What do Apple, Stanford, Google, Harvard, Airbnb, and Nike have in common? Each organization approaches problem-solving using design thinking, a human-centered approach to innovation.

Design thinking is an approach to design that is not limited to designers. It encourages problem-solving through creativity, empathy, and reimagining what is possible.

Here a few tips to spark creativity on your team using the same method of thinking that guides some of the world’s most innovative organizations, and our own work here at cred.

Shift Your Point of View: Design thinking requires you to transform your problem or task into a “How Might We?” question. By framing your challenge as a question, you immediately spark an opportunity to brainstorm solutions. “How might we get more speaking gigs?” is sure to generate more conversation on your team than a statement of “we are not getting many speaking opportunities.”
Question EVERYTHING: Another pillar of design thinking is to challenge assumptions. The best ideas are born out of curiosity and the chance to reimagine the existing way of doing things. Consider how different our lives would be if someone hadn’t questioned if phones actually needed buttons or a cable to operate.
Keep the Ideas Flowing: Known as the ideation phase of design thinking, a crucial step to coming up with a great idea is to come up with a bunch of ideas. When you have a problem to solve, try to come up with as many solutions as you can possibly imagine. Brainstorming has some rules when it comes to design thinking—go for quantity, defer judgement, and encourage crazy ideas.
Try It Out: There’s a reason that clothing stores have fitting rooms and tech stores encourage you to play with their gadgets. It makes sense to “try on” something before you commit. Once you narrow down to a few potential solutions, prototype the potential solutions by creating storyboards, role playing, and chatting with people outside of your team to see what works and what doesn’t.
Embrace Failure: Those who embrace design thinking are pros at innovating because they don’t fear risk or defeat. Many successful companies have hit roadblocks on their paths to success, but continued nonetheless. When it comes to design thinking, failure is impossible—ideas that don’t work provide an opportunity to learn and continue to dream up better solutions.