A Lesson on creativity

A Lesson on creativity

A 3 Part Presentation • 1. The Roadblocks • 2. How to Improve Creativity • 3. What to do with Creativity

For Your Information… • Melissa Stroklund: “Creativity can be defined as a process of developing and expressing novel ideas that are likely to be useful. It involves looking at organizational practices in different ways, communicating these ideas to coworkers, and producing an agreement among all parties while maintaining the ability to use the ideas in the organization”

FYI... • Teresa Amabile agrees: “A product or response will be judged as creative to the extent that it is both a novel and appropriate, useful, correct or valuable response to the task at hand.”

What prevents creativity? • Thinking habits and personality types • Poor team functioning • Organizational culture

What Prevents cont… • Too many closed questions • Time pressures • Lack of a clear purpose or focus

Question Time! • Question #1: What prevents your creativity?

Question #2: Do you tend towards any of the preventative behaviors?

How to Improve Creativity • Environment • Getting Focused • Finding the Best Method • Following Others • And more

Environment • Tactile stimulation • Music • Food • Use activity • Change of locale

Getting focused • Warm Up • Set a goal • Don’t stop

Focus cont… • Allow more time • Adapt, modify, steal • Save the evaluation and conversation

Focus cont… • Remember the rules • No wrong ideas • Focus on quantity not quality • Don’t stop to explain or evaluate • Hitchhike on other ideas • No wrong ideas

Prominent Thinkers’ Input • John Baldoni’s • Tin Tan Bee’s • Olivier Toubia’s

Baldoni • Make the purpose clear and consistent- and exciting • Open up channels and include more than the usual suspects • Understand roadblocks and confront them

Bee • Repetition of similar ideas can actually have results

Toubia • Incentives can stimulate creativity and promote results

Better Methods • Freewheeling • Round Robin • Slips or private brainstorming

Methods cont… • Hybrid • Small Groups • 6 Thinking Hats

6 Thinking Hats • Yellow: • Think positive • Green: • Be creative • Blue: • Take control

6 Thinking Hats cont… • Black: • Be realistic and avoid blindsides • Red: • Create room for feelings • White • Analyze

Follow the Example of others • Preparation • Incubation • Inspiration • Evaluation

Other Approaches • Look at the problem in different ways • Invite other opinions • Make novel combinations • Make thoughts visible • Think in opposites

Question Time • Question #3: Which of the rules would help you most?

Questions cont… • Question #4: Is there any principle not mentioned that you feel is important?

Questions cont… • Question #5: Have you ever experienced an environment like those described? Did it increase creativity?

Questions cont… • Question #6: What is your favorite hat? • Question #7: What hat should you allow more room for?

Now What! • Innovation • The 6 Gets of Innovation

6 Gets • Get aligned • What are we trying to accomplish? • Get clarified • What are the expected results? • Get organized • What are our steps?

The 6 Gets cont… • Get help • What do we need? • Get focused • When can we do this? • Get over them • What about my idea?

Question Time • Question #8: Which step of innovation is easy for you?

Question Time • Question #9: Which step is hard?

Recap • 1. The Roadblocks • 2. How to Improve Creativity • 3. What to do with Creativity

A Lesson on creativity