Ah, spring. You bring bright green grass and blooming flowers, graced by the gentle buzzing of bees and chirping of birds. There is much we can learn from you, apart from the fact that we need a new motor for our lawnmower.

The concept of cross-pollination in nature is simple: animals, be they bees or birds, travel from one flower or tree to the next, carrying pollen and seeds to new plants as they go along. The receiving plants are able to reproduce with greater variety, meeting environmental challenges more successfully thanks to the benefits of genetic diversity.

Cross-pollination in the business world can be equally beneficial. By blending in seemingly unconnected ideas into your business, you develop and grow. Your business will be better able to weather the challenges that all businesses must face, and adapt to, to survive.

Cross-pollination comes in many forms. A Bank of America inside your local grocery store is an example of two businesses expanding their markets through a non-traditional collaboration. When a company posts something on its corporate blog, and then posts links to the blog on Facebook and Twitter, it’s participating in social media marketing cross-pollination. When members of TAB meet for their monthly board meetings, they explore creative solutions to difficulties that confront all small businesses.

The first step to cross-pollination is to keep your eyes open to new sources for ideas. Great ideas can be found where you least expect them. Read books, magazines, and blogs from outside your industry. Absorb the information and ask yourself how you can apply their strategies to your business.

Now we ask you: have you gathered ideas from all over and applied them to your business? Or have you seen some really great examples of cross-pollination at work? We would love to hear your stories!

Small business success relies much on creative thinking: from developing new leads to solving cash flow issues to mediating employee conflicts, small business owners must rely on creative solutions to various challenges. There is no formula to creative thinking, but the process essentially involves changing your perspective and seeing things from a different angle.

We all have a natural capacity for creative thinking, but we rarely challenge our day-to-day perceptions and thus continually stifle the opportunity to think creatively. Instead of trying to find inspiration for creative solutions to small business concerns, try removing a few mental blocks that inhibit your natural creative abilities. You don’t need to find creativity from outside sources; you simply need to let yours out of its proverbial box.

Accept Your Creativity

Human beings are creative creatures. It’s just that some of us are more inclined to accept our creative capacity than others. If you tell yourself that you are not creative, it becomes your truth. If you acknowledge that you have inherent creative abilities, you begin to see the world in a different way. (And it’s the first step in thinking differently!)

Stop Following Rules

Consider creative thinking as a positively destructive force. When you think creatively, you break rules others have set before you. Before accepting rules, ask “why” or “why not”. Sometimes you will find a deeper understanding for a rule’s necessity; other times you will realize that the rule is arbitrary, and you can find a solution that does not follow the same path.

Being Wrong Isn’t Wrong

Mistakes are a natural function of growth and success. To think creatively is to understand you will make mistakes along the way. Be comfortable with making mistakes: you have to be wrong many times before you know what is right. You must explore and experience your ideas before you can learn from your mistakes.

More Than One Right Answer

Often we find ourselves searching for the one correct answer to a particular problem or question. This approach impedes the creative thinking process: many issues are ambiguous and cannot be answered in only one way. There are often more than one right answer to our problems, and the second or third or fourth things we think of may be better than the first.

Try reframing the issue in several different ways. You’ll prompt several different answers and reward yourself with creative solutions to your challenges.