Creativity & Creative Thinking

Prepared by Rekha Rao Subraveti

Creativity - Defined
Creativity is the development of ideas about products, practices, services, or procedures that are novel and potentially useful to the organization

Eureka!

What Does It Take to Be Creative?

Time
Hard work Mental energy

Traits of Creative People

The Creative Person

How are they different? Personality Traits Cognitive Creativity Skills Domain-specific Knowledge Intrinsic Motivation

Characteristics of Creative People

Personality Traits of Creative People

Persistence Self-confidence Independence Attraction to complexity Tolerance of ambiguity Intuitiveness

Personality Traits of

Creative People
Have broad interests Are energetic Drive to achieve Love their work Take risks

Cognitive Creativity Skills

Think creatively
Generate alternatives Engage in divergent thinking Suspend judgment

Domain-Specific Knowledge Develops Via

Education Training

Experience

Contextual Knowledge

Creativity Enhancers
Focus on intrinsic motivation Creativity goals Developmental feedback Supportive supervision Healthy competition Participative decision making Autonomy Hire creative people Enriched, complex jobs Provide resources Clear organizational goals Instructions to be creative Recognize and reward creativity Encourage risk taking No punishment for failure

Creativity Enhancers
Workforce diversity Internal and external interaction Diverse teams skilled at working together Supportive climate Organizational culture the promotes innovation Flexible, flat structures Close interaction and relationships with customers

How Can Organizations Foster Creativity?

Hire creative & diverse workforce Provide resources Design complex & esp. time challenging jobs

Set clear org. goals

Be Creative!

Set creativity goals

Use diverse teams

Recognize & reward creativity

Create the right org. culture

Management Style and Creativity

Encourage risk taking Provide autonomy Encourage productivity - sweat equity Supportive supervision, climate, and work group Participative leadership

Organization Design and Creativity

Flexible Flat Structures That promote

Internal & External Interaction

Close Contact w/ Customers

Creativity Killers
Excessive focus on extrinsic motivation Limits set by superiors Critical evaluation Close, controlling supervision Competition in a win-lose situation Control of decision making Control of information

Stages in the Creative Process

Preparation

Verification

Incubation

Illumination

Stages in Creative Process

Creative Thinking

Features of Creative Thinking

Barriers to Creative Thinking

Time Why change? Usually dont need to be creative Habit Routine Havent been taught to be creative Mental Blocks

Mental Blocks

Mental blocks are reasons (attitudes) why we dont think something different.

Some Mental Blocks are

1. 2. 3. 4.

The right answer. Thats not logical. Follow the rules. Be practical.

6. 7. 8. 9.

Thats not my area. Avoid ambiguity. Dont be foolish. To err is wrong.

5. Play is frivolous. 10. Im not creative.

Creative Problem Solving

The creative person uses information to form new ideas. The real key to creative problem solving is what you do with the knowledge. Creative problem solving requires an attitude that allows you to search for new ideas and use your knowledge and experience. Change perspective and use knowledge to make the ordinary extraordinary and the usual commonplace.

Definition

Creative problem solving is - looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.

Creative Problem Solving Process

Creative Thinking Techniques

 Brainstorming is a means of generating ideas. Brainstorming can be used to identify alternatives, obtain a complete list of items and to solve problems. There are a variety of brainstorming techniques. The common principle of brainstorming is to set aside the restrictive thinking processes so that many ideas can be generated.

Utility of Brainstorming
Brainstorming can:
break through traditional thinking about a problem. generate new ways of thinking. provide an environment for building on new ideas. reduce the tendency to prematurely discard new ideas. facilitate team building. encourage team problem solving.

Benchmarking
An ongoing process of measuring and comparing the performance of businesses/ organizations in order to encourage continuous improvement towards best practices.

Benchmarking Process

Utility of Benchmarking
Improves organizational quality Leads to lower cost positions Exposes people to new ideas Broadens the organizations operating perspective Creates a culture open to new ideas Serves as a catalyst for learning Tests the rigor of internal operating targets Raises the organizations level of maximum potential performance.

Nominal Group Technique

It is a structured group approach Used for problem identification and prioritization Small groups of people Lasts for 1 to 3 hours Ideas are written down and accommodated in sequential manner

Procedure
Select the leader, group and place State the problem in print Give time for individual thought Collect responses in round robin method Examine the ideas Suggest ways to reach conclusions Vote Report

Merits and Demerits

Merits
Existence of quality ideas Sharing of ideas promote sense of involvement and motivation within group of experts Round robin element provides encouragement and equality among members Checks for accurate understanding of the problem

Demerits
Time consuming and tedious Generation of ideas is limited to the time spent Ideas may be evaluated on their source rather than on their merit

Can you solve this puzzle

What is Lateral Thinking?

Lateral thinking is a term coined by Edward de Bono, a Maltese psychologist, physician, and writer de Bono defines Lateral Thinking as methods of thinking concerned with changing concepts and perception.

Features of Lateral Thinking

Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious Ideas may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic. Techniques are characterized by the shifting of thinking patterns away from predictable thinking to new or unexpected ideas. A new idea that is the result of lateral thinking is not always a helpful one When a good idea is discovered in this way it is usually obvious in hindsight

Six Thinking Hats Technique

Six Thinking Hats' is an important and powerful technique. It is used to look at decisions from a number of important perspectives. This forces you to move outside your habitual thinking style, and helps you to get a more rounded view of a situation. Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of thinking.