We’re going to be a world-class company.” That’s easy to say, but a lot harder to do. What is the secret to becoming a business that customers actively seek out?

Well, it doesn’t happen by accident. Successful organizations create and implement a strategic planning process to reach that level.

One of the best planning techniques is lateral thinking, which involves solving problems through an indirect and creative approach. This process encourages all the company’s employees to think differently and come up with game-changing ideas.

Lateral thinking—the term was coined in 1967 by Edward de Bono—uses reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involves ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic.

Here are some quick tips on implementing this kind of mindset in your small business.

Exaggeration

Exaggeration is the process of inflating an organization’s capabilities with a focus on desired outcomes. You develop outrageous claims that your customers would see as both meaningful and unique. Those exaggerated statements then serve as goalposts for your company. Here are a few examples of exaggerated goals:

Education // Our curriculum and teachers enable every student to achieve an A in every subject.

Sports // Our team is so skilled that we have a 15-year waiting list for all seats in the stadium.

Revenue // Our products and services are so solid that we grow the business 100 percent every year.

Manufacturing // Our parts never break or wear out.

Employees //  Our company is the greatest place to work. Employees never leave.

Elimination

The elimination exercise challenges you to look at the business and remove something that is taken for granted.

When you eliminate something, you actively focus on streamlining the business process. It forces the team to act differently. When you break your wrist, for example, you begin to look for new ways to do your daily routine. Business is no different. What would happen if you took something away? Here are a few thought-provoking ideas:

No Approval Needed // Instead of forcing your managers to approve every project, what if there were automated parameters that let team members take action on their own initiative?

No Waiting // Could you completely eliminate waiting in lines—whether that’s on the road, in your store or on the 1-800 customer service line?

Rearrange

Business leaders strive to document and harden their business processes in order to make them highly effective and repeatable. But rearranging is all about disrupting this process.

Here you actively experiment with and test your business’s everyday operations. For most organizations, the intent is to reduce the cycle time it takes to accomplish a task or series of tasks. Some examples include:

Concurrent Activity // Identify those steps or tasks where you can perform two or more steps at the same time. You could enable your delivery team or service techs to accept payment from customers on-site instead of waiting to bill them.

Partner Source // Focus on steps or activity others can perform, and insert them where appropriate. Instead of handling your own shipments, you could hire a drop-shipping service.

Reversal

Reversal is the process of looking at the normal direction that something is done and reversing it.

When you have identified a problem or challenge, write it down. Now reverse it by asking, “How could I cause that problem?” For example, if your customer-service line is deluged with callers, you might ask how you could generate more customer-service interactions. Maybe you could start proactively calling high-value, high-volume customers to see if they need help.

This is a great way to generate activity and ideas. Let’s try it out.

Return Merchandise // You could anticipate a potential return with every single delivery by including a return label with written instructions.

Farm Club // Instead of waiting for a job opening to appear, you could actively look for top talent before the company has a hiring need.

Strategic planning is all about setting the right direction for an organization to achieve its goals, and lateral thinking is one of the best ways to uncover new, landscape-altering ideas. Fresh thinking always leads to a greater understanding and appreciation of the customer.