Definition of Creative Thinking
Creative thinking refers to the ability to develop a new way of doing something or solving a problem. Creativity entails coming up with new ideas or applying existing ideas on new situations. For instance, one needs to think creatively to identify new ideas on how to resolve conflicts between employees.
Creative thinking includes the following elements: analysis, problem-solving, communication, organization, and open-mindedness.
Situations that Require Creative Thinking
Most situations in life require creative thinking skills. Some of the common situations that require creative thinking include:
- Unfamiliar situations: When confronted with unfamiliar situations, you need to come up with new ideas to deal with such situations.
- Unexpected Situations: there are situations that emerge unexpectedly. We need creative thinking to handle such situations effectively.
- When solving problems: Good solutions to problems affecting us also require creative thinking to come up with novel ways of solving problems.
- During creative writing: writers also require creative thinking in order to create compelling stories.
- In research and analysis: research and analysis skills are essential in creative thinking.
- During communication: when communicating with people you need to think creatively about the information you would like to pass.
- Sales and marketing: sales and marketing teams require creative thinking to develop new ideas on how to improve their sales.
- Leadership: Leaders require creative ideas to make strategic decisions that will help the organization or institution to achieve its objectives.
Importance of Being Creative
Being creative has several positive outcomes for the creative thinker. Being able to come up with new ideas helps a person to adjust well with new circumstances and come up with new ways of making effective decisions or solving problems.
Generally, the importance of being creative can be summed up as follows:
- Minimizing the state or feeling of being stuck.
- Minimizing anxiety
- Minimizing conflicts
- Minimizing life threatening issues
- Promotes effective relationships.
Consequences of Not Being Creative
So far, we have learned that creative thinking has significant benefits. So what are the consequences of not being able to think creatively? If you are not able to think creatively, you will experience some of the following consequences:
- Emotional overload: if you are not creative, you might be overcome by emotions
- Developing distress: being unable to think creatively may make you not to solve your problems effectively, making you more anxious and stressed.
- Getting stuck: Not being creative can also make you get stuck because you will not be able to make decisions appropriately.
- Becoming sick: you can get diseases such as heart attack if you do not think creatively about how to address your problems.
- Having poor relationships with others: lack of creativity also causes poor relationships because you may not be able to develop good ideas on how to relate with people.
- Having poor working relationships: You need creative skills to relate well with others at work.
Values Associated with Creative Thinking
- Humility
- Freedom
- Honesty
- Simplicity
- Peace
- Respect
- Tolerance
