Foster Creativity - A reminder

I was chatting with some younger colleagues about the rapid advancements in AI and the multitude of apps released weekly. Many of you might remember when I first started experimenting with AI. One area that fascinates me is AI in movie creation and cartoons. I absolutely love Heygen and can spend hours perfecting faces and expressions. However, a recent conversation led to an "aha" moment for me.

We were discussing mockups, and there are countless programs that generate incredibly realistic mockup ideas. Let's call one of my colleagues Tom. He's been diving deep into transportation, hunting for the perfect AI program to bring his concept to life, and he shared his frustrations with me. Tom is incredibly creative with an amazing eye for design. Yet, he had become so reliant on AI that he forgot he could create the concept himself using layers. He mentioned he could always use "the old Adobe Photoshop." Hear that? "The old Adobe Photoshop."

As the coach I am, I guided Tom to Pause and rediscover his own creativity. He had the skills and experience to use the "old ways" to achieve his desired results. No matter how many apps emerge, he must never forget that he is the creative force, the innovator.

Writing is something I love to do and regardless of all the writing AI tools on the market what I want to communicate, my ideas come from me. I love writing in a chatty style because I want you to feel like we are having a conversation. However, my grammar can be horrid when writing formally. That's why Grammarly is my best friend, as it alerts me to my mistakes and helps me course correct. This tool helps my neurodiversity go unnoticed.

In my childhood, this neurodiversity made me feel less smart than my friends, especially since there wasn't much awareness of it in British infant schools. However, children are resilient, and our brains find ways to cope. My godmother gave me a collection of Mills and Boon romance novels in my tweens, which helped me overcome my reading challenges. I was never not smart; my brain was just wired differently. I’ve noticed this neurodiversity in one of my children and now in my granddaughter. So I am always supportive and encouraging constantly affirming her intelligence to build her self-confidence.

SMILE is not just for business settings it is a blueprint for life

So why share these stories? Innovation and creativity are always present in your teams. But if not fostered, encouraged, and recognized, they can be forgotten and die.

As a leader, how many times have you discounted someone or even disqualified yourself from opportunities because you underestimated creative abilities?

Here are three key takeaways:

1. AI is great, but it should enhance your creative abilities and ideas, never replace them.
2. Don’t be quick to label and dismiss people because they express their creativity differently from what you’ve seen or done.
3. Every member of your team is person who has a challenge they have overcome or going through

In the time it takes you to Pause, inhale, exhale, and physically smile, you can step into the SMILE framework and ask yourself:

• Am I being Supportive?
• Am I being Motivating?
• Am I being Inspiring?
• Am I really Listening?
• Am I being Empathetic?

Remember SMILE isn’t just to maintain delivery of outcomes it can help us all just be better citizens of the earth.