Sparking Creativity

If creativity is in fact a higher form of intelligence, how do we spark it?

By Amrita Sumon

 Creativity has become one of the most admirable qualities in the workplace. The Fast Company have found in a recent poll that CEOs agree creativity is the most important skill a leader can have. Until recently creativity has not been well measured, well recruited, or well known. What is Creativity? It has been defined as the act of turning imaginative ideas into reality, whether it be designing a new product or implementing a new process, and usually consists of a new spin on existing knowledge.

Growing up I was led to believe that creativity is a gift and that only very few extraordinarily talented individuals can access this higher level of greatness. I never associated creativity with high intelligence, in fact quite the opposite. However, research has gone as far to say that creativity is in fact like a muscle which you can develop. So it’s yours, if you want it!

Sir Ken Robinson proposes in his TED talk that “creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status”. Intelligence today is measured by academic ability but studies have indicated that there is more of a correlation between highly creative individuals being highly intelligent than the reverse (see Handbook of Creativity, page 261). Exceptional minds have been led to believe they are not intelligent, as the things they were good during their time at school were not valued. It’s no wonder that so many of our known artistic geniuses struggled in school…as education systems assess intelligence we can measure according to existing knowledge.

So if indeed creativity is a higher form of intelligence, how do we spark it?

In a world where stress seems to be the only constant and our only form of downtime being binge watching on Netflix, whilst scrolling through Instagram for hours, swiping YUCK on Tinder 1000 times, and stalking on Facebook. Emma Seppala, who wrote the Happiness Track, indicates you don’t need to be superhuman to develop your creativity. Seppala suggests that all you need to do is allow yourself to ACTUALLY RELAX, as creativity tends to occur when your mind is unfocused.

My Top 3 Tips for Sparking Creativity:

• Go for a walk… Easy right! We can all make more time for walks. Oh, I forgot to mention…without your phone! Good luck with that… not sure I’m even capable of that one…
• Get out of your comfort zone; pick up a new hobby, you don’t have to stick with it forever just try it out. By doing the things that scare you and allowing yourself to make mistakes you remove the fear.
• I really hate to say it, because it made no sense to me for years, but encourage yourself to think outside the box. Challenge yourself to think differently!

As part of our Senior Leadership Assessment here at LHH Penna we assess creativity as we believe it’s an important quality to develop in order to drive success.

Remember, its yours if you want it!

References:

https://www.fastcompany.com/1648943/most-important-leadership-quality-ceos-creativity

http://www.bkv.com/blog/4-statistics-that-promote-the-power-of-creativity-in-the-workplace/

https://www.freshconsulting.com/creativity-is-the-highest-form-of-intelligence/

https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity