Creativity & Innovation Part 1
In the first of a two-part article, Sean Rattigan examines the critical importance of creativity to business success in the information age.
Creativity and innovation are the primary drivers of business in the “information age,” yet there is currently very little training and education in the area available in Ireland.
For the purpose of this article, I have defined creativity as “the process of developing something
new and of value” in the provision of products and services (including training and education). Innovation I will define as the implementation of the creative effort, therefore the path from creativity to innovation
is akin to the progression from concept to reality. Creativity is primarily an individual characteristic whereas innovation is typically perceived as an organisational outcome. Although innovation is often referred to as encompassing the entire process, it is useful to make the above distinction, not only because they are better treated as separate processes, but also because R&D outsourcing and the
purchasing of IP (Intellectual Property) means that a company or individual may innovate but have had no input into the creative effort. Conversely, a creative idea may be licensed such that the conceiver has no active part in realising the idea and developing its potential.
“Interesting,” I hear you say, “but why is the study of creativity important?”
There are a number of reasons why such a study might be important, and very relevant to all organisations. Here are eight reasons, identified by the Buffalo State University Centre for Creativity:
• We can develop potential beyond the boundaries of intelligence: the nature of learning requires the use of skills associated with creativity. Educators adopting a creative approach to training are more likely to deliver content and create a learning environment that develops higher order thinking skills.
• It builds upon the nature of knowledge: creativity skills can assist an individual in enhancing their knowledge base. Without creative thinking, an individual is condemned to stay within the knowledge base as it is given. Creativity is in use in all fields, from chemistry to engineering, education to computer science, sociology to business.
• Creativity has become increasingly necessary due to the increasing pace of global changes: in a world of increasing complexity, change and competition, generating new ideas is increasingly important. Creativity is a core factor in our ability to continue to adapt to the changing environment.
• It contributes to effective leadership: it is the application of creativity skills that distinguishes a manager who maintains the status quo from a leader who supplies a new direction or vision. By internalising the spirit of creativity and the principles of creative problem solving, an individual can be transformed into a change leader.
• Creativity is an important aspect of mental health: individuals capable of incorporating creativity into their lives can enjoy the experience of discovering, developing, and utilising their many talents. Skills relevant to creativity are also useful in coping with life’s challenges.
• It facilitates a more effective utilisation of human resources: create more value by nurturing the creative potential of people.
• Creativity allows us to discover new and better ways to solve problems: the problems we encounter are increasingly becoming more complex and open-ended. Knowledge alone isn’t enough to develop the
optimum solutions.
There is a growing body of interest, and an increasing amount of literature, that represents impressive progress in understanding the nature of creativity.
Whenever a friend or colleague attends a training course, seminar or convention, I always ask (and I am paraphrasing here) “What was the most memorable part and what was the least interesting?” Inevitably, the most vivid recollections and interesting facts relate to “the character with the stories” or humorous
tales, or the delivery of the material which, as Brian Moore pointed out in First Train (Volume 1 Issue 2), in his article Selling Fantastically, underlines the importance of communication skills! The complaints I’ve heard range from “too technical” and “too much waffle” to downright “boring as hell.” As it is often difficult to obtain completely truthful primary feedback directly, it can be useful to use criticisms of others to guide the construction of training materials.
In delivering training, as we all know, the participants should be motivated and take an interest in the knowledge being presented. Unfortunately this is not always the case. The assimilation of the material presented is more effective, if it can be related to and incorporated with prior experience. Motivation
may be enhanced by making the training relevant and ensuring that it enhances business or personal skills. Creative techniques can be used in the design of the course structure and its delivery. This is not to say that there is no place for traditional logical and analogical thinking – on the contrary – each has their place – this is simply another path. Creativity is an activity not a static mental state.
Brain Models
There are a range of “theories and methodologies” that deal with the brain and how we perceive the world: Personality Type Models. Such as Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Belbin Team Roles, the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI), and Enneagrams. There are also some that deal more directly with creativity, such as the Kirton Adaption-
Innovation Inventory (KAI) which identifies two types of inventive personality types.
Creativity is a part of thinking, one of many operations the brain can perform simultaneously. We are all creative. We encounter problems each day and manage change constantly. We differ however in our level of creativity and in our style (how creative we are and in what way). Creativity is not something
bestowed upon a select few, but an attribute that can be analogous to a muscle: one may grow up a weakling but exercise can result in a “Schwarzenegger-esque” physique. This is the view expounded by the renowned Dr. Edward deBono, “Intelligence is a potential… thinking is an operating skill.” Therefore, we can all learn to improve the quality of our thinking. Dr. deBono makes the analogy of driving a car: intelligence may be equated with the power of the engine, however a smaller car may outmanoeuvre the
more powerful model, through skilled operation by the driver.
One of the primary flaws in our thinking system can arise from a flawed perception system: a number of filters distort what we perceive and constrain what we can conceive.
Examples of Filters
Cultural traits may not engender the questioning of beliefs that are passed from our parents (such as religion, morals etc.). Western culture in particular is concerned with critical thinking, which tends to kill new ideas prematurely due to rash judgement. In western culture, this thinking style generated the improvement mentality of finding what is wrong and fixing/ improving it. Eastern culture has focused on “how can we make it better” rather than criticism: it is this philosophy that developed the system of “kaizen” or continuous improvement in Japanese companies that has been adopted by many western companies to compete in business.
Our educational system teaches us what to think, rather than how to think. It does not encourage creativity. The purpose of education is, too often, one of teaching facts and methods with the facilitator’s primary objective being to assist students to pass exams. Becoming effective thinkers is increasingly necessary to allow us function successfully. We need to be equipped with lifelong learning and thinking
skills necessary to acquire and process information in the knowledge economy.
Our brains are remarkable pattern recognition systems: without this patterning, it would be very difficult to make a cup of tea, drive a car or even get dressed; if we can button one shirt we can button them all. It is how we learn. It is this same system that can prevent us from seeing other, or better, ways of doing
things, as we recognise patterns and immediately jump to a decision based on prior experience. This absence of mature reflection or the search for alternatives severely hampers our creativity. In this cultural system we do not, automatically and actively, seek alternatives. This is equally true in business and
in education. An analogy of this patterning effect may be the path of a young river. The more it flows the more the primary route is embedded in the earth. Although there are many paths it could take and although there are offshoots along the way, it follows the deepest chasm. When a new idea is conceived, we often wonder why we did not think of it before. The modern flush toilet was invented in 1775, but it wasn’t until 1857 that somebody thought of toilet paper.
The construction of a joke is similar in nature: the comedian takes us along a train of thought to where we recognise the pattern and even predict the outcome, but the “punch-line” takes us back upstream to a tributary we had not noticed. It is this blind spot that prevents us from seeing a greater range of possibilities. Little wonder then that in 1899, Charles Duell, the U.S. Patent Office Commissioner said “I recommend closing the Patent Office, since everything that can be invented has been invented.”
A truly creative idea always looks completely logical in hindsight, but logical thinking may not generate the idea as the path may seem erratic in generating the idea, but then looks completely logical in retrospect. It is the fact that creative ideas seem so logical in retrospect that has hindered the progress of creative thought, as it has been interpreted that the development of better logic could have achieved the same thing. Generating a truly original idea is often the result of linking together previously unrelated or unconnected elements of knowledge or memories. We may suddenly see a connection that did not previously exist. Alternatively, we may have a concept for something that does not exist.
Knowing what our perception filters are, and the limitations placed on our creative ability, will not in itself enhance the quality of our internal processes, but is a first step in the right direction. Consider a man is bound hand and foot on the floor and beside him is an acoustic guitar. Of course he cannot play the guitar with his hands tied. Now imagine that he is freed from his shackles: it is absurd to think that he can now play “Greensleeves” or “Stairway to Heaven.” It takes practise, it takes time, and it requires learning new skills. Removing the shackles is a first step.
In training, the teaching of creativity can only enhance the subject matter (with the possible sole exception of accountancy which may invite a visit from the revenue commissioners).
Maintaining the status quo will often not make anything worse, but it will certainly not facilitate improvements. Developing new ways to deliver information, to find ways to make it more relevant, to allow students to better understand how the information can be used to enhance their professional or personal life, can only improve the experience for both the trainer and the student.
Collectively, there are several hundred techniques published in books and online by a huge range of authors. Techniques are similar to tools in a workshop, with various tools for different parts of the creative process. For example, there are techniques for defining a problem, exploring attributes of a problem, generating alternatives, visual explorations, metaphors, analogies, and evaluating and implementing ideas.
In preparing this article I encountered a common constraint in the generative process: psychological inertia. What headings (if any) would I use? How should it be structured? To overcome this, I used a very simple technique popularised by Tony Buzan: a Mind-Map. It does not require any training or prior learning, but allows one to generate ideas in a random, rather than a linear way. This allowed me to visualise the key points I wanted to make and later apply structure to convert the ideas from random points (which is how we think) into a linear format. Rather than reproduce what is already well publicised on the Internet, follow this link www.peterussell.com/mindmaps/mindmap.html for information about developing Mind-Maps.
Visit http://freemind.sourceforge.net should you wish to develop the Mind-Map for use in training. Hand-drawn maps are great, but for reproduction an electronic copy is often preferred; such a utility is freely available the above website.
In Part 2 of this article we will look at the benefits of the planning and implementation phase of creativity-innovation. There is little value in a good idea if nothing is done about it!
