"Life ends up being better understood if it is explained in different ways." Charles Chaplin.
The production of ideas seems to have something strange and mysterious. When the question of creativity has arisen in a conversation with different professionals - regardless of their technical specialty or hierarchical level - there are still many occasions when I am surprised by the myths and prejudices that surround this subject, distancing it from reality. everyday business. On the one hand, it is linked only to the field of fine arts or to certain specialties such as advertising or research; and, on the other, to "special" personalities and situations, such as the crazy genius, introverted and confused, with a sock of each color; or like a sudden flash that illuminates the mind; or an uncontrollable fury that drags and maintains days in sleep and starvation.
But… " creativity competition " is something else. We can define it as the ability to establish new relationships between events or to integrate in a different way from the usual, original and imaginative one, contributing ideas and solutions that allow developing new integration processes and contributing to improving the quality, efficacy and results of activity. Finding a solution to a conflict at work is not going to win the Nobel, but if it is useful and brings improvement, it is creativity. In today's business reality, each moment of work asks, often even demands, that the problems that are presented to us be treated differently: gaining efficiency and improving results require considering different points of view and providing novel solutions.
Fixation vs. Imagination.
Psychologists call the routine trap " functional fixation ": we see only the obvious way to solve a problem. We are used to a way of thinking solutions that may not be the only or the best.
Each of us has an aptitude to create that we can increase and improve; the creative spirit is available to all who feel the need to experiment, to look for new possibilities, to leave things a little better than before. And the field in which creation is applied is not limited; in fact, all areas of existence, all moments of life can be a call to the imagination.
The answer to that call is not something sudden and unexplained. It is the result of a long series of invisible processes, which sometimes occur below the conscious surface, but which can be identified, consciously followed and used. Some of the creativity methods such as brainstorming (contributing the greatest number of ideas spontaneously and without criticism) are commonly known and used, but others, such as the discovery matrix, the technique of the opposite or the mind maps, are less so.
The “discovery matrix” consists of a double entry table in which various elements that, a priori, were not intended to meet, will cross each other. These "organized meetings" will allow us to unveil the "windows of innovation", that is to say, the virgin or little-explored terrain in which the original ideas will be more likely to emerge. The imagination is appealed to for the very fact of this "unusual promiscuity." The matrix is organized insofar as it requires, in the first place, that the elements that can be associated be enumerated and selected, and it is systematic, since the intersections thus defined are explored one by one.
The "opposite technique" is very effective when used with people who like to use critical thinking. Once the problem is formulated, one begins by listing the elements that constitute the situation, what characterizes it or what it is for. Next, one or more of these elements are chosen and their opposite is cited by asking the question: how to do…? and ideas are allowed to flow. Finally, these ideas will be transformed into their opposite in order to obtain solutions to the initial problem.
1. The subject-matter of attention is reflected in a central image.
2. The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image in a branched way.
3. Branches comprise an image or a keyword written on an associated line. Minor points are also represented as branches attached to upper level branches.
4. The branches form a connected nodal structure.
In short, creativity is a competence that we can all develop, which will be an engine of continuous innovation and an indisputable competitive advantage for the organization of which we are a part.
The applications of creativity to reality and to the daily life of companies are multiple and varied: write a report, make a presentation, solve a relationship problem, simplify a process, improve a product or service, create a planning tool, find a strategy to motivate a collaborator, enrich a negotiation, can you think of more? Surely with a creative technique, yes.
