1. Lateral Thinking

  • Lateral thinking is specifically concerned with the generation of new perceptions and new
  • Lateral thinking involves changing perceptions and flexibility. There is an overlap with creativity since both are concerned with producing something new, but lateral thinking is a more precise definition of the process of changing perceptions: changing the way we look at
  • Lateral thinking is also different from divergent thinking, though again there is some Divergent thinking is only part of the process of lateral thinking.
  • Lateral thinking is not just concerned with generating alternatives but with changing patterns, with switching to new and better

What Are Lateral Thinking Techniques?

Lateral Thinking is a set of processes that provides a deliberate, systematic way of thinking creatively that results in innovative thinking in a repeatable manner. While critical thinking is primarily concerned with judging the true value of statements and seeking errors. Lateral thinking is more concerned with the "movement value" of statements and ideas. A person uses lateral thinking to move from one known idea to creating new ideas. I define four main catagories of Lateral thinking tools:

  • Idea-generating tools which break free your current thinking patterns from their usual
  • Focus tools that open your mind to new possibilities in the search for new
  • Harvest tools that help maximize value is received from the idea generating output
  • Treatment tools that ground the creativity process by making the wild ideas and make them fit the real world constraints, resources, and support.

When To Use Lateral Thinking?

  • Problem Solving: Often when you are problem solving or designing something there may well be an obvious If the matter is important it can be beneficial to a small amount of time to use lateral thinking to discover alternative ways of defining the problem and to start thinking about it in a broader sense. You can train your brain to be more naturally creative and discover better solutions to known problems.
  • Finding new ways: It is possible that the way you do everything in your life or business is the best possible way of doing it, but not likely. Whether you have created a way of doing things yourself or have been told that 'this is the way to do this', there are likely other ways to do those things more effectively and efficiently. By using the techniques from Lateral Thinking to look for new ways to improve yourself and business you can achieve your goals.
  • For Inventions & Innovation: Every Inventor or Creative will at times need to focus their creativity towards the process of Invention, whether it is a patentable invention or a mobile application it will some times be thinking from a 'blank page' state, not simply being about improving what is already there. Lateral Thinking help thinkers be more proactive and confident in their thinking. When solving a problem that is not yet known lateral thinking can help you choose your starting point.

Here are some Creativity exercises to improve your lateral thinking skills:

1– Use your 5 senses to inspire yourself with things from around you. Look for objects, analyse their shape, their color, where are they coming from. Use all your senses, try to listen to sounds in your environment, touch the objects your are looking at, what are the odors in the room… Now try to link those elements to your brainstorming session, it will help you to generate new ideas.

2– Use a dictionary, book or magazine for random ideation Take a book, close your eyes, open the book and pick a word that you relate to your issue. If this word is not giving you a new idea start again.

3– Analogies and metaphors Compare your problem to a known natural phenomenon (storm, eco-system, river…), to a mineral, vegetal or animal. You can also compare your problem with a symbol, legend or story.

4 – Make a list of the top 5 words related to your issue Now start your brainstorm but you cannot use those words anymore.

5 –Define your Customer journey or product/service life cycle Divide your issue in small steps. Here is an example: in the morning I take my bike, I cycle to work, stop for a breakfast, take my bike, cross the park, get into the office … an other exemple: Customer take his car for shopping, step into the shop, look for a PC, ask for advise, buy the PC, put it in his car, go back to home, open the PC box…This approach is very useful to collect new insight and elements related to your goal.

6 Random search on the internet go on YouTube and click on video titles that you would normally not click on. Do that for 10 minutes. It always gives fresh and new ideas.

7– Write a 6 word story of you problem

Make it simple avoid jargon. Your story should include images that will appeal the imagination.

8– Brain writing

You should practice this in a group of minimum 5 people. Write your idea or goal on a paper and you give it to the person sitting on your right. This person should write a solution on your paper and give it to the person sitting on his/her right and so on.

9– Create a Mind Map

This is a useful tool to sketch out a lot of ideas. It works like a hierarchical tree but here you start off with your problem in the center. After that you draw the major topics, continue with sub-topics…

10– Start writing, don’t stop until you’ve hit 500 words This is a free flow Don’t think just write.

11 Rolestorming

What would you do if you were someone else? Think like

  • Buddha
  • Barack Obama
  • Steve Jobs
  • The opposite
  • Your father or
  • Your girlfriend / wife or boyfriend 

12– Reverse Thinking

Think about what everyone will typically do, then do the opposite.

13 – Meet people you don’t know

This is a special exercise. Go outside, in the street, and ask people for solutions to your problem. 14 – Six hats of Edward de Bono

Adopt successively various attitudes (roles), through 6 hat colors.

  • White hat: Your share facts
  • Red hat: emotions. Your information tinged with emotions, feelings, intuitions and premonitions.
  • Black hat: negative You don’t agree, state dangers and risks. It ’s the devil’s advocate.
  • Yellow hat: positive You acknowledge crazy dreams and ideas.
  • Green hat: Your are very creative lots of crazy dreams and ideas.
  • Blue hat: You focus on the processes, the actions and the planning.