The Benefits of The Box
What’s all the flap about thinking outside the box?
Get it?
Flap. Box. …Box flap!
The cliche says “thinking outside the box” is the end-all-be-all of innovative thinking.
I completely disagree.
It takes a lot more creativity to think INSIDE the box
When you tell everyone to think outside the box, you’re basically telling them to disregard reality and simply let their minds fly through fantasy land. You’ll end up will all manner of ridiculous ideas that have nothing to do with the challenge you’re trying to solve and no chance of being implemented.
A box can provide structure to your brainstorming and the ideas you and your team generate. This is especially effective in time-crunch situations where you need a realistic solution that you can quickly put into action.
Some box walls that can help give structure to the solutions you generate in order to solve your problem include:
- Time Available to Execute
- Budgetary Contraints
- Available Resources
- Technological Limitations
- Supervisory Approval Process
To accurately position your box walls you will need to do a good job of accurately assessing your resources and ability to execute. Set the box walls too closely and your ideas will be limited by the small box you’ve constructed, set them too far apart and the size of your box may allow for too many variations — which means you might as well have been thinking outside the box to begin with.
There is a time and place for outside the box thinking, but it’s typically not as often as you think — and not needed nearly as much as the creativity gurus tell you! Subtle innovations, constant improvement, and the ability to put simple ideas into action quickly (and adjust strategy as-needed) can end up making the biggest differences, delivering the best results, and achieving the greatest successes.
