What do you do if your Creative Problem Solving skills aren't keeping up with industry trends?

To address a gap between your Creative Problem Solving skills and industry trends, assess your current skills, engage in continuous learning, network with industry professionals, experiment with new approaches, and seek feedback for improvement. By actively adapting and enhancing your skills through these steps, you can stay relevant and effective in solving challenges within evolving industry landscapes.

Connect with peers, mentors, and experts in the field to exchange ideas, gain insights, and learn from their experiences. Networking can provide valuable perspectives and help you stay informed about emerging trends and innovative solutions.

Creative problem solving is a muscle - use it or lose it. Consistently apply your skills by voluntarily tackling workplace challenges outside your comfort zone. Offer to lead brainstorms or process improvement initiatives. Join online communities to crowdsource solutions for shared pain points. Sustained hands-on practice helps build confidence and flexibility.

Don't just theorize about creativity - actively test new methods. Pilot emerging ideation frameworks like design sprints or improv techniques. Prototype multiple concepts rapidly and validate through user feedback loops. Analyze what worked, and what didn't, and iterate your approach accordingly for continuous refinement.

Understand what kind of problems are observed in your organisation. The problems or issues can differ based on the type of the processes and product complexities. Try to understand the kind of pyramid structure of problem solving like: Level 1: Long term issues or Management level issue - Use Six Sigma level projects Level 2: Short term issues like Customer complaints - Use G8D/CAPA/PPSR Methodologies Level 3: Manufacturing process related issues - Use DOE, Validation methods etc. Level 4: Smaller issues or Improvements - Kaizen culture with the Consultation and Participation of all the employees With these kinds of criteria the team can select the right problem solving methodologies to resolve the different types of issues.

Problem solving technique is brainstorming activity. Any problem or defect is not the only responsibility of the individual department. Need to come all cross functional team members together to solve the problem. Use Quality tools for data collection and data analysis. Six Sigma technique can use to resolve the problem. For data collection flowchart, histogram can be used. For analysis Pareto, Ishikawa diagram, why why analysis can be used. Quality is not an act it's a habit. Make a culture of Quality from Top to Bottom. Need to involve all employee for problem solving. Identify need of training and arrange accordingly. Encourage employees by rewarding best Quality Performer to Problem solving employee.

In addition, build a personal board of creative muses across disciplines to exchange cross-training insights. Facilitate "creativity workouts" where teams practice techniques for sharpening problem framing or idea fluency. For teams, establish lossless knowledge-sharing protocols to spread best practices.