One beautiful yet sometimes frustrating fact is that not all creative thinking is the same or at the same level. As innovation becomes a business and societal imperative, the need to develop and channel creative problem solving skills is a necessity.

Developed by Todd Metrokin, this new model builds on learning concepts introduced in Bloom’s Taxonomy to provide a perspective on the different types of creative problem solving and a foundation to achieve innovation goals. It helps clarify the requirements for different levels of thinking so we can identify where growth is needed as well as how best to structure a team or workforce to achieve mission-critical goals.

”Many years ago, I began a journey to try to understand creative thinking. First, as someone who was responsible for building teams of creative problem solvers, and later in my role teaching creative thinking to graduate students. I've worked my way through many books on the subject but was never quite satisfied with their summations and none truly helped me in my role as a business professional looking for an accessible model to establish a shared understanding of creative thinking skills so I could build and nurture teams of amazing problem solvers.” — Todd Metrokin, Founder of Creative Thinking Lab

The Taxonomy of Creative Thinking defines the three different levels of increasingly complex creative thinking processes as well as three areas of knowledge one must employ or construct—to varying degrees—at each level. The knowledge dimensions were developed through an analysis of the last decade of innovation and align with problem-solving methodologies such as design thinking.

One misconception is that innovative ideas are only generated at the Originative level. Innovation can be the result of ideas produced at any of the three levels because while creative thinking is the act of developing a novel solution, innovation is a determination of the solution’s potential to create change. All innovations were the product of creative thinking but not all creative thinking is likely to be deemed innovative. You will need to determine your criteria for innovation based on the change you seek/level of challenge you face, and you can use this model to help guide creative thinkers to meet your expectations.

It's said that the first rule of productivity is to set expectations. Our hope is that the Taxonomy of Creative Thinking will help leaders communicate expectations for more engaged, creative, and productive teams.