Creative problem-solving at work.

With recent changes and an unpredictable economy, organisations are turning to innovation and creativity to improve their efficiency and effectiveness at work. One way of harnessing the creativity of staff is to develop creative problem-solving skills. Getting staff involved in group-based creative problem-solving can be effective in gathering ideas from differing perspectives and ensuring that there is buy-in to any changes and improvements that take place. Here, we outline the various phases in creative process and three creative problem-solving tools that can easily be implemented. These are brainstorming, reversal and stretch imaging. All three tools encourage a contribution from colleagues and have a practical output. They will enable you to generate alternative hypotheses, challenge assumptions and confront dominant patterns of thinking. This will help to create genuinely innovative solutions to the issues faced at work. Looking differently at how general practices are organised and thereby finding new ways of working may be vital given the threat of government-imposed change and private competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]