Most workplace problems are solved too quickly, with the first plausible answer. The PO method — Problem + Object — deliberately disrupts that pattern. A practical guide to lateral thinking and creative problem-solving at work.
We often describe ourselves here at Cultivated, as creative souls working in a corporate roles.
Personally, my interests have always lived in writing, film, radio, photography, and art. My professional work has been in management, delivery, and organisational design. Over time I have come to see that these worlds are not in conflict.
Creativity has been one of the most reliable tools I have used to solve difficult, human problems at work — not because it is magical, but because it is disciplined.
Creativity in this context is not about novelty for its own sake. It is about creating something meaningful: a better decision, a clearer system, a more effective way of working. And most workplaces have no shortage of problems to apply it to.
Editor's note — where this sits
This piece sits in the Engine layer of the Idea to Value system — the layer concerned with the conditions that allow creative thinking to emerge. The PO method is a practical tool for creating those conditions deliberately, particularly in groups where lateral thinking does not come naturally under pressure.
The Idea to Value system — five layers
Work does not suffer from a lack of ideas. It suffers from taking ideas and turning them into value. Between the two lie plenty of problems — and most of them are solved too quickly, with too little thought about whether the first answer is the right one.
The real challenge is not solving more problems, but solving the right ones. Creativity helps by widening the frame before narrowing it again. It creates the conditions for teams to ask better questions:
What problem are we actually trying to solve? What are we assuming to be true? What are we not seeing because we are too close to the work?
A company always has more problems than it can solve. The goal is to solve the ones that are on the path toward where you are trying to go — and to solve them in ways that do not create new problems elsewhere in the system.
Most people are trained to converge quickly. We identify a problem and rush toward the first plausible solution. This often treats symptoms rather than causes, solves for the short term, and creates new problems further down the line.
Lateral thinking deliberately slows this rush. It expands the field of view first — exploring, reframing, and combining ideas — before selecting a path forward. Edward de Bono described this as thinking sideways rather than head-on.
Not everyone finds lateral thinking natural. It can be developed through reading widely outside your main field, building a robust personal knowledge management system, or practising observation — the art of noticing applied to problems rather than just surroundings. But it can also be prompted structurally, with the right method. That is where PO comes in.
PO is a thinking device, not a statement of truth.
It deliberately introduces something unrelated in order to disrupt established patterns of thought. De Bono's formulation is simple: PO = Problem + Object.
The steps are straightforward. Define the problem clearly. Choose an unrelated object — anything, ideally something picked at random or grabbed from the room. Identify the object's characteristics. Then use those characteristics as prompts for new ways of thinking about the problem.
The value does not come from the object itself. It comes from what the object forces the mind to do: make connections it would not have made if left to its own habitual patterns.
Problem: Good people are leaving. The usual explanations are on the table — pay, management quality, workload, progression. The team has been discussing these for months.
Object: A table. (Picked because it was in the room.)
Characteristics: Has strong foundations and legs. Stable and load-bearing. Brings people together. Creates a surface for work. Comes in many shapes and sizes. Supports other objects placed on it.
What each characteristic prompts:
Foundations point to role clarity, succession planning, and consistent management — the basic structural things many organisations simply do not have in place.
Stability raises questions about constant change and shifting priorities. People leave environments that feel chaotic and rudderless as much as they leave for pay.
Gathering suggests community, belonging, and shared purpose — social clubs, communities of practice, places where people feel they are part of something.
Surface for work raises questions about environment, workspaces, and the conditions people need to do their best work.
Various shapes and sizes invites flexibility rather than uniform solutions — the retention answer for a junior engineer may be completely different from the answer for a senior designer.
Supports other objects prompts thinking about recognition, mentoring, and management quality — whether the organisation holds people up or lets them fall.
None of these ideas are radical. What changes is the path by which the team arrives at them — through play rather than pressure, which means people arrive at them without the defensive investment that usually accompanies problem-solving conversations.
Quick reference — the PO method
The enginePO = Problem + Object
A lateral thinking device by Edward de Bono. Use an unrelated object to disrupt habitual patterns and open new lines of thinking before converging on a solution.
Define the problem clearly
Write it down in one sentence. Ambiguity at this stage produces useless output.
Choose an unrelated object
Random is better than deliberate. Pick something visible in the room, or use a picture card. The more unrelated the better.
List the object's characteristics
What does it do? How does it work? What are its properties? Aim for six to ten. Do not filter at this stage.
Map characteristics to the problem
For each characteristic, ask: what does this suggest about the problem? Force the connection. Some will be useless. Some will surprise you.
Evaluate and converge
Now apply normal judgement. Which ideas are worth pursuing? What has emerged that you would not have reached directly?
Three objects to keep on hand
Curtains — open/close, privacy, texture, rhythm. A camera — captures moments, tells stories, analogue/digital, quality vs quantity. A park bench — community or solitude, memory, public, unchanged for generations. Or just look around the room.
From Creative Problem Solving at Work: The PO Method — part of the Cultivated body of work on creativity and how better work is built.
Some people will take to this immediately. Others will find it strange or resist it. A few will say it is a waste of time. That is normal — and the outcomes tend to convince the sceptics more reliably than any explanation in advance.
When running this in a group, I often use picture cards rather than objects — a tin of 200-plus image cards from which people pick at random. The image serves the same function as the object: it disrupts the habitual frame and forces lateral connection.
I use this as a module in the Zero to Keynote workshop for conference speakers who feel they have nothing to say. I ask them to write their main skill on an index card, then pick an image at random and find connections between the two. It works consistently.
A few objects worth keeping on hand, or in mind, for group sessions, with their characteristics noted:
Curtains — open and close, slide, provide privacy, come in different textures and colours, can be automated. Prompts around transparency, access, rhythm, and protection.
A camera — captures moments, tells stories, has different price points and capabilities, works in both digital and analogue forms, is now everywhere. Prompts around documentation, perspective, quality versus quantity, and ubiquity.
A park bench — used for community or solitude or both, connected to memory and commemoration, unchanged in basic form for generations, public and shared. Prompts around legacy, rest, accessibility, and collective memory.
Literally looking around the room and picking something visible works just as well. The object is a tool for thinking, not a puzzle to solve.
The PO method matters because it makes lateral thinking accessible to people who would not naturally describe themselves as creative. Creativity in organisations is often treated as a personality type — something some people have and others do not. In practice, it is an ability. It can be practised, supported, and applied deliberately.
Methods like PO give teams explicit permission to think differently — not endlessly, but purposefully. When paired with observation, curiosity, and disciplined follow-through, creative thinking becomes a reliable way of moving ideas toward value rather than a lucky accident.
That is where it earns its place at work.
From the Cultivated library — take this further
The Creativity of Constraints
Interactive workshop · Co-facilitated
The PO method uses an external constraint — an unrelated object — to force new thinking. The Creativity of Constraints workshop explores that idea more deeply, co-led with a Sunday Times bestselling novelist and an OD expert. The experience of thinking under constraint, not just the theory of it.
2–3 hour interactive session
Explore the workshop →Workshop Mastery
Guide · PDF download
Running PO in a group is a teaching skill. Some people resist, some find it strange, and getting good output requires knowing how to hold the space and move the room. Workshop Mastery covers the craft of doing exactly that.
£14.99
Get the guide →