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Want Creativity to Flourish?
Choose the Right Combination
By Marsha Lindquist
Creativity is most often about making new connections than inventing something entirely new. Often we think that we either have to be a genius (Einstein types), an inventor (Marie Curie types), or an incredible artist (Grandma Moses) to be creative. But you don't have to be a special kind of person to be creative – everyone can do it. It's not about whom you are, it's about what you do. Begin by looking at yourself differently and start by looking for many answers rather than settling for just one. How about being curious? That’s you.
Most of the time you can juice up that creative index by introducing yourself to your imagination bone. It’s located near your brain but it resides in everyone. There are a few things that you can do to make creativity easier.
Talent
Go for an unlikeness mixture. To improve and stimulate the creative process, strongly consider mixing talent with differing backgrounds and from diverse disciplines. When you have the same types of people combining their thinking, you will likely get the same old boring outcome. If you run a science-oriented company, consider adding some participants whose background is in art or design. Make sure you consider the age of the participants and invite different age groups as well to be sure to get those perspectives. Mix it up and see what you get. You’ll be surprised by the results.
Sociability
The more the participants in the group are socially involved with one another the more they are inclined to aim for agreement and to maintain the equilibrium of the relationship. When there is little interpersonal history, the participants are more likely to focus on innovation rather than their relationships. When you are crafting a good inventive team, consider colleagues who are unknown to one another. Look to invite people who are unfamiliar with the rest of your team into your next project where innovation is critical.
Size
With too many players, the results may be less innovative. With too many participants, they may all become anxious to toss in many ideas. What? Too many ideas – why is that a problem? Often, too much information means overload for the team. The results may spell procrastination for the entire team, congested with so much to weed through that they give up too soon. Aim to have a minimum of three and a maximum of seven for a creative team session. More than that and you may get less imagination.
To get the most from your creative team, engage a mix of aptitude and expertise and let the different talents mingle into a new combination of ingenuity. Jumble different types of people together who do not normally socialize with one another who do don’t know each other very well and watch how the ideas fly. Resist assembling everybody you think must be in your creative group and limit the size to those you really want to contribute and the dynamics of resourcefulness will take over.
About the Author
Marsha Lindquist, a business strategist for over 15 years, draws on her proven “down in the trenches” experience, creativity, and participative manner to provide real solutions to businesses to assist them in building and growing their businesses. She is an energetic presenter and is also the Chief Executive Officer of The Management Link, Inc. As well as being the author of “Why Are You Still Working Your A** Off?”, she has written and published several professional journal articles on business strategy and negotiations. She can be reached by E-mail at marsha@marshalindquist.com
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