Six Ways to Unlock Creativity

Insight

In large organizations, there's often an unspoken expectation to stick with what’s familiar.

This mindset reflects a practical desire to create ease and efficiency, but over time, it creates a subtle trap: we begin designing solutions only within the bounds of what already exists.

What if you gave yourself permission to step back?

When you take time to understand what’s holding a problem in place, you begin to see that solution design isn’t just technical, it’s creative. The leaders who allow themselves space for curiosity, imagination, and deep systems thinking tend to see possibilities others miss.

This kind of vision—grounded in reality, unconstrained by habit— paired with clear operational pathways, is a powerful engine for real change.

Insight in Practice

Six ways to unlock creativity and rethink possibility in solution design:

• Start with a deeper understanding of the problem.
  Before designing a solution, map what’s sustaining the current state—structures, incentives, power dynamics. Look for leverage points that aren’t obvious on the surface.

• Use First Principles thinking.
  Instead of improving what exists, consider rebuilding from the ground up based on what’s true—not what’s traditional.

• Invite voices from outside traditional decision-making circles.
  Lived experience is expertise. Engaging frontline workers, community members, and people impacted by policy expands your understanding of the problem and sharpens your solutions.

• Create safe space for divergent thinking.
  Make room to ask “what if?” without judgment. Build psychological safety to challenge assumptions and rethink defaults.

• Plan for multiple futures.
  Rigid plans rarely survive complex environments. Use scenario planning to explore different pathways and strengthen your adaptability.

• Find your champions and use them.
  Look for early adopters and natural innovators with influence, formal or informal. Give them permission to lead, test, and model what’s possible.

Case Study

For years, Finland used the standard “staircase” model to address homelessness: people had to progress through temporary shelters and treatment programs before qualifying for permanent housing. The data showed this didn’t work.

So leaders stepped back and asked: What’s actually keeping people homeless?

They found that lack of stable housing itself was the main barrier to recovery and reintegration—not personal failings or lack of motivation.

Instead of tweaking the system, they rebuilt it. The radical idea was: give people homes first, no preconditions. Treat housing as a basic right, not a reward.

They started small. Early adopters—NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) and local governments—piloted the new model and became champions for change. Their success stories built momentum, shifted mindsets, and helped drive national adoption.

As a result of the Housing First program, today, Finland is the only EU (European Union) country where homelessness is falling.

You can read the full case study here.

Question to Consider

What possibilities might open up if you gave yourself and your team permission to think more creatively and more ambitiously?

Quote of The Week

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."

— Alan Kay