Yes, you are creative — here’s how to find the spark
By Gretchen Rosswurm, smartblogs.com
It still hurts to think about it. It was early in my career and I was
facing a big challenge. How do we involve a large group of
manufacturing employees in a new and unpopular strategy? People were
counting on me, and I had nothing. My boss said “Come on Gretch, just be
creative.” I smiled but my stomach turned another notch.
The truth was we were trying to be creative. We had already rejected a lot of ideas because they seemed too far out, too much work, too bold. We were running out of time and corporate kept asking, “What’s your plan?”
Finally during one of those long team conversations, someone said the word “passport.” Believe it or not, with that one word, everything changed. We riffed around the idea of a passport being a way to get to somewhere new and exciting. The thought of multiple stamps generated the idea to create special events tied to the coming changes. From there grew a program that was a little far out, a lot of work and definitely bold. When we rolled it out, employees embraced the approach and over time accepted the new strategy. Looking back, I see why our plan was a success. It was novel, engaging and hands-on.
Like everyone, I’ve had my share of hits and misses in the creativity department, but I’ve learned that creativity generally doesn’t arrive like a gift from the sky. Most of the time it takes work, patience, and the belief that with persistence, you will find the right idea you need to make something better than expected.
In this blog post, I’d like to share a few tips I’ve learned that may spark your creative juices.
First, let’s start with the questions you should ask yourself.
Write down some things you really like — they can be a travel experience, book, movie, piece of art, time in history etc. Think why they leave an impression on you or how they help you think about something in a new way. My best ideas are sparked by something that captivates me — a blog, a line from a song, a story I can’t forget. I’ve learned that when my antennae go up, I need to pay attention — there’s something interesting here and I don’t want to lose it.
Once you’ve written the elements that spark your thinking, consider the following.
It still hurts to think about it. It was early in my career and I was
facing a big challenge. How do we involve a large group of
manufacturing employees in a new and unpopular strategy? People were
counting on me, and I had nothing. My boss said “Come on Gretch, just be
creative.” I smiled but my stomach turned another notch.The truth was we were trying to be creative. We had already rejected a lot of ideas because they seemed too far out, too much work, too bold. We were running out of time and corporate kept asking, “What’s your plan?”
Finally during one of those long team conversations, someone said the word “passport.” Believe it or not, with that one word, everything changed. We riffed around the idea of a passport being a way to get to somewhere new and exciting. The thought of multiple stamps generated the idea to create special events tied to the coming changes. From there grew a program that was a little far out, a lot of work and definitely bold. When we rolled it out, employees embraced the approach and over time accepted the new strategy. Looking back, I see why our plan was a success. It was novel, engaging and hands-on.
Like everyone, I’ve had my share of hits and misses in the creativity department, but I’ve learned that creativity generally doesn’t arrive like a gift from the sky. Most of the time it takes work, patience, and the belief that with persistence, you will find the right idea you need to make something better than expected.
In this blog post, I’d like to share a few tips I’ve learned that may spark your creative juices.
First, let’s start with the questions you should ask yourself.
- What has worked before and why? Think about a time when you developed a creative approach to anything. Let that experience come back to you. How did you arrive at your successful idea? Did it come during a jog or driving into work? Was it an idea that came after a series of other thoughts? Did you put it away for a while and then return to it? Take a step back and observe neutrally. How did this idea come about? How did you build on it? Who else did you involve? What made it successful?
- What didn’t work and why? On the flip side, think even harder about ideas that didn’t work the way you thought they would. What feedback did you get? What did you observe that indicated your plan or approach didn’t have the desired impact? What would you do differently knowing what you know today? Did your gut tell you all along it wasn’t quite on target? Did you listen?
Write down some things you really like — they can be a travel experience, book, movie, piece of art, time in history etc. Think why they leave an impression on you or how they help you think about something in a new way. My best ideas are sparked by something that captivates me — a blog, a line from a song, a story I can’t forget. I’ve learned that when my antennae go up, I need to pay attention — there’s something interesting here and I don’t want to lose it.
Once you’ve written the elements that spark your thinking, consider the following.
- What do I like about this (music, movie, app etc.)?
- What about it challenges my thinking?
- What about it makes me feel uncomfortable? Is there something I can learn from?
- What ideas, visuals or concepts in it bring up new ideas? Why?
- How can I learn from that (the interesting idea)?
- How can I apply this to my current situation/life/challenge?
- How does this inform my thinking going forward? >>>
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