With each new analytical step, you whittle down your ideas until only the strongest remain. Depending on the nature of your problem, you’ll either test your idea, give yourself time to reflect on it as a solution, or implement it.
These are the last two parts of the DEAR model.
Action
Action is where you try out your idea by either testing or implementing it. It’s the first opportunity you have to see how effective it is as a solution.
Let’s listen to what Guillaume Parrou has to say about taking action in the creative process:
What Challenges Have You Encountered While Taking Action on Creative Ideas?
What Advice Would You Give to Someone Tasked With Implementing Creative Ideas, Solutions, or Changes in the Workplace?
Reflection
Believe it or not, implementing a creative idea isn’t the end of the creative process. Once you’ve taken action, it’s time to look back once you’ve had a chance to learn from the experience of trying it out. It’s the final stage in the DEAR model: Reflection.
Triple R Method
The Triple R method will help you break down your reflection phase more precisely: reflect, reexamine, and rethink your idea. You can use this analytical process after you’ve had time to think more deeply about an idea, once you’ve tested it, or even implemented it. Each part allows you the opportunity to step back and take a wider view.
Let’s look at how to use this method.
Reflect
The first step is to reflect. There are many positive reasons for developing your reflective practice. It’s a skill that can help you to:
Pinpoint areas for improvement or development.
Identify what worked so you can use it again in the future.
Enhance your creativity by avoiding stagnation.
Overcome your assumptions about situations, processes, or people.
Questions help drill down ideas, so they are particularly useful for reflection. The following reflective questions are a good starting point:
What obstacles or barriers to success are there?
What works well?
What doesn’t work so well?
What do I know now that I didn’t know before?
How did I acquire this knowledge?
How can I use what I’ve learned to improve my idea?
You must be able to articulate your thoughts on an idea and listen effectively to others’ views. Hearing and listening are two different things. You can hear without taking on board what could be constructive alternative viewpoints.
Reexamine and Rethink
The next two steps of the model revisit the original problem and, if necessary, find new ways to approach it.
Ever wondered why young children continually ask, “why?” If you think about it, the question helps them dig down into a subject because it takes their minds, and your answers, in unexpected directions.
Using a method called the five whys will help you reexamine the creative ideas that you tested. Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota Motors, believed that you need to ask, “why?” no less than five times to get to the root of a problem. It’s most useful when you’re looking to solve moderate to difficult problems. Here’s how the engineer and businessman Taichi Ohno first used it to evaluate why his robot stopped working:
“Why did the robot stop?”
The circuit has overloaded, causing a fuse to blow.“Why is the circuit overloaded?”
There was insufficient lubrication on the bearings, so they locked up.“Why was there insufficient lubrication on the bearings?”
The oil pump on the robot is not circulating sufficient oil.“Why is the pump not circulating sufficient oil?”
The pump intake is clogged with metal shavings.“Why is the intake clogged with metal shavings?”
Because there is no filter on the pump.
Sometimes you’ll find that the problem you need to solve isn’t the problem at all. Use the five whys to reflect on the initial question and see if there’s a different root cause. This technique can also be used much earlier in the process but is especially effective as a reflective practice.
“I had a client that ran a publishing website who was having problems with spam and abusive commenting. They wanted to remove commenting altogether and if I’d taken that at face value, I’d have simply removed commenting and moved on. But take a step back and ask a few questions and you discover that they really do want comments, they just don’t want abusive ones. So now you can start a conversation about algorithms that can scan for different words or suggest a moderator which will give them what they really want.” - Mahmoud, CTO
Now you can rethink your idea from its new perspective. Take a step back and generate new ideas with the knowledge you’ve learned.
Persist and Persevere
Belief and motivation are potent emotions when it comes to creative ideas. Without belief, it’s easy to allow an idea to fall at the first hurdle. Without motivation, you’d never arrive at the genuinely inspiring ideas that can follow as a result.
Both emotions feed into your ability to keep going, and persevering with ideas you intuitively know are good. Here’s how else you can achieve this:
Think positively about your idea – keeping a positive mindset means you won’t abandon an idea before it’s been fully explored.
Get someone on board – having someone on your side who believes in your idea will keep you motivated.
Prepare for obstacles – acknowledge that these will help you explore your idea more fully.
Be disciplined – don’t let setbacks sway you off course.
Complete Your Creativity Journal
Do: Choose a problem you want to reflect on. Use the five whys to question the problem.
Reflect: Did it identify the root cause? Has it helped you look at the problem differently? What new ideas spring to mind?
Let’s Recap!
Always allow time to reflect on your ideas.
Reflective questioning helps you drill further down into your ideas.
Now that you can reflect on and revisit your ideas, you’re ready to start applying what you’ve learned in the working world.
