It’s True! We Need Creativity to Survive

Creativity is labeled as a liberating force is a variety of spheres. However, it is often rejected in the workplace which requires a certain level of creativity to succeed and reach the right markets. Creative are often rejected along with their discipline in industries that do not necessarily believe that creativity has a place in the corporate environment.

What’s the problem with creativity?

Creativity is a process that involves original ideas with value. Over time, the value of these ideas has somehow been distanced from the actual idea-generation process. Short, online creative thinking courses have opened doors for “non-creatives” to quickly and easily become so-called “creatives”. However, they have not necessarily endured the blood, sweat making things using your creativity. As a result, creativity has now been distanced from its original purpose-problem-solving.

Why do we need more creativity?

As economic, environmental and human challenges begin to get rife around the world, we need to start finding ideas that are far-reaching as well as disrupt and challenge the overarching status quo. Creativity needs to become our method of creating an impact as opposed to simply being a distraction. The value of creativity should be recognized as being competitive and critical tools for problem-solving in our communities.

Here are 5 strategies for achieving this:

1. Show, rather than tell

The creative process is worthless without creating and reflecting on something tangible and actionable. Creating simple prototypes can give substance and value to a creative solution. Making your ideas visible for users to interact with and react to, can give you an idea of how to proceed.

2. Process versus goal

Don’t be afraid to consider outrageous ideas and solutions to a problem. Most brainstorming sessions encourage wild and silly ideas without any criticism, ensuring a safe space for idea-sharing. This encourages the creative process to be more thoughtful and often results in the best solutions.

3. Idea interrogation

Great ideas come from leaps in logic and seeing connections which may not have been seemingly obvious. These ideas become brilliance once you have discovered them, especially if they were not particularly obvious at first. It’s important to clearly communicate ideas that others can easily understand for your idea to progress. It may be a difficult process, however necessary to strengthen your ingenious concepts.

4. Re-imagination of authorship

The myth that great inventions are the result of a lone inventor that slogs away in the middle of the night, thinking up life-changing ideas, is somewhat false. In reality, the majority of brilliant ideas are the product of co-creation. Authorship, a powerful concept in creativity, should be treated as a responsibility rather than control. It’s a case of cultivating an idea, rather than owning it.

5. Celebrate resiliency

Don’t celebrate failure. It does not provide insights which are necessary to progress from a failed attempt. Focus on resilience instead, be flexible and transform your observations by learning from failure in order to create new opportunities.