We tend to think that creativity is a gift possessed by a lucky few and a Muse should normally be included in such a gift. While the secret to unlocking creative genius remains elusive, research suggests that it’s possible to prime the mind for creative ideas to emerge.

This is our favorite musing exercise, kindly provided by NESTA. The tool has been especially designed for development practitioners to invent, adopt or adapt ideas that can deliver better results. It runs you through easy steps to provoke your creative talent.

This is how it works. Think about the problem that you’re trying to address. Follow the instructions. Play with the toolkit and let it translate your problem into multiple solutions. You have guiding examples which will help you in that. Good luck!

THE APPROACH	THE NORMAL RULE	BENDING, BREAKING & STRETCHING THE RULE
Inversion: Turn common practice  upside down	Doctors treat patients	What if patients become doctors?
Integration: Integrate the offer with other offers	People access a range of services in different locations	What if different local services had one point of access?
Extension: Extend the offer	Schools provide learning opportunities  to children and young people during the day	What if schools also offered sport and recreation and community learning provision out of hours?
Differentiation: Segment the offer	There is a “one size fits all” approach	What if a service was personalized and differently segmented?
Addition: Add a new element	Supermarkets deliver groceries	What if supermarkets delivered groceries and also provided hot meals to older people in their homes?
Subtraction: Take something away	Prisons are critical to an effective criminal justice system	What if you had to close three prisons?
Translation: Translate a practice associated with another field	Hospitals and Airports are different kind of operations	What if airport management practices were applied to hospitals?
Grafting: Graft on an element of practice from another field	Teaching and coaching are separate practices	What if coaching were introduced as part of secondary school education?
Exaggeration: Push something to its most extreme expression	Schools support children and young people to learn, but only within designated times and in a designated space	What if students could access learning, anytime and anywhere they chose?