#322 from Innovative Leader Volume 7, Number 2          February 1998

Increasing Creativity in Business
by Caterina Rando, MA, CPPC

Ms. Rando is a business success coach and professional speaker.  Based in San Francisco, she can be reached at (415) 668-4535 or via email at CaterinaR@aol.com. www.caterinar.com/.

When I’m not with clients, I’m usually in my office writing a speech or an article.  To help my flow of ideas, I surround myself with creativity.  I have a hand-painted bright-colored mural next to my computer.  I keep fresh flowers on my desk.  In the corner is a life-size cutout of Deana Troy, my favorite character from Star Trek, the Next Generation to give me counsel when I’m having a creative block.  Creativity is a priority in my work and helps me get a lot done while I’m having fun.

If you want to be more successful and have more spunk and pizzazz in your work, your writing or your meetings, creativity is the answer.  Creativity will spruce up your project and your day and, if you let it, every aspect of your business and your life.

Mary Lou Cook, environmentalist and educator, said, “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking the rules, making mistakes and having fun.”

These are the creative things you must do more of if you want to increase your success and grow your business.  Unfortunately, creativity has its share of blocks.  The biggest blocks are familiarity and doubt, which consciously and unconsciously prevent us from believing in the use of a creative component for most tasks.

You’ll know when familiarity is sitting in your office.  Familiarity says things like, “this is the way it’s always been done,” or “this is how I was taught to do it.”  Doubt doesn’t always speak out loud, doubt instead usually speaks to you inside your head.  Doubt says things like “I’m not creative,” “I’m not artistic,” or “I’ve never done that before.”

Ten Ways

If you want to be successful, if you want to be innovative, you have to shed familiarity and doubt, and replace them with these ten ways to increase creativity.

1.  Make a commitment to creativity.

Consciously choose to increase your attention and energy on finding ways to be creative.  Look for ways to add interest to everyday events.  Let everybody in your business know that creativity is the norm, it’s expected and rewarded.

2.  Believe that there are many solutions to any challenge.

Always be looking for a new way to do the same old thing.  Everything, from how you organize your office to how quickly you respond to inquiries, can benefit from added flair brought on by a different solution or an ongoing challenge.

3.  In every process, make room for creativity.

If you keep on doing something the way you’ve been doing it, you’ll keep on getting the same result.  Go through an exercise in creative thinking whenever possible.  Spark your thinking.

Consider Association—what goes with what?  Make connections, the way you associate a spoon with a fork, or a lifejacket with a boat, or cassette with a compact disc.

Consider Combination—joining ideas together to form a new idea, like cross-promotional marketing where two or more businesses join together to make a special offer to customers.

Consider Adaptation—modifying an existing idea.  If you find an idea that streamlines your billing, you might want to use that same idea to streamline your mailings.  If you get the idea to e-mail monthly reports to all the executives, you could adapt that idea and e-mail the report to your staff as well.

Consider Substitution—replacing one thing for another.  Substitute a fax note for a thank-you note, substitute tape for glue, or a smile for an afternoon frown.

Consider Magnification—making something bigger.  If the four-foot sign brought attention, try making it eight feet and see what happens.

Consider Minification—making something smaller.  If you’re happy with the new booklet of guidelines you’ve just put together, see what will happen when you make it pocket size.

Consider Rearrangement—putting things in a different order.  Will the your report work better with the paragraph at the bottom rearranged to the top?  Try putting the trash can, that’s by the bookcase, next to your desk.

4.  Use inquiry questions.

Your brain thrives on exercise.  The best way to exercise your creativity is to ask questions.  I use inquiries with my clients.  I leave them with a question every week and ask them to reflect on it.  The next week they report their answers.  Some good questions are, how can we do this differently? How can this be easier?  What would make a big difference?  What are we overlooking?

5.  Take notes.

Taking notes increases idea retention and it also gives you ideas to build upon later.  Be sure to create a file for your notes.  More important than writing down your ideas, is to review them on a regular basis.

6.  Constantly feed curiosity.

It’s necessary to continue to grow and learn on a regular basis.  Find opportunities to expand your skill base.  Go to seminars, listen to cassettes, or subscribe to different kinds of publications.  Never hesitate to invest time with an expert.

7.  Recognize risks as a viable option.

Recognizing risk as an ever-present option creates challenges to be overcome.  Through risking, you can expand your experience and build your professional confidence.  When a challenge presents itself, make a commitment to meet it and you’ll usually come out ahead.  You’ll definitely learn something.

8.  Construct creative down time.

Plan and schedule recreation.  As a busy professional, recreation is likely to fall by the side if you don’t schedule time for it.  Take a 20 minute “mini-vacation” every day to rejuvenate yourself.  Go for a walk around the block, get in a cat nap, or play a video game.  You’ll find that this is when the creative ideas frequently present themselves, not when you’re at your desk laboring for them to come.

9.  Find a way, everyday, to be creative and have fun.

Fun is synonymous with creativity.  There’s plenty of room for fun in your workday.  Meetings are a great place to start.  I frequently hear complaints about how boring meetings are, how they drag on, and how they put people to sleep.  Never have a meeting if you’re not going to bring in some fun.  Try balloons or hats or huge pencils for everyone around the table; or perhaps start the meeting with a joke.

10.  Expect success!

When you begin your commitment to creativity, you must also anticipate positive results and know that your creativity will bring you many rewards.

Carol Osborne, entrepreneur and writer, said, “The competitive edge in the coming decades will be held by those individuals and companies who can tap into new life-driven sources of inspiration, creativity and vitality.”

Make an agreement with yourself, and those around you, that you’ll begin the process of tapping into your unlimited sources of creativity.