Creativity and Innovation
We are increasingly pressured to be ‘more creative’ at work and to find innovative solutions to problems, often quickly. However many managers find it difficult to ‘think out of the box’ as the saying goes, and associate creativity with the arts. This month Richard Lock considers
- What is creativity?
- Why the apparent pressure?
- What are some of the tools available?
- What are the barriers?
- How can I be more creative?
What is creativity?
Creativity has been defined as going beyond the current boundaries, in other words stepping out of the box.
Innovation is simply creativity that’s adds value
Why the pressure?
A number of factors are putting the pressure on organisations and their managers to become more creative.
Competition – markets are increasingly global and competition is fierce. The pressure is on to develop new products and services to help organisations stand out from the crowd.
Margins – there is downward pressure on margins and it is getting harder to meet this by simply downsizing or re-structuring. Whilst technology can help, the technology tends to be available to competitors as well.
Product life-cycles – are constantly getting shorter. One high tech company recently stated that 80% of current revenue comes from products that did not exist two years ago.
What are some of the tools available?
Well, the greatest tool available is the human brain, often referred to as more powerful than the biggest super computer. It's not much bigger than a large grapefruit, it generally weighs under 3lbs and you could easily hold it in one hand.
The brain is made of a trillion brain cells. Each brain cell is like the most phenomenally complex little octopus. It has a centre, it has many branches and each branch has many connection points. Each cell is many times more powerful than most computers on the planet today.
Our brain constantly scans our environment for information that it then stores in its filing system. The majority of this information is taken in at a sub-conscious level, but is there to access when we need to. All of the files in this storage system are linked in many different ways, which means that there are often many possible access points to retrieve the information. The key to accessing the information is to use as many access points as possible – these are known as patterns.
The roots of all creative technique lie in encouraging individuals to use as many different patterns as possible when trying to generate ideas or solutions.
Humour is also a key tool for aiding creativity. Arthur Koestler (a key thinker on creativity) talks about the three persona of creativity:
The Artist – linked to traditional pictures, composing music, writing or visual arts
The Sage - traditionally the scientific and philosophical thinker found in business
The Jester - provides aspects neither arts or business is really comfortable with. Humour is a very powerful weapon for creativity. The Court Jester was the only one who could challenge the decisions and thinking of the king, (and keep his head), doing it with humour whilst making a practical point.
Brainstorming is a technique that is now in common use at meetings. It is a simple technique to generate lists of possible ideas, using one idea to link to new patterns and therefore more ideas. Successful brainstorming requires a suspension of reality that many find difficult. Ideas must not be assessed in any way for practicality or the flow is instantly interrupted and only existing patterns are applied.
Re-framing means stating problems that are faced in different ways. This has the effect of accessing different patterns and therefore generating different ideas. An example would be a massive oil tanker that sank at sea in water too deep for divers to be at the wreck longer than a few minutes. The problem seemed to be how to get divers down to the wreck, which meant exploring how the pressure and oxygen problem could be resolved. However, someone then re-framed the problem as – how can we get the tanker up to us – and the idea of the flotation collar was born.
Questions – Thinking has been described as asking yourself questions and then answering them. Questions have a powerful effect on how we think and therefore on how we go about solving problems. Questions set off a processional effect that has an impact beyond our imagination. Questioning our limitations is what tears down the walls in life - in business, and in relationships.
“Remember, it’s not only the questions you ask, but the questions you fail to ask, that shape your destiny”. (Tony Robbins)
Because of the brains patterning power asking a question a certain way is likely to lock into a particular pattern and only provide part of the information we need. We also ask Habitual questions and get into the habit of approaching problems from the same perspective. By broadening the questions we ask ourselves we can enhance our creativity.
What are the barriers?
Self doubt – I am not creative and problem solving is a serious business. If I’m not careful people will think I’ve gone mad and not take me seriously. It is much easier to play it safe.
Conventional wisdom – Business suggests that tradition and stability is preferable to change. Reason, numbers, logic and practicality are good: feelings and intuition are bad.
Organisational culture - often the culture does not acknowledge, support or reward ideas generation and bringing them to action. Conformity is encouraged and the risks of ‘getting it wrong’ are perceived as high.
Time – The high pace of change, and the belief that you are only as good as your last result, encourages a short term focus that can reduce the desire for risk taking. Safe, rather than creative solutions are sought.
How can I be more creative?
Everyone is, and can be creative. All we need to do is to follow some simple principles.
Defer Judgement – no criticism at the ideas generation stage. Yes at some point it is important to judge an idea, but not when you are trying to generate ideas.
Strive for Quantity – Osborn said “quantity breeds quality” or the more ideas you come up with, the more likely it is that one of them will be a great idea.
Seek unusual or wild ideas – In other words, we can worry about how to make it work later, so look for as many seemingly crazy ideas as you can, the wilder the better.
If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. (Albert Einstein)