Everybody loves creativity. Creativity, however, lives in the domain of the intangible and it can be difficult to identify it, let alone harness it.
This article (http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/09/the_secret_phrase_top_innovato.html) suggests a simple verbal trick to foster innovative thinking: start your problem solving by using the words “how might we…?”
If you don’t have time, or need some encouragement in reading the full article, I also found this useful summary:
“How” assumes that solutions exist and provides the creative confidence needed to identify and solve for unmet needs.
“Might” says that we can put ideas out there that might work or might not—either way, we’ll learn something useful.
“We” signals that we’re going to collaborate and build on each other’s ideas to find creative solutions together.
Asking “How might we” at the start of a team project is a creative problem-solving tool that can be applied to almost any ambitious, achievable challenge.