{"id":289,"date":"2020-03-24T12:05:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T12:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/?p=289"},"modified":"2021-11-24T21:52:33","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T21:52:33","slug":"encouraging-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boulden.net\/blog\/encouraging-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Encouraging Creativity – Helping Good People have Great Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cLogic will get you from A to B.
\nImagination will take you everywhere.\u201d
\nAlbert Einstein<\/h6>\n
\"Encouraging<\/figure>\n

Creativity involves deliberately using our imagination to produce new ideas and develop elegant solutions to problems. In a high pressure, volatile and uncertain world the ability to come up with innovative solutions to problems and challenges is a key success factor for many businesses. As with most skills or abilities, some people are naturally more creative than others, but it is a competency that can be developed through training and practise.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Benefits of being more creative<\/h2>\n

It is fairly self-evident that if you can devise an innovative solution to business problem you can end up a significantly more profitable organisation as you take out unnecessary costs, control risks, and\/or gain more market share. It is also the case that when people are engaged in creative problem solving their morale goes up, team work improves and job satisfaction increases because people feel that their work is making a difference and their abilities are put to good use. Team based creative problem solving can be especially effective because diverse group members collectively possess knowledge and a variety of perspectives not found in just one person. Being part of that type of team can be highly motivational, as in the example of \u2018Skunk Works\u2019 Teams\u2019 (a small, loosely structured group who are tasked with radical innovation; based on Lockheed Aircraft Corporation\u2019s WW2 SkunkWorks Project Team<\/a> )<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Leadership and Creativity<\/h2>\n

Dubrin, Dalgleish and Miller (2011) identified six Leadership Actions that help to promote creativity within a business\u2026<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Match the employees\u2019 expertise, and intellectual capabilities, with the problem in hand<\/li>\n
  2. Allow employees freedom to choose their own methodology and approach (set goals but don\u2019t micro-manage people)<\/li>\n
  3. Give employees the time and money they need to get things done. Depending on the issues being addressed, funds may not necessarily be an issue, but it is important to give people the necessary resources.<\/li>\n
  4. Put together a diverse team to allow for cross-fertilisation. Homogenous teams will probably argue less but they are usually not as open-minded about possible options.<\/li>\n
  5. Create a safe environment that allows people to think freely and challenge assumptions and sacred cows. Also evaluate and act on creative ideas quickly so that it is obvious that the work really does matter and that proposals won\u2019t be left to \u2018wither on the vine.\u2019<\/li>\n
  6. Encourage information sharing and collaboration across the whole organisation with the problem-solving team; don\u2019t allow silos and\/or office politics to stifle innovation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/i><\/a>Making time to think<\/h2>\n

    Professor Kets de Vries\u2019 of INSEAD has recently written an interesting article on creativity in business called, \u201cWant More Creative Breakthroughs? Slow Down\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    The main premise of the article is that both \u2018big C\u2019 creativity e.g. scientific breakthroughs, and \u2018small C\u2019 creativity (that gives rise to the insights needed to solve \u2018day to day\u2019 problems) are vital to driving business results.<\/p>\n

    He argues that it is necessary to first<\/strong> immerse ourselves in the problem before letting go<\/strong>, so that ideas can incubate in the subconscious. So, new ideas can\u2019t be \u2018forced\u2019 into being, they have to be coaxed out through relaxation and reflection. This means giving ourselves time and space to let ideas \u2018gestate\u2019 by doing tasks that are nothing to do with the problem at hand e.g. some people like to walk in nature, while Einstein used to like to play the violin. Then the solutions will emerge as a flash of insight – often at unexpected moments – e.g. in the Bed, Bath or Bus (the 3 B\u2019s of creativity).<\/p>\n

    You can read the article here…<\/a><\/p>\n

    <\/i><\/a>Getting in the \u2018Creativity Zone\u2019<\/h2>\n

    Very closely related to the concept of \u2018making time to think\u2019, is the idea of deliberately putting yourself in a creative frame of mind. This matters because it is not easy to be creative if you are feeling stressed, unhappy or depressed. The more relaxed, positive and upbeat you feel the easier it is for your thoughts to \u2018flow\u2019 and for leaps of imagination to occur. In contrast, stress or fatigue creates \u2018tunnel vision\u2019 and makes it very hard to entertain unusual approaches and ideas.<\/p>\n

    One important aspect of creativity therefore is to manage your emotional state and consciously choose to put yourself in a \u2018creative mood\u2019 or \u2018creative zone\u2019. Different people have different ways of doing this, the key is to find a way that works for you. The approaches for doing this are more or less the same as the methods for creating time and space to think and they include; listening to music, playing an instrument, going for a walk (especially in nature), meditating, doing some exercise, deep breathing, Autogenics, thinking of a time when you were highly creative, Tai chi, dancing and going down the pub!<\/p>\n

    <\/i><\/a>How might we\u2026<\/h2>\n

    Another key to getting in the creative zone is to frame your problem or challenge you want to address by using the phrase\u2026<\/p>\n

    \u201cHow might we\u2026.X?\u201d
    \nFor example…
    \n\u201cHow might we…improve the way we run remote meetings?\u201d
    \n\u201cHow might we…make a success of home working?\u201d<\/p>\n

    The psychological reasoning behind this format is that the \u201cHow\u201d assumes there are likely to be solutions and helps to open up a world of possibilities.<\/p>\n

    The \u201cMight\u201d implies that it\u2019s OK to make suggestions freely; any given option might work and it might not work but either way it is fine just to throw
    \nout ideas.<\/p>\n

    The \u201cWe\u201d signals that it is not all on one person\u2019s shoulders; the creative thinking is a \u2018joint enterprise\u2019 and we will build on one another\u2019s ideas.<\/p>\n

    <\/i><\/a>Four \u2018rules\u2019 for being more creative<\/h2>\n

    More generally we can say that there are four elements to developing creativity…<\/p>\n