Creativity is increasingly recognised as the most valuable skill in the workplace. This is true whether we are talking about new recruits, mid-level managers or senior leadership. However, creativity is often misunderstood and difficult to navigate. This is further confused by discussions of 'design thinking', 'systems thinking' and 'entrepreneurial thinking' that are disconnected from each other, and also from the wider discourse on creativity.
Fortunately, we have years of experience in researching and teaching the creative process, and also in explaining how the perspectives and practices of different professionals fit into that process. We break down the creative process into distinct stages, outline the most appropriate tools to apply at each stage and leverage the latest research showing how those tools can be most effectively applied.
Developing your team's creative capacity
Educating bankers on design thinking. In a project for an international bank, we developed and delivered a bespoke training session explaining how principles of design thinking can be applied across a broad range of business sectors. The session focussed on the different models of design thinking, the different perspectives to which design thinking can be compared and how those perspectives can be integrated.
Building creative potential in a technology team. In a project for an American software company, we facilitated an interactive group creativity session, demonstrating a range of techniques and their most effective implementation. The session focussed on how to structure brainstorming sessions, how to reframe problems using analogical thinking and how to identify and mitigate cognitive biases in creative work.
Recent engagements
Published work
The founder of Cambridge Creativity, Professor Nathan Crilly (PhD) is author of a book on design thinking and how this relates to other approaches, such as systems thinking and entrepreneurial thinking (Crilly, 2024; Cambridge University Press). The focus of this work is professional practices, and the frameworks that are used to deliver training in these practices to people from diverse backgrounds who work in diverse sectors. More generally, Nathan has published on two main research topics that underpin our approach to creativity training.
First, Nathan has conducted extensive research on ‘fixation’, a kind of mental block that inhibits creativity. He published the first analysis of how theories of conceptual change describe fixation effects (Crilly, 2010), the first expert interviews revealing how professionals combat fixation (Crilly, 2015; 2018), and the first case studies showing how fixation is exhibited in long-duration projects (Crilly, 2019, Crilly, & Moroşanu Firth, 2019). This work has featured in articles in Fast Company and Psychology Today.
Second, Nathan has researched the way that activities of problem solving interact with activities of problem finding and problem framing, termed ‘co-evolution’ (Crilly, 2021a). He has also used contemporary biological theory to promote new directions for the study of how ideas evolve and co-evolve, both in individuals and groups (Crilly, 2021b). Related to this, Nathan supervised research on how design ideas develop when groups work together using virtual reality tools. The resulting report was awarded the Distinguished Paper Award from the International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation (2021).
Nathan has extensive experience of delivering training on creativity, design and design thinking to a wide variety of learners, ranging from school children to executives. He has over twenty years of university teaching experience, including the development and delivery of courses on design processes, user-centred design and idea visualisation. In recognition of his innovative approach to engaging learners, Nathan was awarded the Pilkington Prize for Teaching Excellence from the University of Cambridge (2023).
The citations above and other relevant publications can be found on Google Scholar.