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Creativity can be achieved through 4 steps: explore the problem or challenge, make a list of ideas, set solutions, and finally act

Many entrepreneurs or firm owners see the creative process as a random element that they have to deal with at some point during the week and often pay little attention to the benefits it can bring to their day-to-day work.

Creativity can also help us to overcome challenges or obstacles. The question is whether it is applied intentionally or not. Here are four steps to take into account in order to best approach a creative process:

- Explore the problem or challenge: Before thinking of actions or solutions to solve the problem, a good step is to analyse what the problem(s) are. A practical example: a law firm has seen its profits fall over the last two years and one of the direct, and main, causes of this eventuality is the gradual loss of clients. 

- Putting ideas on the table: An important step is to meet with the professionals involved with the challenge, or problem, and make a list of ideas that can overcome the pitfalls. For example, if the law firm is consistently losing clients, a good idea would be to bring the marketing professionals together with the firm's managing partners and the lead partners in each area. At these meetings, ideas and projects are presented and a common destination is shared to guide the decision of all future actions with the aim of solving the problems.

- Proposing solutions: Once the ideas have been taken into account, it is time to set solutions. It is also recommended that this process involves the participation of all the professionals involved. In this phase, ideas are defined as much as possible. For example, the marketing team proposes that the firm should improve its image on social media in order to enhance its brand and attract potential clients.

- Putting ideas and solutions into practice: All of the ideas and solutions projected in the meetings are brought to life through real actions. This is obviously the most important phase. All the more reason for the departments that have planned the solutions to work together to try to solve the problems as quickly as possible. Following the same practical example as above, in this phase, the marketing team would start its campaign to improve the firm's image by publishing videos of the lawyers, showing their expertise and collecting satisfactory testimonials from clients.