How Strategic Thinking And Creative Thinking Dance Together; I turned off the computer, got up from the table. I decided to focus on other things and set aside the content I’ve been working on for a while for a few days. During this time, I hoped that my paralyzed brain would relax and start producing freely again, and this was not the first time I had a challenge.
Content preparation, no matter what type—training, article, or anything else—is a process that requires creative thinking. Creative thinking, on the other hand, requires some fermentation and maturation beforehand, so you need to allow time. It is not unusual for it to make a hissing sound like a tap with a cut off water when you say “get it out of the way as soon as possible” and “get the best” as I did.
Is it unfair that we want to get the quickest and most accurate results? Especially in areas where there is competition; For example, isn’t the goal to reach someone who is both fast and qualified in business life or in preparation for an exam where score is very important? We may not always have the luxury of sacrificing one for the other.
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How Strategic Thinking And Creative Thinking Dance Together; Strategic thinking and creative thinking styles are both equally important, and whatever resource you open up in today’s world, the message will be this: These are the two must-have approaches that should be equally useful in solving problems, gaining an advantageous position, or achieving goals. Two approaches that have opposite sides but are therefore complementary. So if you or your team neglect strategy, for example, with more emphasis on creative thinking, you could end up with your plans derailed or not realized at all.
If you do not follow the strategy strictly and do not allow creativity, you will still be left behind with low impact and vicious results. The whole literature is littered with studies that convincingly explain why both should be used together, and also prove that they’re perfectly compatible. The way to do this is through methods.
Strategic thinking means judging the accuracy of a certain situation/information and taking a position accordingly in order to solve a problem or achieve a result. The more accurately and quickly a person processes the data and forms his own opinion, the more strategically skilled he is. Strategic thinking serves to rank, and it does so with objectivity, analysis, comparison, classification. “How do we arrange it?” asks the question. It combines and collects information, reducing it to singular options. He sees the trees.
Creative thinking means generating an abundance of ideas and alternatives to achieve a goal, solve a problem or fulfill a wish. The more diverse ideas a person can develop quickly, the more creative thinkers can be said to be. His creative thinking style uses anything that works his imagination. Such as visualizing with colors and shapes, space, rhythm, dreaming, generating ideas. “What else can we do?” asks the question. It focuses on different aspects of knowledge. He sees the forest. It’s this style’s job to try things that sound weirder or more outlandish.
As can be understood from these definitions, it is not easy to flexibly switch from one to the other due to the dissimilarity of the two. We train strategic thinking with the left side of our brain, and creative thinking with the right side. It is a fact that we all use both sides, since we all have a brain made up of two lobes. However, we use it in varying weight or order depending on the situation. We found our keyword: sequence. By putting it in order, we can prevent both parties from complicating the other’s work. Thus, it is possible to get rid of that “hiss” sound!
Titles Included in Content
Start by setting goals
How Strategic Thinking And Creative Thinking Dance Together; First of all, it is necessary to start with determining the purpose. Because our process will evolve accordingly. For example, we set a goal to make a profit as soon as possible. To achieve this goal, let’s determine what needs to be done with strategic thinking, that is, the steps that will lead to profitability in the shortest way. Then it is possible to work out the “how” by using creative thinking. Creative solutions will be required for issues such as how we will reach customers of which profile, what features the product we will sell can have, and which untested methods we will use to reduce expenses.
In another example, the goal is to give priority to the creative side. Wouldn’t creativity first, and then the strategy that serve it, not be possible? It can be like this: Let’s think of a painter who paints from his heart, or a craftsman who uses his dexterity to use the designs of his dreams in the jewelry he makes. In this case, strategic planning, which starts by asking the question of who should deliver these products; it will serve the purpose by determining where, in what amount, with what compensation, this will best feed the creative process. In these two different examples, it was a question of using different thinking styles in order at different points in the process.
Use different brains
How Strategic Thinking And Creative Thinking Dance Together; And the thing is, some of us are better at certain things. If we are in a team rather than a single person, we have a much more fortunate environment to use both strategic and creative thinking than being a single person. It is difficult and tiring to use the right and left brain as a single person by changing them simultaneously or frequently. However, by assigning different tasks to people in a team environment, it can make things easier for some of them to produce creative ideas and others to develop their strategic point of view.
Let’s go back to the example that challenged me at the beginning of my article: Let’s say we prepare the content as a team and follow the order of strategy first, then creativity. In this case, some of us would be able to determine what should stand out according to the characteristics of the target audience by doing research, others would come up with ideas on how we could use more interesting elements, and the process could progress much more efficiently and qualitatively, and moreover, time could be saved. Or we used creativity to freely produce content that was unusual or very interesting to us. Then, the process steps could be planned to reach that audience by thinking about who this content could appeal to, and even researching it.
If we are not a team and we are struggling with the balance between strategy and creativity, we can always use outside views and still benefit from the thinking styles of those we trust.
Another way to use different minds in the processes is to filter the suggestions by ourselves and create new ideas by getting inspired. Which is called brainstorming.
Here are the recommendations for both thinking styles:
For creative thinking
- Take your time. Creative thinking may not always come when you say “come on”. Let it mature.
- Be bold in imagining the untested, the seemingly outlandish.
- Drop the obvious path and look for new paths outside of your own environment.
- Focus on the big picture. Think about where the goal is, not how you will reach it.
- Find something a little risky, different, and enlightening. Let it be excited.
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For strategic thinking
- Set a time limit. Aim for the right solution as soon as possible.
- Line up. Look for the most effective and simple solution by prioritizing it.
- Take one step after another instead of many at the same time. If you are using assumptions, do not exaggerate and complicate.
- Set aside everything that is accessible, plain, not easy to understand.
- Notice the details. Choose a practical solution that can be the solution to your current problem right now.
How Strategic Thinking And Creative Thinking Dance Together; Find the obvious solution. Don’t try to rediscover America.You can ask yourself the above list as questions related to the topic you are working on. Finally, if you want to improve yourself in using both brains by doing exercises that make you use the right and left brain at the same time; You can juggle, do everyday chores with your normally unused hand (left-handers write right-handed, right-handed do left-handed tasks), play mind-training games, solve math problems, or make a mind map.
I wish for days when we can use the resources we have abundantly and realize our potential.
