An A-Z of Creative thinking and feeling.
charles tincknell
Director of Business Solutions | Elevating Performance Through People, Process, & Creativity
Creativity -An A to Z thinking and feeling..
Need help to do some creative thinking. Here is an A-Z of things that work for me.
Attitude. Creative thinking requires a certain type of attitude. Focused but free thinking, serious but playful and considered but carefree.
Top tip – Find a specific activity that pushes you into the right mindset. Do it before you need to be especially creative
Brainstorming. Top tip – When your flip charting ideas be free and quick. Do a neat copy at the end to present. You can do this as a group or on your own.
Co-operation. Or collaboration. Creativity is not a competition. Build on others thinking, say Yes and.
Top tip – Actively use other ideas to then spark your thinking and send the impetuous on around the room
Diversity. Diversity is great for creativity. Make sure you have people with different backgrounds and thinking styles.
Top tip – Remember introverts have a huge amount to offer, just might not want to say it in a big meeting.
Experience. The more experience you have the wider the knowledge you have to call on. Get lots of experience in the room.
Top tip – Don’t confuse experience with being right
Fun. Creativity thrives on fun. If you are having fun, you will easily access the thinking to be creative. It frees the spirit to soar, see things differently and create new patterns. That is why comedy is super aligned with creativity.
Top tip – If a suggestion comes into the room that makes people laugh look at it seriously, as you are probably on the right track. Don’t be afraid of making suggestions that make people laugh.
Goodwill. Creative thinking by nature is hard thinking and exhausting mentally. You need people’s goodwill to put the discretionary effort in. Invest in gaining goodwill
Top tip – Use your creative thinking to help others in solving the small stuff
Harvesting. This is about harvesting all the thinking, ideas and concepts around you all the time. We have lots of promising ideas that never get used (Seeds). Harvest these for another project or situation. It is usually the 2nd or 3rd version of an idea that is a winner. but the earlier ideas are still good
Top tip – Have a notebook of random ideas where you can jot these down. Use them as triggers in the future.
Inspiration. That instant spark of a new connection made. When the slow thinking stops, and the instant thought appears.
Top tip – Allow inspiration in by letting go of wanting it to appear.
Joyful. Being joyful leads to enhanced creativity. It’s an extraordinarily strong creative enabler.
Top tip – Do something that brings you joy, and you will be more creative.
Kind. Being kind to yourself and those around you will help creativity surface. Kind thoughts lead to creative thoughts.
Top tip – When you want to be creative do something kind, that brings you joy, and creativity is far more likely to flow.
Luck. Is not random or arbitrary, like the inspiration factor, the more you look for it the more you will find. Make your own luck.
Top tip – If you want more luck in your life look up and out or you will miss it.
Motivators. Finding people’s motivators is key to unlocking their creativity. If you find what makes them tick, you will get the discretionary subliminal effort that will ease the journey.
Top tip – Think about power, recognition, reward, mastery, process, freedom, values, security.
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Nice. Nice is a need. A pleasant environment or atmosphere oils the gears of creativity.
Top tip – Don’t sweat the small stuff if dealing it now might damage the atmosphere.
Opportunity. There is the opportunity to be creative in everything we do. In a competitive world missing that opportunity may cost you dear. Take the opportunity to apply creativity when available, (which is always.....)
Top tip – As the saying goes when opportunity knocks open the door.
Passion. If you have a passion for something the thinking comes easy You have the knowledge, you have the enthusiasm for inspiration and the chances are you will have a great feel for what night work or not.
Top tip – If you don’t have a passion for the issue find someone who has got it and ask them to join the team. Plus Ask yourself, do you know the passions of the people around you, if not – find out.
Questions. Skilfully asked questioning is a superpower to open up people’s creative thinking.
Top tip – Learn the ability to ask yourself questions and then listen to the answers before you ask yourself the next question. Reflexion.
ROI. Return on Investment, everything has a potential ROI. Firstly, know if it is +ve or -ve. Your activities and time represent investments. Don’t not give either away without a return. If the return is not enough, what do you need to do to improve it?
Top tip – Be brutal, either you get a good ROI, or something MUST change.
Seeds. Are little initial ideas that lead to other things. When you find a good seed generator value them highly. Make sure you gather every seed you meet.
Top tip – It can be hard to recognise a seed idea, so gather everything and thin out later.
Targets. Targets are dangerous. Either too low and add nothing or too high and are dispiriting but get them right and they can help keep momentum
Top tip – Set yourself targets and keep them private to you.
USP (Unique Selling Proposition). To get and deliver a USP you need creative thinking. Unique is hard and most businesses struggle with true USPs or creative thinking.
Top tip – Don’t rely on subject matter experts to give you a USP, use creative thinkers
Viable. Viability might not always be obvious at the start. Things can become viable when the doers and the completer finishers get involved.
Top tip – Use other skills to make ideas viable but know when to stop.
Whole Brain thinking. We all have thinking preferences Facts -Blue, Process - Green, People - Red and Vision - Yellow. Get a nice mix going and value everyone contribution
Top tip – Remember they are only preferences so flex your thinking in all directions
eXcitement. Creativity feeds off excitement. Push both your and the groups enthusiasm when looking to open up the thinking, forward momentum driven by excitement will push you a long way. The time for check and challenge is later.
Top tip – Excitement is a self-fulfilling prophesy. Tell yourself this is exciting, and you are halfway to making it so.
You. You are both your greatest enabler and blocker of creative thinking. Everyone is creative, so do things that allow it to appear and make them habits.
Top tip – Believe inspiration will happen and it will
Zippy thinking. Think fast and think free, be happy with half-baked ideas and carry on churning the thinking. Zippy thinking has no depth or substance, it is the skeletons of new thinking.
Top tip – It is best done privately or with someone prepared to go with the flow, not stop and build out but move on and outwards.