Creativity

Why do we need to think about being creative? What does creativity have to do with business?

Problems, Problems

We believe that business, as life itself, is about solving problems. Problems present themselves in the form of questions such as:

· "What should I do next?"

· "How can we raise the funds to..........?"

· "What would happen if we did this?"

· "What if we didn't do this?"

· "How can we persuade them to .........?"

· "How can we tell if this is the best decision?"

· "How will I know that I've succeeded?"

· "Why is this happening to us right now?"

Problems such as these confront us daily as we attempt to make decisions, develop strategies, implement changes and persuade others to our viewpoint.

How We Think About Problems

Medical science tells us that when we think about a problem for the first time the thinking process creates a neural pathway, a physical groove, in the brain which represents this 'train of thought'. When we think about the problem for the second or third or the one-hundred-and-third time the thoughts are directed down the same 'pathway of thought'. In others words, after a few iterations we become incapable of thinking about the problem in a new way and all our 'new solutions' are simply variations on a theme.

Einstein expressed this when he said "to solve a problem we need a different mind-set from that which we had when we created it".........and he should know! He rode an imaginary beam of light through space in order to think about an old problem in a new way. Therefore, we need to be able to create new neural pathways in our brain if we are to think about a problem in a new way and find a solution which is genuinely different from its predecessors. This is creativity.

But, I'm Not Creative

As children we were all very fluent in this way of looking at things - one minute a cardboard box is a car, the next it's a castle or a ship. As we grow into adulthood this ability is educated out of many of us or perhaps just squirreled away for occasional use, in order to accomplish the task of becoming successful, realistic adults. This happens so thoroughly that the majority of adults believe that they are not creative. We have simply lost the habit of allowing our minds to work like this - the 'muscle' has atrophied from lack of use. So then, as with any wasted muscle, we need to build it up again and remind it how useful it is. Turn to the Creativity Exercises page below for a series of exercises designed to rebuild the creative muscle.

Dvaction's website below will also be of interest to you if you are seeking creativity training for your organisation.

Creativity Exercises

dvaction

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Applying a Playful Approach (try saying this five times very quickly)

At Anteri we take creativity seriously - if this is not a contradiction in terms! Whether we are coaching, consulting or training, we encourage our clients to try and see things from different points of view and to free themselves from the constraints of their thinking patterns and limiting beliefs. We use a wide variety of techniques to help in creating new neural pathways for the solution of nagging problems or apparently insoluble situations.

Anteri Consulting Bristol, UK, South West: Executive Coaching; Leadership Development; Diversity. Anteri Consulting Bristol, UK, South West: Executive Coaching; Leadership Development; Diversity