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By Paul Rousseau
For humans, creating is quite ordinary (Weisberg 1986; Perkins, 1981). People have to be creative just to get by! Every moment of every day individuals are faced with an ever-changing set of circumstances and they adapt and generate new ways of doing things quite routinely. Cooks run out of salt and use or invent other ingredients that have the same function; traffic gets blocked and drivers find other ways to get to their destination. Examples of everyday creativity are everywhere
Sometimes we need more than routine creativity. Stubborn problems and expectations of continuous innovation demand extraordinary creativity. Extraordinary creativity is conscious, intentional, deliberate and systematic. It's the kind of creativity required in the workplace when the boss says "We have a big problem!"
In a workplace full of bright, intelligent, educated people the potential for great ideas is very high. Unfortunately, they seldom materialize when needed. Why? Ideas fail to develop into solutions and new products and services for four basic reasons.
- emergent ideas self-abort in the minds of people
- ideas are put forth in a vacuum, a "solution looking for a problem"
- people often do not have the skills to present ideas in attractive ways
- the workplace environment is "idea toxic."
This article will explore each of these idea barriers and recommend ways to overcome them.
Helping Your Emergent Ideas Develop From Glimpses to Products
Ideas begin as glimpses of emergent ideas, usually appearing as sensations, a gut feeling that something is coming through. Unless glimpses are translated into conscious thought, typically recognized as self-talk, they don't appear into our consciousness. Consequently, the quickly vanish into the ether. Thousands of emergent ideas sail right through our minds every day undetected, like neutrinos passing through our bodies.
The ability to capture these low voltage impulses is a skill, also requiring an attitude of openness and deferred judgment. Your chances capturing glimpses and converting them in to "whispers" greatly increases if you practice meditation and pay attention to your inner dialogue, and to the every changing sensations in your body.
Once trapped in your mind, note taking, dialogue and careful concentration will raise the whisper to a higher level of development called a "notion." At this stage you, the creator, becomes aware of mental pictures of the emerging idea. This visual imagery allows observation of patterns. It is at this point that nascent ideas can be expressed to supportive, accepting colleagues and friends. In a way, the idea at this stage is 'half baked' and one must be careful with whom to share it with.
The main benefit of verbally expressing your impression to others is that you will be able to 'think out loud' and further develop the notion to the next stage of development called a 'concept.'
At this point idea can 'go public.' It can be compared with similar concepts and perhaps expressed in writing and with supporting graphics. The emergent idea is now at a point in its development that others can begin to 'connect' with it in a meaningful way. The concept will begin to "make sense" to others and is now more likely to accepted.
Building a prototype is the next level of idea development. Working models can be built and the idea begins standing on its own. At this stage of development it is subject to evaluation and now stands a better chance of being taken seriously, assuming the prototype is given birth in a idea friendly environment.
The prototype will attract feedback and challenges. This new information will suggest revisions before the idea is beta-tested and then implemented as a new product or a new vision..
There is much that can go wrong along the long road between a glimpse and a product. Knowing that there are recognizable stages of development can help the process of idea development. Developing heightened kinesthetic sensitivity will build awareness of emergent ideas, deferring judgment will help convert glimpses to whispers, sharpening your visualization skills will support the transition of whispers into notions, developing systemic thinking skills will assist you in recognizing concept patterns; and learning how to present your early ideas to others will move your notions into concepts and prototypes and eventually new or improved products and services.
A seasoned creativity assistant can be of tremendous assistance in helping move your ideas through the development stages. Deliberate creativity tools and techniques that can be learned from books, courses and seminars will also help your master the idea birthing process described above.
Welcome to the place where you can finally get to work on your dream!
HowMuchJoy.com
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