CREATIVITY

1. CREATIVITY CREATIVITY "Being Creative Is Seeing The Same Thing As Everybody Else But Thinking Of Something Different"

2. What is creativity? • A series of actions which create new ideas, thoughts and physical objects. • The making of bi-sociations which expand patterns and areas of belief.

3. Domains of Creativity • Scientific Discovery (ah-ha) • Fusion • Comic Inspiration (HaHa) • Collision • Artistic Originality (ahhh) • Juxtaposition

4. Scientific Discovery • AHA!! • Combine & Reshuffle Existing but Previously Separate Ideas • That moment of truth when the bits of the puzzle suddenly click into place Aha!!

5. A Scientific Discovery... • Eli Whitney • The Cotton Gin Aha!!

6. Comic Inspiration • All comic invention is a creative act, a malicious discovery • When the expert humorist tells an anecdote, he creates a certain tension which mounts as the narrative progresses. But it never reaches its expected climax. The punch line acts like a guillotine which cuts across the logic; debunks or dramatic expectations. HaHa! Aha!!

7. Artistic Originality • When we listen to poetry, two frames of reference exist: one governed by meaning; the other by rhythm and patterns of sound. • Two levels of awareness exist: the first in broad daylight; the second much deeper down in the soul. • Dramatic Illusion is the coexistence in the spectator’s mind of two universes which are logically incompatible. .. All the more striking because they both produce physical symptoms -- palpitations, sweating. Ah... HaHa! Aha!!

8. Myths: The Creative Person • Above Average Intelligence • > Psychological Turbulence • Sad Childhood • Creative Men > Femininity • Creative Women > Masculinity • Comprehensive Knowledge of a Specific Domain • Stick-to-it-ness • Open to Varied Cognitions • Absence of Defensiveness • Change Jobs More Frequently

9. 3 Components of Creativity Creativity Skills Expertise Creativity Task Motivation

10. Creative Process • Formulation of the problem • Preparation • Saturation • Incubation • Illumination • Verification

11. 1. Formulating The Problem • Formulating the problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. • To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science and business

12. Creativity Involves: Convergent thinking: • Proceeds towards a single answer • The intellectual ability to logically evaluate, critique and choose the best idea from a selection of ideas. • Focuses on Appropriateness • Groups excel at convergent thinking Divergent (lateral) thinking: • Moves outward from the problem in many possible directions • Thinking without boundaries • The intellectual ability to think of many original, diverse, and elaborate ideas. • Focuses on Novelty • Individuals excel at divergent thinking

13. The world we have made as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far creates problems we cannot solve at the same level of thinking at which we created them. Albert Einstein

14. 2. Preparation • Gather any information the solution or response needs to account for • Set up criteria for verifying the solution's acceptability. • Creativity Involves Hard Work • Knowledge of Multiple Domains

15. Preparation Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Thomas Edison

16. 3. Saturation Becoming engulfed in the specifics and focusing on the problem.

17. Albert Einstein • Daydreamed about travelling on a sunbeam to the end of the universe to answer the question: • "What would happen if one could follow a beam of light at the speed of light?".

18. 4. Incubation • Step back from the problem • Let our minds contemplate and work it through. • Time Period can last minutes, weeks, even years.

19. “ Satisfaction” • Keith Richard from the Rolling Stones told a story about the creation of their hit "Satisfaction". He said he'd just gotten a cassette tape machine which had just been invented and he used to sleep with his guitar. • He got up in the morning and saw that his tape had run to the end, so he rewound it. He played it and heard the opening riff to "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - followed by 30 minutes of him snoring!"

20. Incubation • A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. Frank Capra

21. Ideas arise from the mind to provide the basis of a creative response. • Pieces of the whole or the whole itself • Short Time Period 5. Illumination “Eureka”

22. Ralph Waldo Emerson Look sharply after your thoughts, They come unlooked for, like a new bird seen in your trees, and, if you turn to your usual task, they disappear.

23. 5. Verification • Executes activities to demonstrate whether or not what emerged in illumination satisfies the need and the criteria

24. Blocks to Creativity • Bias of Negativity. Adults in particular lose their ability to see both positive and negative aspects of a problem or situation or solution. Thus, they self limit • False Assumptions. Individuals make false assumptions about problems in order to fit problems into their previously established decision making processes. • Cultural Orientation. We often make assumptions about problem solving based on the organization, culture and society that surround our behavior. These assumptions may not always be valid. • Einstellung effect. The memory for a particular sequence of operations binds decision makers so they fail to examine other possibilities and uncover a simply solutions. • Inert Knowledge. Failure to access useful information because the situation differs

25. Blocks to Creativity • Functional Fixation. Too often we focus on what has worked in the past and fail to understand the problem area has changed. • Framing.Framing the problem the wrong way such that the focus is on gains rather than losses or outcome versus process. • Overconfidence.Individuals tend to be overconfident in their ability to solve problems. They remember their successes and forget about their failures.

26. Impact of the Organizational Environment on Creativity Resources Management Practices Individual/Team Creativity Organizational Motivation Expertise Creative Skills Impact Task Movitation Creativity Work Environment

27. Potential Tactics for Creativity • Brainstorming. Process of generating ideas in a group without time for criticism or comment. • Brainwriting. At key intervals during the process, members cease talking and write their ideas silently andi ndependently. • Nominal Group Technique. Like brainstorming but with solitary writing time before the group gets together. • Knowledge/Mind Mapping. Process of visually representing relationships and interrelatedness of ideas. • Analogical Reasoning. Art of applying one concept or idea from a particular domain to another domain. • Goal setting to negotiations • Punctuated equilibrium model in biology to group development. • Judgmental Heuristics to staffing research

28. Rules for Brainstorming

29. Brainstorm • Expressiveness—Express any idea that comes to mind, no matter how strange weird or fanciful • Non-evaluative – Do not criticize the ideas during the generation stage. All ideas are valuable. • Quantity – Generate as many ideas as possible. Quantity of ideas increases the probability of finding excellent solutions • Building – Because all ideas belong to the group, members should feel free to try to modify, extend ideas suggested by others.

30. Sample Knowledge Map Full time Jobs Bonds Fed Non Traditional State Public Traditional Cost Students Money Parking Buses Private Public Trans Garage Vanpools Permits Donations Fund Raising Limitations

31. Tactic: Attribute Listing • Attribute listing is a great technique for ensuring all possible aspects of a problem have been examined. Attribute listing is breaking the problem down into smaller and smaller bits and seeing what you discover when you do • How can you improve a ball point pen?

32. Ask "Why" Then ask "Why" four more times For example... • Why has the machine stopped? • A fuse blew because of an overload • Why was there an overload • There wasn't enough lubrication for the bearings • Why wasn't there enough lubrication? • The pump wasn't pumping enough • Why wasn't lubricant being pumped? • The pump shaft was vibrating as a result of abrasion • Why was there abrasion? • There was no filter, allowing chips of material into the pump • Installation of a filter solves the problem.

33. Flow • Autotelic experience or flow is so engrossing and enjoyable that it becomes worth doing – even though it may have no consequence beyond its own context. Cognitive Mapping

34. How to Evaluate Creativity An idea must be highly original AND useful • Fluency: Quantity of ideas • Flexibility: Diversity of ideas (different categories) • Originality: Novelty of ideas (only 1 person suggested it) • Wildest • Practical • Unusual

35. Performance Data of Brainstorming and Solitary Groups

36. Threats to Team Creativity • Social loafing: Free-riding • Likely when people not individually accountable • Conformity • Inhibitions, anxiety, self-presentational concerns... • Rituals of social interaction, designed to make people feel at ease, hinder idea generation (e.g., positive feedback, repeating ideas, telling stories) • Conformity of ideas (clichéd and conventional) • Conformity in rate of idea generation • Production blocking • Taking turns slows the process down • Cognitively difficult to maintain stream of thought • Forget to rehears own ideas when listening to others • Negativity bias may take over • Downward norm setting • Benchmark performance level set too low • Low performers more influential... • Group bias; faulty group esteem

37. Lessons from IDEO • Physical setting • Playful, yet functional (wheels on chairs; lots of writing space) • Culture • Highly client-focused (learn from customers) • Highly experimental (fail often to succeed sooner) • Iconoclastic (mock corporate America) • Control structure • Highly egalitarian in terms of ideas • Highly authoritarian in terms of process (bells) • Team design • Democracy of ideas (voting methods) • High diversity • Strong process (facilitator role)

38. Best Practices: Enhance Creativity • Diversify the team (microbiology labs) • Nominal group technique • Analogical reasoning (NASA, Pringles, Marriott) • Brainwriting • Breaks (Build in periods of autonomy: Individual thinking is less conformist) • Create organizational memory (Mattel) • Set high benchmarks and stretch targets • Create “flow” conditions (Celebrate the process, not the outcome)