Creative thinking is not the same for every person, group, or organisation. Many of us see creativity as something you are either blessed with or not, and that hiring creative people is the necessity. The truth is: EVERYONE has he capacity for creative thinking, and understanding the different ways to brainstorm and harness strengths from your team is the key to successful business innovation.
Creativity may come from time to time in a lightning-strike “Aha!” moment, but waiting around for those to happen means slowing to stagnation and even killing the possibility of creativity in your workforce. There is a more systematic approach that even the most analytical and logical of minds can take to reach truly creative solutions and ideas.
First, the “Aha” type of creativity is best formed alone, and as many of us know, can strike at any time – especially when you are not even thinking of the problem at hand. This is great, but not helpful to leaders who are on a schedule.
The second type of creativity is cultivated through brainstorming sessions, conversations, collaboration, and the process of elimination. This may be called the “slow burn” type of creativity.
A well-balanced workforce will have people who work with both types of creativity. You can spot the “Aha” thinkers by their usual behaviors of working best alone, being self motivated, and usually having “slightly odd” methods of getting things done – it often appears they are making things up as they go because they usually are.
Those who need a more systematic approach to creativity are those who love working with a team, pick others’ brains, and have very structured approaches to their work.
The best reason to have both types of employees on your team is so that you can find the right “path” to innovation for your business. Some businesses gather up all of the “Aha” ideas, pile them on a table, and then go through brainstorming sessions to determine the most viable to pursue. Others, like Google, allow those rogue agents to have and then pursue their “Aha” ideas on their own, and use brainstorming as a way to “guide” those ideas to the desired result. You will need to find the formula that works best for your organisation!
How do you engage employees and learn which method of creativity is best for them? Our free 29-minute webinar “Blueprint for Productivity, Innovation, and Growth” will show you the simple strategies to get started. Join us next Tuesday!
