Envision an ideal world
Sometimes imagining what might be possible in an ideal world can help you generate useful new ideas or solve a nagging problem.
For instance, suppose you run a manufacturing unit, and employees are increasingly uninterested in working the weekend shifts. You conduct a brainstorming session with fellow managers to come up with solutions to the problem. Someone mentions, "We need to use better incentives with our employees. Let's pay people more to handle the weekend shifts, or withhold promotions from those who refuse to take those shifts."
While this may seem like a possible solution, you don't stop there. You ask, "In an ideal world, what would we see happen?" Someone else answers, "Well, in my ideal world, people would love working weekends." This comment leads you to envision a permanent Saturday/Sunday workforce that is separate from the Monday-through-Friday workforce. The idea initially seems unworkable—after all, the company has never tried this before. However, the organization agrees to test it in a pilot program—and it proves successful.