Managing Creativity MBA dissertation

FORWARD

I recently gave a presentation at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design on a topic entitled "Is creativity management an oxymoron?"

The essential confusion to people resistant to the idea of "creativity management" was the word "management." Replace it with the word "optimization" and the resistance disappears; all we're really trying to do is optimize the quality of the idea pool and optimize the implementation process.

Then you can suggest that most people already implicitly accept the idea of creativity management: if you ask them to solve a problem or engage in a particular endeavour, one of the things they're likely to do is herd people into a room with a flip chart and conduct some sort of brainstorming session and implicit in that action is the acceptance that certain methods, processes and procedures enhance creative output.

Then you can begin discussing how to improve the enormous amount of creative output people generate, from problem solving in everyday business life right up to the level or art.

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TIP OF THE DAY: CREATIVE VERSUS CRITICAL THINKING

The process of creative thinking is often, mistakenly, intertwined with critical thinking. There is a tendency to write and edit simultaneously, couple hypothesis generation and evaluation, combine problem identification with solution.

To increase effectiveness, one should first apply creative thought, which is meant to be daring, uninhibited, free-spirited, imaginative, unpredictable, and revolutionary. The trick is to ignore content and maximise the size and richness of the idea pool.

Second, critical thinking is exercised to achieve applied creativity. This is reductive, logical, focused, conservative, practical and feasible. During this stage, the idea pool is reduced to achievable, appropriate ideas.

Now onto the Idea Pool itself:

Maximising the size and richness of the idea pool is a conscious process that has a lot in common with a) lateral thinking and b) the elicitation of tacit knowledge. It is the pre-critical thinking phase and some elements include:

a) Coming up with ideas for the sake of generating ideas.

b) Using a variety of stimuli and frameworks to open up as many pathways as possible.

c) Not having a conscious direction.

d) Not stopping when a goal seems fulfilled.

e) Consciously stimulating change in direction.

In short, the key principle is to produce first and scrutinize second – writing and rewriting are two separate processes. This applies across the board, from business problem solving to arts such as screenwriting. The more people try to understand meaning, the less they produce.

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If you haven't already done so, you can buy the MBA Research Project on Managing Creativity and Innovation, DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator software and the 50 slide Powerpoint Presentation from http://www.managing-creativity.com

Best

http://www.managing-creativity.com

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