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| Silhouettes: A dance team from Denver CO, contestants America's Got Talent. VERY Cool & SO CREATIVE See them in Action Here |
I can't tell you how many times I have heard those four little deadly words come from the mouth of a professional. Know this: YOU are CREATIVE. It is alive in you and may be dormant after years of not using your creativity but it is there and if you create the right conditions for yourself (and your team members, direct reports, organization, kids, family, etc) it will freely flow.
You can BE your own Picasso!
Can you create the right conditions for nurturing creativity? YES you can. The following THREE conditions will get you started.
#1: Create parameters for your creativity
When you tell someone or a group of someone's "BE creative" you get a lot of blank stares. An endless universe of possibilities will actually stifle creativity because it paralyzes people when there is too much to choose from. You need parameters to work within. Let me give you an example. In my presentation building workshops there is a lot of group work and opportunity to be creative. In order to create the right conditions for creative ideas to flow forth I say "Create a five minute presentation".
NO! I don't say that. Create a five minute presentation does not inspire ideas or movement on the part of the group it just makes them feel stuck--stuck like a brokedown car on the side of the creativity highway.
Instead I say: "Create a five minute career day presentation for a classroom of 10 year olds". Now there are some parameters to work with. If I sense the group is struggling, I will sit down and provide a little more. "Imagine this group of 10 year olds are in art class (or science or math)" or "Imagine these kids did a career assessment and they tested high for architecture and engineering" or "Imagine these kids come from homes where education is not a priority, their parents don't have high school diplomas and no one has ever been to college". My job is to "water and feed" the artist in each person in the group so that they can plug into their inner Picasso.
A few years ago I was working with a group of architects in a leadership group. One of their assignments was to create a career day presentation. Lauren, a smart and talented architect chose to do her presentation for a third grade girl scout troop (love the specificity of her audience!). She came in to do the presentation for me and started by handing my a big zip loc bag filled with construction paper, glue, scissors, and a pencil. Her presentation walked me (a third grade girl scout) through the process of designing a school. With each step I used something from my goodie bag to design my own school.
The presentation was in a word BRILLIANT (I still get a little teary eyed when I remember it!).
Once you draw the lines to work within, the next step for nurturing creativity is to
#2. BE ready to LABOR & BE OK with it.
Creativity, like anything else worthwhile, is a process. Part of that process is not fun. In fact it sucks. It might be a stage where you feel stuck, frustrated, exhausted, angry, defeated, agonized and more. And it is OK. It is a part of the process. Sit in it. Muck around in it. This part of the process is necessary and good. This stage is where break-throughs happen. Just when you feel like you are careening off the side of the mountain--SPARK! FIRE! FLAME! GENUIS! will happen. I know because I have been there. I have watched it happen.
Typically when you reach this stage you bail. This reaction is certainly understandable as this stage is uncomfortable and awkward (especially if you are working with a group). I can think of no better resource to direct you toward than Sally Hogshead's slide share on this stage of the creativity process. She calls it "Sit on the Throne of Agony" and you should take a few minutes to investigate. Click here to view "Sit on the Throne of Agony"
Our final condition then? Yes let's do it.
#3: Change your environment.
A stuffy office conference room is not the ideal spot for a creativity love fest. Foster conditions that are outside of normal to encourage creativity. Go on field trips. Visit museums, take a car trip down the interstate and look at billboard signs. Go somewhere and watch people and how they behave. Do something. Something different! Go outside and work in the air, sunlight, birds chirping and breeze blowing. Creativity needs some time outside the rigmarole of office life: phones, computers, interruptions, deadlines, email, voicemail, facebook, irritating co-workers, irritating boss (haha) and more.
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| Inspiration Exists but it has to find us working | Pablo Picasso |
I think Picasso and the other great masters would agree. There is an artist in all of us. There is one living in you. Throughout life our creativity gets beat out of us through our education, business life and more. But it is there. If you take the time to create the right conditions to nurture it, like a sleeping giant, it will emerge.
I wish you much success in your CREATIVE endeavors!
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