Welcome to Issue 07

In this episode, we’re not talking about a piece of creative work but about educating creativity itself.?

Helena Good, a Founder and Director of Daydream Believers and former TES FE Lecturer of the Year joins me to share her journey.

Helena spotted a problem we all recognise:

"Creativity makes a guest appearance in education”.

Right at the point when the business world is crying out for creativity, it's dangerously close to being written out of the educational experience.

Critically, she is doing something about it with a visionary resource platform Daydream Believers.

Watch this short conversation and you’ll get how smart this is – and potentially how you (and your university) can get involved.

THE NINE CONDITIONS FOR CREATIVITY

In Newsletter 02 I introduced The Conditions for Creativity organisations need to nurture to fuel competitive advantage.

In Newsletter 06 I took a look at Imagination.

PART 5 PEOPLE –?Motivation

Research tells us that there are two forms of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic. While this distinction may seem ‘academic’ it's useful to know because it's what we will recognise in our experience.

Intrinsic motivation is defined as being motivated to perform because it is internally rewarding. You do it because you want to and because it satisfies your psychological needs. You are driven or compelled to express yourself.

Extrinsic Motivation is driven more by the gain of an external reward. The outcome is your goal such as money, fame or power.?

For creativity to flourish only one form of motivation is particularly useful. Can you guess which one?

Yup, intrinsic.

We are indebted to the work of Prof. Teresa Amabile at Harvard for decades of creativity research. One of the defining characteristics she brought to light for me was how extrinsic motivation can depress creativity in people/teams. Her research reinforces the centrality of the point that people are most creative when they are motivated primarily by the interest, enjoyment, satisfaction, and challenge inherent in the work itself.

I’m sure you will feel this has been your experience too. Far from a notion it is evidenced in practice. External rewards can bring unwelcome pressures, distractions and behaviours to the creative task. Whereas, being surrounded by folk who feel compelled to resolve challenges ‘because they are there’ can be so much more liberating.

So when you are building a team or department and creating the environment for them to work in bear this in mind.

Pretty much no amount of ‘carrot’ will produce better creative work.

PROVOCATION OF THE MONTH

Is collaboration between university creatives and their external partners important, and how do you make it work?

I think it’s important because:

Having both sets of experience increases the size of your toolbox and the diversity of thinking

Any internal team (from marketing through to academics) can become siloed, blinkered and prone to falling back on the familiar

Every market sector (including Higher Education) is highly competitive, so access to both institutional expertise and the outsider perspective can improve your preparedness for disruption

The evidence from academic research proves that creativity benefits from both a deep knowledge relevant to the problem (and what’s been tried before), along with a willingness to break old habits – even break the rules

What do you think?

More in Issue 08 or read more now

And remember ... universities should be the most exciting brands in the world.

IN THE NEXT ISSUE

• We’ll review another piece of outstanding creative work
• The Conditions for Creativity: Part 6: PEOPLE – Expertise
• Creative collaboration

Look out for it – see you soon!