Six Principles of Creativity
Posted on September 18, 2007 - Filed Under On Ideation
I was in a meeting this morning and someone brought up the term “greenhousing” and how it relates to ideation and creativity. I thought the concept that they were talking about was so steeped in truth, that I decided to do a little research. Apparently, greenhousing is one of six creative behaviours needed to stimulate the right environment for creative problem solving. Ironically, the source of these six principles were to topic of last week’s article.
The six behaviours are as follows:
1. Freshness
New ideas come from new experiences.
Creativity does not necessarily have to be something completely new, but creative people have the ability to see how something could work in an alternative situation. With this end in mind, they seek wider experiences and new ways of thinking. Freshness can be found in simple ways, such as getting lost in a new part of the city, trying rock climbing or even a salsa class.
2. Greenhousing
New ideas are delicate. Of course they have not been thought through, they’re new! However, if you pounce on an idea too quickly and subject it to rigorous testing (for financial soundness, for general feasibility etc) it will soon fall down. Once destroyed, it is unlikely to be revisted again, and even worse, the person who had the idea is unlikely to be keen to have another one.
However, being analytical is the natural way to think in the Western world. Making swift and critical judgements is what drives our success. However, such behaviours are anathema to creativity.
?WhatIf! describe the situation needed to nurture a new idea as ‘Greenhousing’. To greenhouse (protect) a new idea, we have to:
- suspend judgement and bite back criticism
- understand the world through another’s eyes
- nurture ideas until they are strong enough to cope with criticism on their own
Try to put into practice the principle that every idea should be followed by two ‘builds’ (developing the idea further with phrases that start with “That makes me think of . . . ; To build on that idea, if we . . .; X’s idea could also work if we . . . “). Language is an important part of being creative.
3. Realness
The technique is very simply and extremely effective. It demands that we stop talking about innovation and ask “how can we make it real right now?”
A recent Harvard Business Review article (Levitt T. Harvard Business Review August 2002) likened the situation to someone who talks about painting a beautiful picture, and someone who actually paints one - which person is the creative artist? Levitt felt that lots of organisations confuse brilliant talk with constructive action. The solution is to build a prototype as soon as you can (yes, this can work with policies as well as products - think of pilots). Play with it, think about it, carry it around with you improve it, tweak it, build another model and start again. Some good advice from great thinkers- Don’t Think, Just Leap.
4. Momentum
All really creative people have an air of urgency. An innovative leader can learn to create this state, especially with the help of a skilled facilitator who can help enthuse the people around. Working on a project that has momentum is fantastic.
There is an energy and an optimism that is infectious. There is a sense of determination to get the job done, no matter what obstacles get thrown in the way. Good managers will understand how to manage and harness this energy.
Meetings are dreadful momentum-killers; ?WhatIf! suggest trying one of these 5 types of meeting instead:
- information only: no discussion, no debate, just the sharing of information
- decision only: no discussions, only yes or no
- stand up: stops the chatting and long winded debates
- decide at the beginning: make all the decisions first, then discuss them (cuts out
- unnecessary talk and focuses on real issues)
- rattle and roll: rattle through the first 8 easy and quick points. everyone feels hopeful despite the long agenda
You can also keep meetings energetic and creative by the way you plan the meeting: for example use flipcharts instead of slides; take turns to be chair; have an ‘energiser’ or break if energy is low.
5. Signalling
Signalling lets people know what you are doing and how you are thinking. It helps people align their effort. Signalling makes the creative process explicit and legitimate and (hopefully) stops others from crushing your emerging idea. It’s pretty much playing the politics of the room to ensure that ideas don’t die.
6. Bravery
Creative ideas are strange at first. That’s what makes them creative. If they were not unusual and off-the-wall, they would already have been thought of and you would not be trying to solve this particular problem.
As a result, many creative ideas are lost because the person who had them does not say them aloud. A creative idea requires you to stand up and dare to be different.
Bravery is vital to the creative process because it enables creative people to offer the full power of their minds, and use their spontaneous connection-making skills without self-censoring ideas into mediocre acceptability. To be brave, you need to be confident that all the other creative behaviours are in place; but without bravery, none of the other behaviours are any use. Bravery is difficult, and the best advice is to just do it!
- Christian
Source: Strategy Survival Guide: Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit
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