Resources
Stoking your Creative Streak
Andy Eklund MPRIA, Managing Director of Aqus giving us 7 + 1 tips on stoking your creative streak.
A September report from Dun & Bradstreet noted an unexpected surprise for employees as the global economic crisis recedes. Many were managing people for the first time. According to innovation experts, these new managers not only had to stimulate their own creativity - that is, doing more with less - they also had to learn how to motivate their new teams to do the same thing.
Regardless of whether you're new to management, or a seasoned veteran of team dynamics, the approaching year's end is a good time to reflect and consider how you'll motivate and unleash your creativity and passion for 2010.
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Schedule thinking time into the diary. Whatever you call it daydreaming or drifting, giving your brain pro-active thinking time is not only important - it's beneficial. Experts suggest just 15-30 minutes is ideal, at any time when it's convenient and comfortable. Make it more productive by giving yourself a specific problem to ponder and wander.
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Forget your problems. Remember that flash of brilliance that came out of nowhere? That's your unconscious mind at work. To tap into it, think of any specific problem you want to solve or improve, then forget it about it. Your unconscious mind will continue to tackle the problem, and soon you'll have an 'Aha' moment when you least expect it.
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Pass by the first idea. Universally your first idea is not your best idea. You need several ideas before you have 'context' - the ability to step back and judge the best among all ideas. Once you do, you're very likely to see your first answer is the most ordinary, and the best idea is probably a combination of two or more ideas merged together.
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Learn something new. There's a librarian joke with the punch-line "Read! You can't learn less." Indeed, the most important personality trait of creativity people is their curiosity and appetite for more information. It's impossible to be uncreative when you constantly push knowledge into your head. Your brain needs it to make associations which, in turn, creates ideas.
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Expand your network. Meeting new people has the same impact as suggestion #5, but with the added benefit of having another brain to create ideas. It's no coincidence that most major inventions were the work of two people, working either in tandem or in competition. Use the power of the team and the concept of building on ideas to create new ideas.
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Don't accept or expect the Big Idea in 60 minutes. Ideas might be spontaneous, but creating them is hard work. Yes, it's important to have laughter, green-hat thinking and high energy in brainstorms, but no more so than persistence and obsession. If you find your hour is generating nothing, give the team a break and come back in a few hours. You're likely to see suggestion #2 work its magic.
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"Never tell people how to do something". Stolen from George Patton, the remaining quote is: "Tell them what to do, and they'll surprise you with their ingenuity." You job as manager isn't to have the right answer, it's to select the best answer among several options. Provide the goal to the team, then challenge them to find a better solution. And when you do, keep your judgment open because ...
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Don't ever be afraid to try something new. There's no such thing as a Big Idea that's safe. Ideas that create change mean you too have to change. It's simply better to trust yourself and do it. Or, as Dave Barry said, "Remember that a long amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic."
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November 2009