Why are creativity, problem solving, and collaboration the most important skills of this century? How does User Experience cultivate them? And how does this help us inspire success?

These are the questions you need to be asking yourselves in the 21st Century.

So let’s break it down.

Why creativity, problem solving, and collaboration?
Our world is getting increasingly digital, which really shouldn’t be a surprise to you. Physical production is, therefore, becoming automated more and more often. In the past, speed and efficiency were the most valued skills a professional could have. You can imagine a production line churning out products and imagine how that impacted values. It’s easy to draw a comparison between the economy and values.

Since the economy is now focused on digital, the skills we value have got to change. Obviously speed and efficiency are still important. But they’re not nearly as important as creativity, problem solving, and collaboration when it comes to predicting success. If we want to inspire success, we have to value skills that are truly inspiring.

So How does User Experience Cultivate these Skills?
Creativity
User Experience encourages thinking outside the box, but within your product/service’s limits. Figuring out how to do this automatically pushes the boundaries of your imagination. It makes you think in a different way. Thinking about what your user needs nurtures your creativity a lot more than just thinking about what your company wants.
Problem Solving
This methodology is all about solving problems. It’s about predicting problems and adjusting your product or service (or strategy or methodology) to keep them from happening. But the key is to not focus on the problem, but on the solution. This methodology gives you the tools, or the action plan, to do just that.
Collaboration
User Experience is a cycle that includes aspects of different departments. Each department has to come together with the same goal of creating a product/service that the user truly wants and needs. This collaboration encourages each participant to bring their best ideas to the table and work together to figure out what needs to get done and how.
Inspire Success
This methodology isn’t used only with digital products and services, but it is inspired by the
digital age. It’s about people coming together and collaborating to find the best and most
creative solutions to problems that products and services have or might have in the future.
And that’s something that we all want.