“creativity shouldn’t be compart- mentalized with certain types of people or fields of work”

Creativity shouldn’t be compartmentalized with certain types of people or fields of work. It’s needed in every job, at every level, for every function and it can be the key to success in today’s rapidly changing world…perhaps now more than ever. Process improvement, problem solving, recruiting, retaining and motivating employees, decision making, dealing with limited resources, keeping customers happy, and adapting to technology are all business realities that require creative solutions.

I found the an article online, called “Creativity for Success” by Kathleen J. Wheelihan (a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®). Below is an excerpt from the article (borrowed with permission).

Somewhere along the line, many adults have forgotten how to use their imagination to think and solve problems out of the box. Roger von Oech, in his book “A Whack on the Side of the Head”, recounts a teacher’s exercise in examining creativity. The teacher drew a dot on the chalkboard and asked a class of sophomores to identify it. They responded with the obvious: a chalk dot. She noted that the day before she had asked a group of kindergartners, and they had come up with numerous examples of what it might be: the top of a telephone pole, a squashed bug, an owl’s eye, a cigar butt, a rotten egg, and so on. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood many of us lose the ability to be creative and search for more than one right answer.

So how can we as adults regain and maintain our spirit of fun and creativity? Here are a few tips:_

Be curious. Practice developing your curiosity by asking questions to get a better understanding, or to see things from a different perspective. Some questions you might ask:_

Celebrate and evaluate your failures. There are many inventions we view as essentials today that exist only because someone recognized their failure as an opportunity. Examine what can be learned from each “failure.” It may be an opportunity to create a new product, improve a process, or solve a problem.

Tap into your inner child. Look for ways to become a kid again. Watch children at play and remember what things brought you joy as a kid. For example, fly a kite, build a model train, gaze at the clouds to identify the shapes you see, go for a walk in the woods and look at the plant and animal life, or simply daydream. Taking time away from the pressures of a tense situation can help free your mind so you’re ready to see things more clearly and creatively.

A couple of months ago Micah was able to attend the How to Make Mistakes on Purpose workshop at the Banff Centre with Laurie Rosenwald, who has made a career from asking the question, “what could this be?”. Laurie doesn’t succumb to the pressure of making something great or beautiful. Instead, she looks for the beauty in splots, globs, scraps and even garbage to produce wonderfully creative and inspired works.

Below is an image from one of the creative exercises, where the attendees were asked to produce shape after shape with ink, paint, sponges and markers. Later, the group would sift through the piles of quick-made-art and let their imaginations take over. (He thought this one looked like an owl.)

Leave a comment and let us know how you practice creativity in your personal or professional life.