Teams get stuck in the same answers, so problems repeat and innovation slows down. In this article, Jef Menguin shares practical ways to stimulate creative thinking using simple prompts and tools you can run in real meetings. Read it and share it with your team so you generate better ideas faster—and turn them into action.
In one company, meetings ran on time. Reports looked clean. Results stayed stable.
But something felt off.
When the CEO asked, “What’s another way we can do this?” no one answered right away. Not because people didn’t care—but because they had learned a quiet lesson over time: thinking differently slows things down and feels unsafe.
This happens in many organizations.
People don’t lose creativity. They learn when not to use it.
Creative thinking does not disappear by accident. It fades when leaders stop stimulating it.
The good news? Leaders can bring it back—on purpose.
Here are 10 practical ways to stimulate creative thinking in yourself and in your people.
1. Make time for thinking before you ask for ideas
When leaders ask for ideas at the end of a meeting, they get silence. People already feel tired and rushed. Their brains switch to survival mode, not creative mode.
Leaders stimulate creative thinking when they protect time for it. For example, a CEO blocks 30 minutes every two weeks just to explore problems—no decisions, no approvals. People arrive ready to think because they know thinking is the goal.
If you don’t make time for thinking, don’t expect ideas to appear.
2. Slow the conversation to let thinking catch up
Fast leaders often talk fast, decide fast, and move fast. Teams follow that pace. They give quick answers instead of thoughtful ones.
When a leader pauses after asking a question, people think deeper. One manager simply waited ten seconds before speaking again. The first few times felt awkward. After a few meetings, ideas started coming without being forced.
Silence gives thinking room to grow.
3. Ask questions that open the door, not close it
Many leaders kill creativity with good intentions. They ask, “Will this work?” too early. That question shuts ideas down before they stand up.
Leaders stimulate creativity by asking open questions first. A product head once asked, “If we had to solve this with half the budget, what would we try?” The team stopped defending old plans and started creating new ones.
Open questions invite exploration. Closed questions end it.
4. Protect ideas before you improve them
When someone shares an idea and hears, “That won’t work,” they stop sharing.
Leaders who want creative thinking separate two moments: creating ideas and judging ideas. In one team, the leader said, “For the next 15 minutes, we only add ideas. No comments.” The whiteboard filled up. Later, they chose one idea to test.
Ideas need safety before they need improvement.
5. Change the setup to change the thinking
People think the same way when everything looks the same.
One team moved their brainstorming session from the boardroom to a small open space. No slides. Just markers and paper. Quieter members spoke more. Energy went up.
Leaders stimulate creative thinking when they change the environment—even slightly. New spaces wake up old brains.
6. Show the thinking, not just the answer
When leaders only show final decisions, people don’t learn how to think. They only learn how to follow.
A CEO once shared how she arrived at a decision—what she considered, what confused her, what she ruled out. The team started doing the same. Conversations improved because thinking became visible.
People grow creative muscles when they see how thinking happens.
7. Bring in voices that don’t usually speak
Creativity dies in echo chambers.
Leaders stimulate thinking when they invite different voices—someone junior, someone from another team, or someone with no stake in the decision. A logistics team invited a customer service agent into a process discussion. She spotted a problem they had ignored for years.
New voices break old patterns.
8. Turn ideas into small experiments
Big plans scare people. Small tests encourage action.
Instead of asking for a perfect solution, one leader asked, “What’s one small thing we can try for two weeks?” The team stopped arguing and started experimenting.
Creative thinking survives when leaders reward learning, not just success.
9. Lead with curiosity, not certainty
When leaders act like they already know the answer, people stop thinking.
A leader who says, “I’m curious—what are we missing?” invites contribution. One department head made it a habit to ask that question in every review. Over time, people prepared better ideas because they knew curiosity—not blame—would meet them.
Curiosity pulls ideas out. Certainty pushes them down.
10. Reflect so thinking doesn’t repeat mistakes
Without reflection, teams repeat the same patterns and call it experience.
Leaders stimulate creativity when they ask simple questions after projects: What worked? What didn’t? What should we try next time? One team made this a 15-minute habit after every project. Improvements came faster because learning stayed fresh.
Reflection turns action into insight.
The Simple Shift to Try This Week
In your next meeting, don’t ask for the best solution.
Ask this instead: “What’s one small idea we could test next?”
Then listen. Pause. Write ideas down.
Creative thinking doesn’t come from pressure. It comes from practice.
And when leaders practice it first, teams follow—naturally.
When I first dipped my toes into entrepreneurship, the road ahead was anything but clear. It was like standing at the edge of a vast, uncharted wilderness. My toolkit? A blend of gutsy creativity exercises like Crazy 8s, mind mapping, scenario games, and a bit of old-fashioned brainstorming.
I remember once, during a session with my team, we hit a wall—nothing new seemed to spark. That’s when we turned to Crazy 8s. Eight minutes, eight sketches. It forced us out of our heads and into action.
By the seventh sketch, we were laughing, and by the eighth, we struck gold—a fresh idea that later became one of our flagship products.1
If you’re aiming to carve your path in your field, whether it’s starting a new project or leading your team into new markets, you need that creative spark. It’s not just about having ideas but about catching the kind of innovative, game-changing thoughts that can set the world on fire.
Most folks think creativity is some mystical, elusive gift. It’s not. Many get stuck in the usual rut, trotting out the same old ideas, wondering why they’re not making headway. Or worse, they freeze up, thinking they’re just not the ‘creative type.’
Creativity is more like a muscle than magic. It grows stronger the more you use it. Exercises like Crazy 8s, mind mapping, and playing out scenarios? They’re like your creativity gym. They push you to think on your feet, see old problems in new lights, and explore wild ideas without fear.
So, what’s the shift we need?
Simple: make these creative workouts a regular part of your day-to-day. Don’t wait for inspiration to hit you like a lightning bolt. That’s not how it works. You’ve got to chase it down, stir it up, and keep the fires burning. (Share your thoughts here.)
Kick off this new approach today. Block out time each week—call it your ‘Innovation Hour.’ Start with mind mapping to sprawl out your thoughts, then hit a round of Crazy 8s to build on the best ones. Use scenario games to play through how these ideas could roll out in the real world. Make it fun, make it wild, and watch as your brain starts to connect dots you didn’t even know were there.
Before you know it, creativity isn’t just a part of your job; it’s a part of you. Your creativity can make you win.
I want to read your thoughts. You may respond here.
- Crazy 8s allows me to go beyond the surface-level answers. ↩︎
