The SCREAM technique can help guide your organization to come up with innovative solutions that work effectively and productively. While in a leadership position, you’ll need SCREAM to get to the root of the problem quickly and find ways and means to solve it.

To be innovative and creative, the first thing you need to do is find areas in your work environment that provide opportunities to innovate. This can be anything from customer relationship management, new processes and new services, improving your workflow, new product development, or improving the quality of your current product. The list is not exhaustive.

Once you find an area to innovate, the next step is to identify and frame the opportunity. As you do this, you need to come up with an action plan for how you are going to innovate. You will have to study your current situation and think about the future to see in which direction you want to go. You will need to collect relevant data that will eventually allow you to find a viable solution. Once you’ve done this, you should implement the solution to see if it works and if necessary rework the concept.

To help you in this process, SCREAM is an ideal tool. This is what you can do:

Replace your current situation with another

Through substitution, you can find opportunities to brainstorm new ideas and see what works and if there is a more efficient system. In the past there were some babies who were born with a rare condition of lactose intolerance. This means they can’t drink milk because these babies don’t produce the lactase enzyme that helps break down milk protein, which is their only source of nutrients in their formative year. Through a medical breakthrough, nutritionists were able to develop a soy milk substitute for infants with fortified vitamins and other ingredients that give these babies a chance at survival.

Combine your ideas with other ideas

On paper it may seem perfect, but when put to the test it can be unfeasible and unreliable. This is where you should see the need to combine your idea with someone else’s to see if you can come up with something unique and workable. Think shampoo and conditioner. Two separate products combined now there is a conditioning shampoo. Another combination of adding a certain type of essential oil to these shampoos and now there are shampoos for various hair types.

Reverse the situation and rearrange the facts

Sometimes innovative solutions can emerge by reversing the existing situation and rearranging the facts. Henry Ford posed a simple question of what happens if instead of the worker having to go to work for him, the work comes to him instead. With a bit of strategic thinking, Ford came up with the concept of the production line where each worker stands by the conveyor belt and the work comes to him.

Cut out the unnecessary and elaborate on the features.

Ermal Fraze wondered if there is a better method to open the can instead of using the can opener. What would happen if the can opener were removed? With a little creative insight, the pop-up can was born. Ask yourself if there are unnecessary protocols, features, and other things you’re doing that, if removed, would make you more productive, efficient, and effective without compromising quality, safety, health, legal, and ethical issues.

adapt and modify

The art of innovation is the ability to adapt to the existing situation and find an effective and viable solution. By modifying the key components of a product, it is possible to generate new ideas in different industries. Guglielmo Marconi’s intention was to promote the use of radio for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communication. Reginald Fessenden in 1906 unknowingly gave the idea that a radio is not necessarily only used to communicate with ships, but could instead be used to transmit music. This was the beginning of the radio transmission that is still a very important part of our lives.

So go ahead SHOUT and innovate.