Be creative at the press of a button!
But before we start, a brief explanation of the terms: creativity refers to the ability to generate new and original ideas that help to solve problems or identify opportunities. A creative culture in the company can help employees to stay open-minded and curious and to drive new ideas and innovations forward.
Innovation, in contrast, refers to the implementation of these ideas in practice. An innovative culture in the company means being able to identify and implement changes and improvements in order to create added value for customers, employees or business partners. In the process, innovation can help to open up new markets, improve existing products and services or even create entirely new business models.
There are various tools that help to find creative ideas and innovative solutions. In Milan, the café+co Explorers examined two of them more closely. We will briefly explain to you how they work so that you can also benefit from them in your day-to-day work.
Brainwriting: exploring ideas together
The brainwriting method is a creativity technique that aims to generate ideas within a group. In contrast to the brainstorming technique in which all members of the group express their ideas out loud, participants in brainwriting write down their ideas on a sheet of paper. The ideas are then exchanged and developed further within the group. This makes it possible for every participant to be able to express their ideas without being interrupted by other participants.
Effectuation model: using resources
The effectuation model is a procedural model that aims to use the resources that are already available and to create new business opportunities in collaboration with others. Five principles guide you through this model:
- The bird-in-hand principle: use existing resources such as skills, know-how, experience and networks in order to create new business opportunities.
- The principle of affordable loss: minimise the risk by limiting losses instead of speculating for the highest gain.
- The principle of partnership: work together with others in order to create new business opportunities.
- The principle of piloting: conduct small experiments to test whether new ideas are feasible.
- The principle of uncertainty: use uncertainty as an advantage by staying flexible and adapting your plans and strategies in order to actively shape the future.
With the aid of these two tools, the café+co Explorers developed around 370 ideas and solutions on one morning. Obviously not every idea can be implemented. But with these two techniques there was a flood of ideas and who knows what hidden gem has been developed here.
Also draw on these two techniques for your daily challenges. We look forward with anticipation to your feedback! If you have any questions on using the techniques, please contact your café+co Explorers!
