Register now or log in to join your professional community.
Whenever we need an extraordinary solution for an unusual situation.
Almost never. No more than one person in 100 can actually think "out of the box" and, in most circumstances, a situation where it might be required turns up no more than once a year.
When people talk about "out of the box thinking" what they usually mean is "a very slight application of imagination, of the kind that any child would do eight times a day but which adults seem to determined to avoid almost all the time."
The point is to give employees permission to think and use their imagination a little bit, and therefore to move a little bit away from the status quo. You only need this in the first place if your workplace normally punishes imagination, thinking, intelligence or suggestions of change or improvement.
In other words, use of phrases like "out of the box" is basically proof that the person uttering it is an incompetent manager, working in a company where the management culture is disfunctional.
Personally I've never encountered this phrase or circumstance in real life. If I was working in a company where it was used I would immediately start looking for a new job.
Do you need help in adding the right keywords to your CV? Let our CV writing experts help you.