Get a Little Creative

Creativity is one of the most in-demand skills in the workplace today. There's a reason for that: It pays off in employee well-being, engagement, and job satisfaction, leading to retention and innovation.

In "Cultivate Creative Thinking for the Future of Work," Gerard J. Puccio and Pamela A. Szalay emphasize that creativity is something employees can learn. The authors offer strategies for organizations to foster creative thinking and problem-solving practices.

Diverge first. Human brains perform two main types of thinking, the authors explain: generative and evaluative. Don't try to mix those cognitive processes. Instead, develop as many options as possible to address the challenge at hand, without evaluating them. Push yourself beyond the obvious.

Only then should you—or your team—evaluate, organize, and prioritize the options you developed.

Solve the right problem. To prepare your brain for creative thinking, frame the challenge as an imaginative question using an invitational stem such as "How to …" or "In what ways might …"

"To generate fresh perspectives on the problem, consider obstacles to success, possible causes, and how others view the problem," Puccio and Szalay write.

Both strategies work at the individual and the team level. If a team is collaborating on a problem or challenge, it must work from a common framework. The authors note that if minds are pulling in different directions, progress stalls.

These tips were adapted from the September 2025 issue of TD at Work. Learn more at td.org/TDatWork.