The undervalued skills you need to be more creative

Too many product and marketing teams think creativity is only for people in creative industries, so they don’t invest in developing the right skills.

But creativity helps problem-solvers, innovators and business leaders to get ahead. And there’s a simple set of skills that anyone can learn.

Here are the three most important skills every creative thinker needs:

1. Observation: Seeing what others overlook. By looking at the context, emotion, and micro-behaviours that describe the human experiences rather than merely explaining them.

2. Connection: Linking concepts from different fields that may seem unrelated but that can generate novel combinations.

3. Narrative: Weaving observations into a story helps us to show how things relate to each other. A well-structured narrative can help us derive insights that lead to more effective problem solving.

So how can we get better at these skills?

– Practice observation by spending 10 minutes each day noting things around you.

– Carry a notebook (analogue or digital) to write down ideas and connections between unrelated things.

– Write a short narrative about a customer experience and share it with a peer for feedback. Can they relate to the experience or is there something they would add?