People very often confuse creativity and innovation. Basically, creativity is the thinking that generates ideas; innovation is the practical application of those creative ideas to meet your business’s objectives more effectively.

But creativity is never enough on its own, since ideas are only the raw materials for innovation. You need a screening and development mechanism to turn ideas into reality. How, though, so you first develop creative thought processes? Well firstly, you need to identify some barriers to creative thinking:

- You allow your mind to be conditioned into following a dominant pattern of thought, so you become trapped into a fixed way of looking at things

- You fail to identify and examine the assumptions you make, to ensure they aren’t restricting the development of new ideas

- You think sequentially instead of laterally, and are always looking for the best idea, rather than different ideas

- You don’t challenge obvious solutions

- You judge prematurely, not giving yourself enough time to drift over other ways of looking at things

- You tend to conform and give the expected answer

- You fear you’ll look foolish or be put down by others

These rationalisations may inhibit your thought-processes and create barriers to creativity. So what can you do to overcome those barriers?

Firstly, do some self-analysis.

Identify the dominant ideas that influence your thinking.

Then define the boundaries you are operating in and question them. Do policies need re-thinking, or processes re-thought?

Then identify how you will break free from the boundaries, opening up your mind to new ideas

Think, how would a competitor view these ideas? What would a scientist think, or a football manager? By looking from a different perspective, you create different thought patterns and possibly come up with an idea you wouldn’t have considered if you thought the same way as always before.

You may find plausible reasons why something might not work (it didn’t work last time, it’s too risky, it’s too expensive, good in theory but…, the customers won’t buy it, etc.). But it’s the end result that is key here – you shouldn’t worry too much about how you get there.

Incubation is always a good idea. How often have you had really good ideas when in the bath or shower or walking the dog? This is because the mind is working unconsciously on the problem and is able to identify those things that you wouldn’t have thought of on a conscious level.

Lateral thinking is also a good technique. Instead of looking for what is right, concentrating on relevance, moving in a certain direction and leading from one thing to another, Lateral Thinking looks at what is different, makes jumps instead of thinking sequentially, welcomes intrusions and explores many unlikely directions. You need to provocatively challenge the way you’re thinking, and reject thinking that reduces decision-making to a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

When you consider what benefits you gain from thinking creatively, you give yourself the chance to build great ideas and identify various perspectives that you hadn’t seen before. And that’s where innovation and future development really works.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

(Image by Jannoon)

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Right…grab a piece of paper and a pen.

Do it now before reading on…

OK, draw a picture of a hand on that piece of paper…

It doesn’t matter if you’re not an artist…just draw it.

Done it?

Good! Read on…

Let me ask you…did you look at your own hand to draw the picture? No? You’re in good company because, in this exercise, we find most people don’t look at their own hand first. Why?

Because most people prefer to work with a mental picture even though the real world is staring them in the face. We think with these mental pictures and we frequently base our performance on these illusions. Psychologists call the act of creating mental pictures generalization, abstraction, or concept acquisition. You might want to call it stereotyping.

It isn’t that important if you drew the hand based on your mental picture or by looking at your other hand as you drew it. What is more important is if you decide on team processes or company policy based on the stereotypes or generalisations you carry in your head.

You may have a distorted picture, based on your current thought processes or conditioning that will cause you to think the same way as you did last time you carried out the process. What could be the consequences?

Well, your decision may not produce the desired results you hoped for, as the process may not be in line with the way your team views the situation. Your perception may be true in your eyes, but because you have been conditioned that way, you may not see reality as seen through others’ eyes.

So, take a few moments before making a decision today to see if it’s based on how you generalise situations (stereotyping) or if it’s an up-to-date viewpoint based on taking a look at the real world.

Take another look at your drawing…did you copy your other hand? Or did you stereotype?

Food for thought!

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”