Using Creativity

Creativity is sterile if an action does not follow from it. Ideas must be evaluated, improved, polished and marketed before they have any value.

Job creativity is all about finding fresh and innovative solutions to problems and identifying opportunities to improve the way that we do things. As such, anyone can be creative, just as long as they have the right mindset and use the right tools.

In his book “Creativity,” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says that an effective creative process usually consists of five steps. These are:

1. Preparation – becoming immersed in problems and issues that are interesting and that arouse curiosity.
2. Incubation – allowing ideas to turn around in your mind without thinking about them consciously.
3. Insight – experiencing the moment when the problem makes sense, and you understand the fundamental issue.
4. Evaluation – taking time to make sure that the developed idea provides sufficient value to resolve problems.
5. Elaboration – creating a plan to implement the solution, and following through.

These five steps provide a clear and practical way for you to think about creativity, and to use it in your everyday life at work. Gather information, find the main cause of issues and problems, and generate and evaluate your ideas. And do not forget that the mundane work of implementing your ideas is key to being genuinely creative!

How many times have you got stuck trying to find a creative solution to a problem? It is not always easy to come up with good ideas, and you can fall into many thinking traps along the way.

Creative thinking is a way to develop novel or unorthodox solutions that do not depend wholly on past or current solutions. Creative thinking is a way of moving beyond barriers.

As a creative thinker, you are curious, optimistic and imaginative. You see problems as interesting opportunities and you challenge assumptions and suspend judgment. You do not give up easily. You work hard.

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.