Lateral Thinking and Innovation Process-A Study

Thanks to the relentless efforts of and rigorous insights by Maltese genius, physician, author, philosopher and consultant Dr. Edward Charles Francis Publius de Bono, commonly known as Edward De Bono, the world has been given a new thinking dimension as a contrast to the conventional or vertical thinking-Lateral thinking. Lateral thinking leads to innovation processes. In this article, an attempt has been made to a comparative study of lateral thinking and innovation process.    

The core difference between conventional thanking and lateral thinking is that the former deals in logical, step-by-step and predictable way of coping with a problem, while the later uses the novel or out-of-the-box solution to a problem. In a way, lateral thinking leads to innovation or innovative ideas to flourish. In simple terms, innovation refers to a new or creative idea or thought to marketable solutions to unstructured or unconventional problems in the present or foreseeable future.

Four Pillars of Lateral Thinking:
According to De Bono, lateral thinking centers around four pillars as given below:

• The existence of rigid polarizing ideas,
• The search of alternative ideas,
• Absence of inflexible conventional thinking,
• The exercise of chance,

In every quarter of life, there are plenty of dominant ideas-the assumptions, presumptions, norms and inflexible convictions hard to avoid and next-to-impossible to change. Dominant ideas are the cornerstone of every society. They are difficult to challenge, let alone change. However, asking “what if” type questions always present an aura of fresh ideas that stimulates to explore alternatives and challenge the unchallenged norms. Each question has the potential to test the so called rules and assumptions’ parameters. Needless to say, sometimes the brilliant ideas are generated from the stupidest questions. It is essential to let the train of thoughts move without any stop signal and see what surfaces. Lastly, the quiet role of chance cannot be overemphasized in all the major global inventions and discoveries. There are numerous examples of what contributions chance has made in almost all the walks of life. USA was discovered by Christopher Columbus who set out to discover India. The noted scientist Alexander Fleming revealed penicillin when he observed one of his old baked dishes had developed a mold that was anti bacterial. Wilhelm Roentgen discovered x-rays accidentally when playing with a cathode ray tube. A curious mind is always open to observe, think and use anything and everything that is accidental and unusual. The same methods can be applied to everyday life.

Also read: All You Need To Know About Reverse Engineering 

What are the Lateral Thinking Techniques?
With the aid of processes that garner logical and systematic creative thinking, lateral thinking leads to innovative thinking. It helps generate ideas exponentially. It works on the concept of “Movement Value” of ideas. A person uses lateral thinking can move from one known idea to many unknown but novel ideas. Below are the four pivotal kinds of lateral thinking tools.

• Idea-generating tools:It enables one to look above the horizon and break the shackles of stereotype thinking pattern.
• Focus tools: It helps one explore new possibilities to seek new ideas.
• Harvest tools: It ignites the new ideas as a result of deliberations, feedback and brainstorming.
• Treatment tools: It works on to make the idea workable in the real life constrained by limited resources and paucity of time.

Needless to say, it does not pay to mindlessly pursue a course of action repeatedly to achieve your goal. When things does not go as planned, it is essential to change the direction rather change the goal. Lateral thinking aims at distancing itself from conventional or logical thinking (the typical problem solving technique using step-by-step method and extracting information from given data).

Innovation process:
Innovation process refers to the use of existing knowledge with requisite skill set to design and execute novel and unconventional solutions to unusual problems. In fact, in today’s cut-throat competitive era, the biggest competitive advantage comes from out-innovating the competitors. As the American business management writer, Tom Peters puts it, ‘Add 10 differentiations to every product or service every 60 days. Sounds impossible. Isn’t it tough? It is. But what are the options? Your competitors are not sitting still.”

Innovation process that can result into a flash of discovery, invention or creativity can be dissolved into a chain of interlinked five parts as mentioned below.

Lateral thinking and innovation process prove fruitful in all walks of life especially in corporate world. In this fast-paced, competitive and dynamic world, one of the mantras for success is innovation process. What separates the best from the rest is the degree to which an enterprise uses innovative processes to its advantages. The core objective of using innovative processes is to continuously maximize production and sales volume.

Conclusion:
As already mentioned, it can safely be argued that lateral thinking leads to innovative process. The essence of both is identical to each other. The ultimate objective of both the processes is same-thinking out of the box. It is comforting to see that the lateral thinking and innovative processes are successfully being used in developing countries. Needless to say that due care must be taken to apply the concepts in developing countries, which were originated and nurtured in developed countries. Nevertheless its fundamental principles about the features influencing innovation and problem-solving mindset make the innovation process and lateral thinking a worthwhile analytical and effective tool for policy making in any country.