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Encouraging creativity
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in practice
Creative behaviour needs to be encouraged and nurtured. The team
leader, or perhaps a creativity champion with the team, should actively
promote a creative environment and watch out for attitudes or influences
that might limit creativity. ?What If!, a creativity and innovation
consultancy, have developed 'Sticky Wisdom' that defines six creative
behaviours needed to stimulate the right environment for creative problem
solving. These behaviours are:
Freshness
 |
New ideas come from new
experiences. |
The Thames Barrier was invented when it was realised
that the valve system used in plumbing could work for a river too; the
iconic design of the London Underground map was stimulated by the way
wiring diagrams are displayed; and Velcro was created when its inventor
noticed the way burrs stuck to his clothing.
Creativity does not necessarily have to be something
completely new, but creative people have the ability to see how something
could work in an alternative situation. With this end in mind, they seek
wider experiences and new ways of thinking. ?WhatIf! call this 'Freshness'.
Freshness can be found in simple ways, taking a different route into work,
by employing people with a range of backgrounds and skills, and by
corporately-arranged visits to other organisations.
Greenhousing
 |
New ideas are delicate. Of
course they have not been thought through, they're new! However,
if you pounce on an idea too quickly and subject it to rigorous
testing (for financial soundness, for general feasibility etc) it
will soon fall down. |
Once destroyed, it is unlikely to be revisited again,
and even worse, the person who had the idea is unlikely to be keen to have
another one. Synectics
says:
Idea + build = 2 ideas
Idea + crush = 0 ideas
However, being analytical is the natural way to think
in the Western world (see the section on Six
Thinking Hats). Making swift
and critical judgements is what drives our success. However, such
behaviours are anathema to creativity. Synectics has a list called '17
ways to murder an idea', they are:
17 Ways to Murder an Idea
- See it coming and quickly change the subject.
- Ignore it. Dead silence intimidates all but the most
enthusiastic.
- Feign interest but do nothing about it. This at least
prevents the originator from taking it elsewhere.
- Scorn it. "You're joking, of course." Make sure
to get your comment in before the idea is fully explained.
- Laugh it off. "Ho, ho ho, that's a good one Joe. You
must have been awake all night thinking that up."
- Praise it to death. By the time you have expounded its
merits for five minutes everyone will hate it.
- Mention that it has never been tried before. If the idea
is genuinely original, this is certain to be true. Alternatively,
say, "If the idea's so wonderful, why hasn't someone else
already tried it?"
- Say, "Oh, we've tried that before" - even if it is
not true. Particularly effective with newcomers. It makes
them realise what complete outsiders they are.
- Come up with a competitive idea. This can be dangerous
tactic, however, as you might still be left with an idea to follow
up.
- Stall it with any of the following:
"We're not ready for it yet, but in the fullness of
time."
"I've been waiting to do that for a long time, but right
now..."
"Let's wait until the new organisation has settled
down."
- Modify it out of existence. This is elegant. You seem to
be helping the idea along, just changing it a bit here and there.
By the time the originator realises what's happening, the idea is
dead.
- Try to chip bits off it. If you fiddle with an idea long
enough, it may fall to pieces.
- Make a strong personal attack on the originator. By the
time he or she has recovered, the idea won't seem so important.
- Appoint a committee to sit on the idea.
As Sir Barnett Cox observed: "A committee is a cul-de-sac
down which ideas are lured, then quietly strangled."
- Drown it in cold water. As in: "We haven't got the
staff to do it ...the intangible risks would be too great...
that's all very well in theory, but in real life..."
- Return it to sender with:
"You need to be much more specific about your proposal."
- If all fails, encourage the originator to look for a better
idea. Usually a discouraging quest. If he or she actually
returns with one, start them looking for a better job.
© Synectics |
?WhatIf! describe the situation needed to
nurture a new idea as 'Greenhousing'. To greenhouse (protect) a new
idea, we have to:
- suspend judgement and bite back criticism
- understand the world through another's eyes
- nurture ideas until they are strong enough to cope with criticism on
their own
Try to put into practice the principle that every idea
should be followed by two 'builds' (developing the idea further with
phrases that start with "That makes me think of . . . ; To build on
that idea, if we . . .; X's idea could also work if we . . . ").
Language is an important part of being creative.
Realness
 |
Realness is another ?WhatIf! word for a
creative behaviour. The technique is very simply and extremely
effective. It demands that we stop talking about innovation and ask
"how can we make it real right now?" |
A recent Harvard Business Review article (Levitt T.
Harvard Business Review August 2002) likened the situation to someone who
talks about painting a beautiful picture, and someone who actually paints
one - which person is the creative artist? Levitt felt that lots of
organisations confuse brilliant talk with constructive action. The
solution is to build a prototype as soon as you can (yes, this can work
with policies as well as products - think of pilots). Play with it, think
about it, carry it around with you improve it, tweak it, build another
model and start again. ?WhatIf! advice is - Don't Think, Just
Leap. This links into the next creative behaviour - Momentum.
Momentum
 |
All really creative people have an air of urgency. An
innovative leader can learn to create this state, especially with
the help of a skilled facilitator who can help enthuse the people
around. Working on a project that has momentum is fantastic. |
There is an energy and an optimism that is infectious.
There is a sense of determination to get the job done, no matter what
obstacles get thrown in the way. Good managers will understand how to
manage and harness this energy.
Meetings are dreadful momentum-killers; ?WhatIf!
suggest trying one of these 5 types of meeting instead:
- information only: no discussion, no debate, just the sharing of
information
- decision only: no discussions, only yes or no
- stand up: stops the chatting and long winded debates
- decide at the beginning: make all the decisions first, then discuss
them (cuts out unnecessary talk and focuses on real issues)
- rattle and roll: rattle through the first 8 easy and quick points.
everyone feels hopeful despite the long agenda
You can also keep meetings energetic and creative by
the way you plan the meeting: for example use flipcharts instead of
slides; take turns to be chair; have an 'energiser' or break if energy is
low.
Signalling
 |
Signalling lets people know what you are doing and how
you are thinking. It helps people align their effort (see Six
Thinking Hats). Signalling makes the creative process explicit
and legitimate and (hopefully) stops others from crushing your
emerging idea (see Greenhousing) |
The things you can say as signals include:
- How would a child look at this?
- Let's assume XYZ already does this.
- How can we try this out?
- To build on that idea. . .
- What I like about this idea is . . .
- How would we make that real right now?
- Could you draw that for me?
- Let's stop talking and just try it out
- I'm really excited about this.
- I'm just signalling that . . .
- I don't like doing this, so that's a good reason why I should.
- I'm thinking as I go along here. . .
- I have not thought this through fully yet, but . . .
Bravery
 |
Creative ideas are strange at first. That's what
makes them creative. If they were not unusual and off-the-wall, they
would already have been thought of and you would not be trying to
solve this particular problem. |
As a result, many creative ideas are lost because the
person who had them does not say them aloud. A creative idea requires you
to stand up and dare to be different.
Bravery is vital to the creative process because it
enables creative people to offer the full power of their minds, and use
their spontaneous connection-making skills without self-censoring ideas
into mediocre acceptability. To be brave, you need to be confident that
all the other creative behaviours are in place; but without bravery, none
of the other behaviours are any use. Bravery is difficult, and the best
advice is to just do it!
Strengths
- These behaviours will help the team work efficiently and
effectively, and ensure that the contribution from each member is
valued and that all ideas are developed to their full potential.
Weaknesses
- Creating a team culture that supports these behaviours will take
commitment and buy-in from all team members.
References
Allan D et al (1999) Sticky Wisdom, How to
start a creative revolution at work. ?What
If! Limited
The rights of
Dave Allan, Matthew Kingdon, Christina Murrin and Darren Rudkin
(the "Authors") to be identified as authors of Sticky
Wisdom (the "Work") have been asserted in accordance
with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. Copyright in the
work belongs to ?What If! Limited.
All rights
reserved. No part of the work may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise
without the prior written consent of the copyright owners.
The ideas,
tools, techniques and knowhow expressed in the work including,
without limitation the 4Rs and the 6 Behaviours are the exclusive
property of ?What If! Limited.
?What if!
Limited and are trademarks of ?What If! Limited and may not be
reproduced without the prior written consent of ?What If! Limited.
Synectics
Encouraging creativity
In Practice: SU Alcohol Project
Creativity techniques can be helpful not only in
generating new ideas, but also in approaching existing material in fresh
and innovative ways. On the Alcohol project, for example, techniques were
used by the team to ensure that the narrative of the Interim Analytical
Report was clear, coherent, and accessible to a non-specialist audience.
In order to crystallise the key points emerging from
the report, the team set itself two exercises:
- 'Texting Tony'- where team members were required to summarise
the report in writing, in the form of ten short sentences, as if they
were sending a series of text messages to the Prime Minister; and
- the Lift test - where team members were required to summarise the
report orally, in two minutes, as if they were giving the Prime
Minister an overview of its findings in a lift journey.
The discipline of these exercises encouraged the team
to isolate the headline findings emerging from their work. These headlines
were subsequently used to structure the analytical report and its
communications strategy.
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