Creativity and innovation are essential skills for any professional who wants to solve problems, generate new ideas, and create value. However, they also come with some potential pitfalls that can undermine your efforts and results. In this article, you will learn how to avoid six common creativity and innovation pitfalls and how to overcome them if you encounter them.
One of the biggest barriers to creativity and innovation is the fear of failure. This can prevent you from taking risks, experimenting, and learning from your mistakes. To avoid this pitfall, you need to adopt a growth mindset, which means seeing failure as an opportunity to grow and improve, rather than as a sign of inadequacy. You also need to embrace feedback, both positive and negative, as a way to refine your ideas and solutions.
Cambia de punto de vista, el fracaso es un aprendizaje. Toma decisiones, actúa, tendrás muchas menos posibilidades fracasar que quedándote parado
In the words of Ed Mylett "Make a decision. Flood yourself with certainty. Take massive action." This strategy will help you build confidence in your decision making process and keep you from this fear of failure. Why? Because if you make a decision, you are cutting off alternatives and "burning the boats"! This makes you commit and requires you to act. When you flood yourself with certainty, you start to believe you will achieve and you will focus on the positive outcome. You will become even more confident. Then you take this confidence and go ALL IN and GET TO WORK! When others see your commitment, hard work, positive mindset, energy, determination, they will jump in and start working like maniacs to help you not fail. Let's go!!!!
El éxito y el fracaso son circunstancias efímeras y temporales. A veces ganas, a veces pierdes, pero lo importante es que siempre, siempre, aprendas. Es importante "fracasar", y hacerlo muchas veces, para encontrar la forma de triunfar, por eliminación. Siendo procesos naturales, puedes enfocarlos sin miedo.
Another pitfall that can hamper your creativity and innovation is the lack of diversity in your team, network, or sources of inspiration. Diversity can enhance your creativity and innovation by bringing different perspectives, experiences, skills, and knowledge to the table. To avoid this pitfall, you need to seek out and collaborate with people who have different backgrounds, cultures, opinions, and expertise from yours. You also need to expose yourself to diverse stimuli, such as books, art, music, or podcasts, that can spark your imagination and curiosity.
Nada abre más la mente a la creatividad que la curiosidad. Que querer aprender y descubrir formas de hacer las mismas cosas por personas de otros lugares. Es esencial no centrarse en un único medio o temática. La magia aparece cuando conectas ideas y descubres patrones en estímulos diferentes (de hecho, esa es la mejor definición de la capacidad que conocemos como "creatividad": no se trata de inventar, si no de saber identificar y usar los ingredientes)
Confirmation bias is the tendency to look for and interpret information that confirms your existing beliefs or assumptions, while ignoring or rejecting information that contradicts them. This can limit your creativity and innovation by making you overlook or dismiss new possibilities, alternatives, or evidence. To avoid this pitfall, you need to challenge your own assumptions and hypotheses, and test them against reality. You also need to be open-minded and willing to consider different viewpoints and arguments, even if they are uncomfortable or inconvenient.
Desafía el sesgo de confirmación Esto nos hace buscar información que respalde nuestras creencias preexistentes. Para superarlo, busca diversidad de perspectivas, de opiniones y cuestiona tus suposiciones buscando información objetiva. Al exponernos a diversas opiniones, cultivas un pensamiento más crítico y rompes las barreras del sesgo. Esto te llevará hacia la comprensión y la objetividad!
Algo que funciona es mantener la "actitud del ni?o": afrontar un o una cuestión desde el punto de vista de que no sabes la respuesta, y que hay que valorar todas las ideas disponibles. Otra forma de enfocarlo es identificar la que creemos correcta y decidir de partida que, para experimentar, probaremos cualquier otra idea, excepto esa.
Groupthink is the phenomenon where people in a group tend to conform to the dominant opinion or decision, without critically evaluating or expressing their own ideas or objections. This can reduce your creativity and innovation by suppressing individuality, diversity, and dissent. To avoid this pitfall, you need to encourage and reward independent thinking, constructive criticism, and constructive conflict in your team. You also need to avoid excessive pressure, isolation, or unanimity in your group, and seek out external input and feedback.
En un equipo, el pensamiento grupal puede ser una herramienta positiva, o que ayude al desarrollo positivo en pos de los objetivos comunes. Detectando su existencia, se puede conseguir que las personas que lideran (especialmente estas) compartan su visión y alineemos intereses. Una vez esos intereses están alineados, el grupo sigue al cabecilla. Si involucramos a todo el grupo (mediante dinámicas de equipo, transparencia y conexión), el efecto se multiplica.
Premature evaluation is the tendency to judge or evaluate your ideas or solutions too soon or too harshly, before they have a chance to develop or mature. This can stifle your creativity and innovation by killing your enthusiasm, confidence, and motivation. To avoid this pitfall, you need to separate the generation phase from the evaluation phase of your creative process. You also need to use appropriate criteria and methods to evaluate your ideas or solutions, such as feasibility, desirability, and viability.
Muy relacionado con el sesgo de confirmación. El enfoque debe ser "entrar con la cabeza vacía y el corazón lleno": tener pasión por descubrir la solución, pero mantener la mente abierta a diferentes posibilidades. Estableciendo un protocolo (y practicándolo, por supuesto) en el que nos pongamos como norma que tenemos que considerar al menos 5 ideas, por ejemplo, conseguiremos acostumbrarnos a que, hasta que no hayamos tenido sobre la mesa, y considerado, 5 o más ideas, no podemos seleccionar.
Procrastination is the habit of delaying or avoiding tasks that you find difficult, boring, or unpleasant. This can sabotage your creativity and innovation by wasting your time, energy, and resources, and by causing you stress, anxiety, and guilt. To avoid this pitfall, you need to set clear and realistic goals, deadlines, and rewards for your tasks. You also need to break down your tasks into smaller and manageable steps, and focus on the most important or urgent ones first.
Luchar contra la procrastinación es posible, a veces difícil, pero aquí van unos trucos: Divide y vencerás. No te comas todo la tarta de una vez Divide tus pendientes en pedacitos más digeribles. Ponte tiempos, 20 minutos de trabajo intenso, seguidos de una parada. Ritmo, descanso, ritmo Motívate con peque?as recompensas. Para mis hijos es más fácil terminar los deberes cuando sabes que les espera un premio. Busca el tuyo, aunque sea un café Hazlo más entretenido, pon música, decora tu zona de trabajo, busca un ambiente agradable Comparte el compromiso con alguien, así te sentirás obligado a cumplir. La presión de un compa?ero siempre funciona. A por ello!
Surrounding yourself with the right environment can make all the difference in tapping into your creativity. Maybe it's the people around you that needs to change. Maybe it's the physical environment. Do you need to go outside? Do you need to get somewhere quiet? Do you need to wake up earlier, or later to find it? Do it!