Creativity: The Fuel of innovation
In the last post, I argued that creativity is the source of the innovation process. Without creativity, the innovation process has no “fuel” to start the change process. Although creativity exists in every human being and it is essential part of human behaviour that separates as from machines and computers. There are false myths about creativity that make hard to define what creativity really is. So I think the best way to define creativity is to define what creativity really is not.
“The smarter you are, the more creative you are”
That not true. Creative process requires a certain level of intelligence but above a basic level there is a little evidence for any significant link between two (Amabile, 1996)
“Creativity exists outside of time and circumstance”
Creativity is a dynamic flow between a person’s thoughts and the changing social contexts from which they draw and refine their ideas that are essential part of the creative process.
“Creative people are high rollers”
The willingness to take calculated risks and the ability to think in non-traditional ways does figure in creativity, but you do not have to be a bungee jumper to be creative (Smith and Reinertsen, 2004)
The creative act is essentially effortless
Although creativity is a complex process, there is a tendency to emphasize what is termed as the illumination stage. This downplays the contextual dynamics of change and fails to recognize how most innovators after many trials, dead ends and a lot of personal effort (Placone, 1989)
Creativity derivers only from eccentric personalities
It is much more useful to consider creativity as arising from a particular behavior than resulting from product or idea. Under this view, creativity is mistakenly linked with personality.
Creativity exists in the arts.
We often link creativity with literature, music and various forms of art that are “creative”, but it’s much more appropriating to consider creativity as human behavior that exits in any human activity.
Coming up with new ideas is the most difficult part of creativity.
The difficult part of creativity is not simply to arrive at ideas that are new, but to identify those that have value and are reliable (Rogers, 1995)
Creative output is always good.
Novel ideas can also be applied to evil and destructive ends just as well as they can be applied to good, responsible and constructive ends (Amabile, 1996).
Although we often fail to use our creativity skills. Especially in work environment we tend to work in what John Cleese describes as “closed mode”. In closed mode people operate with routine activities. The biggest benefit of this mode is efficiency. It creates good results on getting things done in everyday routines. In this mode, you avoid making mistakes by using methods and skills that you have already learned. Operating in “Closed mode” is not necessarily a bad thing but the problem is that in closed mode creativity is suppressed and no new ideas are created.
John Cleese says about creativity that "Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating." When the person gets to an “open mode” the mind is able to let go of routine activities and is able to play with open possibilities. When the mind is let loose of its usual pressures and the fear of making a mistake it has the confidence to play freely like a child would new ideas are created. Having enough time to play around and not settling on the first and the most obvious solution will lead to a moment in illumination where the new idea is created. The moment of illumination is the moment were the discomfort of struggling with a problem changes to a joy of the breakthrough idea. When we tell stories about creativity, we tend to leave out the phase on struggling. We don’t like to mention days when we wanted to quit, when we believed that our problem was impossible. Instead, we skip straight to the break-through. We tell the happy ending first.
In order to get into an open mode John Cleese describes five key factors.
Space (“You can’t become playful, and therefore creative, if you’re under your usual pressures.”)
Time (“It’s not enough to create space; you have to create your space for a specific period of time.”)
Time (“Giving your mind as long as possible to come up with something original,” and learning to tolerate the discomfort of pondering time and indecision.)
Confidence (“Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.”)
Humor (“The main evolutionary significance of humor is that it gets us from the closed mode to the open mode quicker than anything else.”)
For more vivid instructions on how to reach the open mode. Please check this John Cleese video on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qby0ed4aVpo&t=12m16s
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