Transcript Servant Leadership - PMA Foundation for Industry Talent

Women’s Fresh Perspectives Conference
Expanding Creativity
Jessica Notini
Educational Workshop Sponsors
Creative Thinking is…
Creative thinking
is a learned skill.
“Life is a continuous exercise
in creative problem solving.”
Michael J. Gelb
2
Creative Thinking requires…
Making “mis-takes.”
“…a fully justified enterprise
which was unsuccessful for reasons
beyond your control .”
“Anyone who has not made a
mistake has never tried anything
new.”
Albert Einstein
3
Confirm what you already know about you!
What helps you get to your
most creative state?
Write down as many thoughts
as you can in 2 minutes.
Brainstorming vs Brainwriting
“Many of us are more capable than some of us,
but none of us is as capable as all of us.”
Tom Wilson
Brainwriting
Fast: generate many ideas in a short time.
Easy: Does not require facilitation.
Cheap: Only paper and pens or
notes on phones.
Quiet: people write, they don’t talk.
Inclusive: Engages people that don’t
normally speak up.
Brainwriting Exercise
State the problem/opportunity
you want to consider…
Write as many ideas as you can
In “x” minutes.
Brainstorming: Pros and Cons
Pros
Cons
• Collaboration is
important…2 “so-so” ideas
can be made great.
• Social loafing, slackers.
• Whenever everyone feels
they contributed, people more
motivated, projects more
successful.
• Production blocking.
• Group think.
• Evaluation
apprehension.
Creative Thinking Skills
“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend
55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5
minutes thinking about solutions.”
Albert Einstein
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Stages of Creativity
1. Preparation – formulation of problem, conscious effort,
study, potential initial solving (but separate from absorbing)
2. Incubation – no conscious effort,
let go, absorb
3. Intimation – feeling of
impending solution
4. Illumination or insight – aha!
5. Verification – conscious
development
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Highly Creative People…
Re-think the problem!
Make a Mind Map
Make a Mind Map
When you are sitting with a challenge that seems
difficult to grasp, make a map of your impressions and
thoughts about it.
Draw a circle in the center of a blank sheet and write
your stated challenge in it.
Around the circle, write ideas, thoughts, impressions,
intuitions, and anything else that occurs to you about
the challenge. Create a circle or “bubble” around each.
Note relationships, connections, and associations
between thought “bubbles.”
Leave the map for a few hours or days and return
to it to improve it.
Rethink the Problem: Move from Positions
to Interests
Positions
• A Demand
Interests
Lies Beneath the
Position
• A Strategy to Get Needs
Met
The Basic Need
• A “Want”
The Driver or Motivator
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Categories of Interests /Needs
CONCRETE
SUBSTANTIVE
Examples:
•
•
•
•
Food
Shelter
Clothing
Health
PSYCHOLOGICAL
EMOTIONAL
PROCEDURAL
Examples:
Examples
•
•
•
•
•
•
Respect
Autonomy
Enjoyment
Love
Understanding
Growth/Challenge
• Participation
• Order
• Voice
• Fairness/Equality
Why seek the underlying interests?
• Promotes better understanding and
connection between group members
• Although some interests may be in conflict,
we regularly discover shared and differing
interests that expand creative options
• Often discover more possible solutions or
more different strategies to meet the
underlying needs
• Solutions are more likely to solve the “real”
problem and be more effective and durable
Re-think the problem
Can you think about the challenge in wholly new ways?
Restate the Challenge
The more time you spend in the wording of your challenge or
goal, the quicker the solution will emerge. Write the challenge
as a question or state the challenge from different perspectives:
“In what ways might I…”
You go back to
that
godforsaken
cubicle and
start thinking
outside the
box!
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Re-think the problem
Can you think about the challenge in wholly new ways?
Change the wording of the challenge by substituting
synonyms or substitutes for key words.
S t r e t c h t h e p r o b l e m . Give it a larger scope.
Shrink the problem. Break it into sub-problems.
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Re-think the problem
During the creation process, continually ask:
Do I need to change my perceptions?
Do I need to challenge the assumptions I am making?
Challenge your fundamental assumptions/perceptions:
 State your challenge.
 List your assumptions.
 Challenge your fundamental assumptions.
 Reverse each assumption: write down the opposite of each one.
 Record differing viewpoints that might prove useful.
 Ask yourself how to accomplish each reversal.
 List as many useful viewpoints and ideas as you can.
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Re-think the problem
Exercise: Return to the challenge of increasing
produce consumption and spend 4 minutes:
• Restating
• Substituting different words
• Stretching
• Shrinking
• Testing assumptions
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Re-think the problem
Whether you are improving something that exists or creating
something new, information may be the key to your
solution.
You may need:
 More information.
 Better ways of handling existing
information.
 Different ways of thinking about
the information.
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Keep an Idea Log!
Ideas last in the mind 9 seconds, and are lost after 20
seconds. Think of the times you have been involved
in a daily task and suddenly an idea popped into your
head about a problem you were trying to solve. Use
your smartphone or buy a small notebook that you
carry with you wherever you go, and record ideas as
they occur to you.
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Highly Creative People…
Give yourself limits!
Assure positive
mood and
exercise.
Highly Creative People…
Create psychological distance
•
•
•
•
Time
Location
Probability
For someone else
Allows more abstract thinking
Corn thoughts in California?
Corn thoughts in Greece
Be Provocative* Embrace the Absurd
*Edward de Bono
Po is used to provoke certain things to happen in the mind. The
use of the word signals that the thought that follows is known
to be impossible, contradictory, or logical nonsense.
De Bono calls po a “provoking operation.” It helps you escape
from what is taken for granted. The po statement is made and
then you examine where it takes you.
For example:
The factory emitting polluted water is
upstream from other users
Po, the factory is downstream.
Try It Out!
Imagine where po statements could take you.
What kind of po statements could you make
about some of the assumptions you take for
granted in your challenge?
Encourage Diversity
Increased diversity
=
Increased conflict
=
Increased innovation
“I’m happy you all agree with me, but is
there something you’re not saying?”
Diversity – Think Together
“Parallel thinking”
De Bono “Six Hats”
Blue/Managing – what are we thinking about and how should we go
about it
White/Information – what information is available and/or needed
Red/Emotion – intuitive or instinctive gut reactions or feelings
(without need to justify)
Black/Discernment – logic applied to identifying reasons to be
cautious or conservative
Yellow/Optimism – logic applied to identifying value and benefits
Green/Creativity – new ideas, alternatives, possibilities, statements of
provocation
“That’s a great idea!” and…
Person 1: Offer an idea for something to do.
Person 2: Accept the “offer.” by saying “That’s a
great idea!...Let’s do it!”
(Pretend to start to do it).
Offer another complementary idea that
builds on the first one.
Person 3: Accept the “offer.” by saying “That’s a
great idea!...Let’s do it!”
(Pretend to start to do it).
Offer another complementary idea that builds on
the second one.
Return to Person 1 and complete 3 rounds.
Greatest Marketing Innovations
Greatest Marketing Innovations