The truth is that creative thinking can massively enhance your career but you need to be careful. For many people creative thinking conjures up images of someone who is slightly eccentric or completely crazy running around coming up with weird and wonderful ideas. Or it's seen as the preserve of the poet and artist and the creative types. Depending on your career you're more than likely wanting to do one of the following if you want to be successful:
Save your organisation money Make your organisation more money Make your organisations processes more efficient Overcome a challenge your organisation is currently facing If you can do these things then you will come to your bosses attention (and hopefully your bosses boss). But creative thinking alone will not achieve the above. If you want to use creative thinking (actually whether you want to or not is a moot point as you use it every day even if its just to drive to work or make a cup of tea) then you need to make sure your combining it with two other things: Firstly ensure you are using creative thinking in a way that will produce useful ideas for your company. That means not thinking outside the box but very much thinking in the context in which you find you and the organisation you work for. You may generate some amazing ideas (people often do) but they are meaningless and a waste of time if they are unrealistic for your company. Secondly you need to make sure you action your ideas. One of the many perceived failures of creative thinkers is that they don't action their ideas. This is because many of them are dreamers or because for them it was enough simply to have the idea. Don't just become known as an Ideas Person become known as an Action Person as well. If you have a problem with taking action or your not certain how to then find the people around you who are action people and team up with them to make your idea a reality. The third thing you will need to do is ensure that you communicate your successes to your boss and your bosses boss. This means mentioning what you have done in meetings, reports and the quick five minute conversations you have when you meet them in the corridor. Don't come across as arrogant and ensure you don't constantly bore your bosses with your successes but make sure you get to claim credit for the ideas and the actions you took that added value to the organisation.
Joseph Benn is the creator of http://www.ideasmapping.com where ideas and new ways of thinking are discussed and explored to see of they can make a difference to the bottom line in business and life. In his day job he is an enterprise support professional, helping people set up businesses.
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