Loud Thinking

Spur Creativity by Setting the Right Constraints

Conventional wisdom holds that the best way to make a team more creative is to unshackle them from constraints. But you don’t need to remove all creative limitations – instead impose only those that move you toward clarity of purpose.

Focus on the vitals. What is the one thing you want your customers to know or do? If you could only communicate with them via a business card or a very short video, what would you say? Once you’ve determined that, you may be surprised by the superfluous pieces that once seemed critical.

Get uncomfortable. Challenge habitual assumptions and apply a different set of limitations to how you think about problems. A service company, for instance, could consider what would happen if it started offering the service the way a well-known brand in a very different industry would.

Adapted by HBR from “Boosting Creativity Through Constraints,” by Adam Richardson.