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: DEFINITIONS OF CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Creativity and Innovation are often used interchangeably, yet they are distinct and separate. This may sound obvious, but they are often confusingly and incorrectly used by even the most informed people.
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. This means that creative managers must be competent in at least six areas (including one holistic).
Using the above allows for deeper insights, For example, ask 5 people what the problem is and you're likely to end up with 6 answers.
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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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