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Slide 1: Creativity 1
Slide 2: Steps in the Creative Process    An important part of becoming more creative involves understanding the stages involved in creativity. Creativity is generally defined as the production of novel and useful ideas. An attempt has been made to understand creativity more specifically as it pertains to the workplace. 2
Slide 3: Characteristics of Creative Leaders  They are devoted to their fields and enjoy intellectual stimulation. 3
Slide 4: Characteristics of Creative Leaders  Creative leaders challenge the status quo, which leads them to seek improvements.  The creative leader often observes, "There must be a better way." 4
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Slide 6: Knowledge  Creative problem solving requires a broad background of information, including facts and observations.  Knowledge provides building blocks for generating and combining ideas. 6
Slide 7: Intellectual Abilities  Intellectual abilities comprise such abilities as general intelligence and abstract reasoning. 7
Slide 8: Personality    Creative people tend to have a positive self-image without being blindly selfconfident. Creative people are able to cope with criticism of their ideas. They can tolerate the isolation necessary for developing ideas. 8
Slide 9: Personality  Creative people are also persistent, which is important for the verification and application stage of creative thinking.  Finally, creative people enjoy dealing with ambiguity and chaos. 9
Slide 10: Passion for the Task   A dominant characteristic of creative people that is closely related to personality is a passion for the work. You may recall that passion for the work, or a high degree of intrinsic motivation, is also part of emotional intelligence. 10
Slide 11: Passion for the Task  It is an experience so engrossing and enjoyable that the task becomes worth doing for its own sake regardless of the external consequences. 11
Slide 12: Social Habits and Upbringing  Contrary to the stereotype, most creative people are not introverted loners or nerds.  Many, who become leaders, enjoy interacting with people and exchanging ideas. 12
Slide 13: Social Habits and Upbringing   Family upheavals caused by financial problems, family feuds, and divorce are common occurrences. During their childhood, many people who became creative adults sought escape from family turmoil by pursuing ideas. 13
Slide 14: Creative Strategy  The central task in becoming creative is to break down rigid thinking that blocks new ideas while unlearning the conventional approach. 14
Slide 15: Creative Strategy  Distinguishing among them is not nearly as important as recognizing that they all carry the same message: Creative thinking requires nontraditional thinking. 15
Slide 16: Creative Strategy   A creative person thinks outside the box. People who are not creative suffer from "hardening of the categories."  A noncreative person thinks categorically. 16
Slide 17: Creative Strategy  Creativity requires overcoming traditional mental sets.  A traditional mental set is a conventional way of looking at things and placing them in familiar categories. 17
Slide 18: Creative Strategy  Creative people overcome traditional wisdom.  Traditional mental sets can also be regarded as conventional wisdom. 18
Slide 19: Creative Strategy  Creative people engage in lateral thinking in addition to vertical thinking.    Vertical thinking is an analytical, logical, process that results in few answers. The vertical, or critical, thinker is looking for the one best solution to a problem, much like solving an equation. In contrast, lateral thinking spreads out to find many different solutions to a problem. 19
Slide 20: SOURCE: From Becoming a Master Manager: A Competency Framework, by Robert E. Quinn, Sue R. Faerman, Michael P. Thompson, and Michael R. McGrath, Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reprinted by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 20
Slide 21: Organizational Methods to Enhance Creativity  To enhance creative problem solving, the majority of organizations regularly engage in brainstorming.  Many others also maintain suggestion programs to solicit creative ideas from employees. 21
Slide 22: Organizational Methods to Enhance Creativity   Some workers still receive cash awards for creative ideas approved by a suggestion committee. Many companies now believe that making creative suggestions is a regular part of a team member's position. 22
Slide 23: Organizational Methods to Enhance Creativity  Six creativity-enhancing, problem-solving techniques described are:       Establishing idea quotas Brainstorming The pet-peeve technique The forced-association technique The excursion method Building a kitchen for the mind 23
Slide 24: Establishing Idea Quotas  The leader can enhance creativity by simply establishing idea quotas.  Although the vast majority of these ideas may not be capable of implementation, a few good ones will emerge. 24
Slide 25: Brainstorming  The best-known method for creativity improvement is brainstorming. 25
Slide 26: The Pet-Peeve Technique  Organizational units need to find ways to continuously improve their service to external and internal customers.  The pet-peeve technique is a method of brainstorming in which a group identifies all the possible complaints others might have about the group's organizational unit. 26
Slide 27: The Forced-Association Technique  A widely used method of releasing creativity is the forced-association technique.  Individuals or groups solve a problem by making associations between the properties of two objects. 27
Slide 28: The Excursion Method  The forced-association technique has many spin-offs.  One of them is the excursion method, in which the problem solver makes word associations that relate to the problem. 28
Slide 29: Equipping a Kitchen for the Mind  Every business needs a kitchen for the mind, and space designed to nurture creativity.  The supplies can be ordinary items such as chalkboard, flip charts, a coffeepot, a refrigerator, a pencil sharpener, and a personal computer with graphics software. 29
Slide 30: Self-Help Techniques to Enhance Creative Problem Solving  A representative group of eight strategies and specific techniques for creative problem solving are:     Practice creativity-enhancing exercises. Stay alert to opportunities. Use multiple senses when seeking solutions. Maintain an enthusiastic attitude. 30
Slide 31: Self-Help Techniques to Enhance Creative Problem Solving  Maintain and use an idea notebook or computer file. Play roles of explore, artist, judge, and lawyer  31
Slide 32: Playing the Roles of Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Lawyer  First, be an explorer.  Speak to people in different fields and get ideas that can bring about innovations for your group. 32
Slide 33: Playing the Roles of Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Lawyer  Second, be an artist by stretching your imagination.  Strive to spend about 5 percent of your day asking what-if questions. 33
Slide 34: Playing the Roles of Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Lawyer  Third, know when to be a judge.    After developing some imaginative ideas, at some point you have to evaluate them. Do not be so critical that you discourage your own imaginative thinking. Be critical enough, however, so that you don't try to implement weak ideas. 34
Slide 35: Playing the Roles of Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Lawyer  Fourth, achieve results with your creative thinking by playing the role of lawyer.  Negotiate and find ways to implement your ideas within your field or place of work. 35
Slide 36: Establishing a Climate for Creative Thinking  Leaders need to develop creative ideas of their own to improve productivity, quality, and satisfaction.  Establishing a climate conducive to creative problem solving is another requirement of effective leadership. 36
Slide 37: Leadership and Managerial Practices for Creativity  Intellectual Challenge  Matching people with the right assignments enhances creativity because it supports expertise and intrinsic motivation. 37
Slide 38: Leadership and Managerial Practices for Creativity  Freedom to choose the method  Workers tend to be more creative when they are granted the freedom to choose which method is best for attaining a work goal. 38
Slide 39: Leadership and Managerial Practices for Creativity  Supplying the right resources  Time and money are the most important resources for enhancing creativity. 39
Slide 40: Leadership and Managerial Practices for Creativity  Supervisory encouragement  The most influential step a leader can take to bring about creative problem solving is to develop a permissive atmosphere that encourages people to think freely. 40
Slide 41: Leadership and Managerial Practices for Creativity  An axiom of creativity is that many ideas typically have to be tried before a commercially successful one emerges. 41
Slide 42: Methods for Managing Creative Workers  Give creative people tools and resources that allow their work to stand out.   Creative workers have a high degree of self-motivation, and therefore want to achieve high-quality output. To achieve such high quality, they usually need adequate resources, such as equipment and an ample travel budget for such purposes as conducting research. 42
Slide 43: Methods for Managing Creative Workers  Give creative people flexibility and a minimum amount of structure.  Many creative workers regard heavy structure as the death knell of creativity  "Structure" for these workers means rules and regulations, many layers of approval, strict dress codes, fixed office hours, rigid assignments, and fill in-the-blank paperwork. 43
Slide 44: Methods for Managing Creative Workers  Employ creative people to manage and evaluate creative workers.  Managers of creative workers should have some creative ability of their own, so that they can understand creativity and be credible as leaders. 44