obvious question is “How do I solve this thing that’s bugging me?” reframe it to ask “Why do I do that thing at all?” or “Is there a better way to approach that thing in the first place?” The key is to ask the right questions with enough room to inspire new ideas. Narrow questions give obvious answers. For example, instead of asking “How do we make this chair more comfortable?” we can ask more broadly, “How do we sit in different ways in order to have a better conversation?” We might not even need a chair at all. The idea is to frame the question so that it gives you enough space to go to interesting places.

4. Show creative confidence
   We all have a natural ability to spur creative ideas. The important next step is to find the courage to act on those ideas. People get hung up on the idea of failure. Despite failure being an essential mode for learning what works and what doesn’t.

5. Use a creative mindset, whatever your role
   We live in a world where change is happening everywhere and nothing stays the same for long. We need to bring creativity to everything we do. On a personal level, it’s rewarding to figure out how things could be different. Professionally, it keeps us competitive. It doesn’t matter what role you play in an organization—there’s always room for improvement in the way we do things.

6. Be observant
   Most of us have powerful devices at our fingertips that allow us to easily and extensively observe the way people work and live. Take photos all the time, and share them, because observing how people do things is the start of figuring out how to do things differently.