How to be creative for the benefit of the company

What is ideation? Can we become creative?

Briefly, ideation is the creative process of producing, developing and communicating new ideas or products.

Creativity is therefore on the same level as any other skill! It needs to be worked on to develop it and put it into practice effectively. It's no different than learning Excel, project management or C# programming. This familiarization with creativity allows us to better understand it, to put it into perspective and to make it more accessible than it seems.

Is creativity innate?

Contrary to certain erroneous beliefs, creativity is not the prerogative of certain individuals who are innately endowed with it, such as artists. In fact, when some recruiters ask candidates in job interviews if they are creative, they don't want to know if they can paint or sing. What recruiters are looking for is the ability of applicants to adapt to changing work constraints and, if necessary, to find original solutions to a challenge in order to meet their deliverables. This creativity, like that of the artist, is acquired through hard work and practice. Picasso did not invent cubism one morning by chance. On the contrary, it is the fruit of many years of learning and exploration. It is because he first learned anatomy, that he was able to deconstruct it. Da Vinci perfected the sfumato, a process that gives the Mona Lisa its special look, thanks to his hard work, as much as a painter, as an engineer...

If, as for any skill, some have a more important background or a more obvious facility than others at the beginning, creativity can develop. Edison said (with all reservations) "Genius is made of 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration". The 1% is the famous gift and the 99% is the work to make it happen. If you rely only on your 1%... you may not get very far.

Let's remember, again and again, creativity is not art. The cab driver who has to determine a new route because of an unexpected obstacle, without a GPS, is being creative. And he will be all the more creative, as he will have developed his expertise by traveling the length and breadth of the city. The parent who arrives home a little late and has to cook a quick meal for the family is creative in assessing the contents of the fridge to prepare an edible dish. The administrative agent who has to reorganize the manager's agenda following a last minute change, without offending anyone, is creative. For all these examples, with the right coaching and adequate practice time, we can all become more efficient, more effective.

Is creativity innovation?

Be careful not to equate creativity with innovation. The latter can be defined as the result of creativity.

This does not mean that innovation is less important. It is simply distinct from creativity. All organizations, regardless of their industry, need to innovate to remain competitive. Unless they are siphoning off ideas from their competitors, they have no choice but to foster some form of creativity, which will allow them to innovate.

How can creativity be encouraged in the company?

As with any other skill: by working on it and by providing a framework conducive to its practice. This means going a little further than just telling teams to "be creative" or "think outside the box"! Fostering creativity must start with a change in organizational culture. Translation: an organization will have creative talent if it gives them the means to do so.

This can be an avenue for employer brand development in an era of labor shortages. Limiting turnover and attracting new talent can be achieved through a positioning that emphasizes openness to proposals, listening to suggestions, etc. For an individual, knowing that his or her point of view will be heard, and even encouraged, can be a powerful motivation to stay or join an organization. But beware, it often happens that the intentions are in this direction, but that the actions do not always follow! You don't just have to say it, you have to do it, for real.

It's a good thing, because an article in Le Monde (published in 2018) revealed that an individual's soft skills, such as the ability to ideate, are among the most sought-after traits by employers around the globe. Which makes sense: ideation allows for creative solutions to challenges.

Conditions for creativity:

Develop an organizational culture that stimulates and assumes creative risk.
In an ideation process, we don't try to get THE best idea at first, but rather to generate as many ideas as possible. These ideas will allow us to build on each other, while improving them along the way. Openness and listening are certainly key words, but they must be applied. Self-censorship and judgment are part of our nature and we must practice fighting them. Saying it is clearly easier than doing it!

Pay particular attention to the preparation of the ideation session in order to allow participants to optimize their individual and group creative potential. Having a trained facilitator who understands the challenges of ideation and the resulting creativity exercise is an important factor in creating the right conditions for a successful process.

Run simulations. Organize or participate in creative sessions that do not have a defined organizational objective. This allows you to become familiar with the method, without the pressure to perform, to feel the obligation to find a solution. Like when a Microsoft team is tasked with coming up with the worst product ever in a brainstorming session.

Test different approaches. Just because an approach worked once, doesn't mean it will work for the next challenge. But the reverse is also true. That's why running simulations is relevant. Have a few approaches that you repeat (to get better!) that you reuse in rotation to avoid routine and renew interest.

Don't over-sort. With a little luck (and more importantly, hard work), you will have many participants and even more interesting ideas. When it comes time to dig into the best concepts, don't immediately discard ideas that seem unrealistic. They may have unexpected potential, either as a solution in themselves or as a springboard for the idea (or combination of ideas) that is ultimately chosen. Who would have thought that a Circus without animals would have been a global success? Or being able to take pictures with a phone... but why? And what about Pokemon Go: looking for virtual animated characters all around you. Don't be afraid to dig into the potential of some ideas and question what might be initial biases.

Accept that there is waste. Let's face it: developing creativity will yield some good ideas (the chosen ones) and a lot of "not so good" ones (the ones that serve to advance the thinking). "Many are called and few are chosen", one might say. This is part of the process.

Conclusion

Creativity and ideation are no different from other skills. They can be developed and used in the workplace. But, as with other skills, you need to ensure that you have adequate resources to support the process and the teams. There is no recipe or magic wand to guarantee the absolute efficiency of the ideation process overnight. It is necessary to build the environment (physical and human) that will be able to optimize the creative process. What a lot of work, but oh what a lot of fun too!!!

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