1. Creativity @ the Workplace
CREATIVITY

2. Creativity is the ability to see
relationship where none exist
Thomas Disch

3. Where the brain develops
its ability to IMAGE, so it develops
its thinking capacity, its perceptual
abilities, its memory, its creativity
and its confidence
Tony & Barry Buzan

4. Cultural programming can continue
for years and eventually operates at
the “unconscious” level. It can take
up to three generations for a culture
to change.
~ Ed Hall~

5. The illiterate of the year 2000 will
not be the individual who cannot
read and write, but the one who
cannot Learn, Unlearn and Relearn
~ Alvin Toffler ~

6. Creative Process
EXPERIMENT
SELECTION
PERFECTION
NEED
OBSERVATION
NEED
ANALYSIS
NEW IDEA
CRITICAL
ANALYSIS
OF SOLUTIONS
SURVEY
INFORMATION
FORMULATE
SOLUTIONS
Joseph Wallas, 1926

7. Disney Strategy Creative Process
CRITIC
DREAMER
REALIST

8. Creative Process
EVALUATION
ORIENTATION
SYNTHESIS
PREPARATION
INCUBATION
ANALYSIS
IDEATION
Alex Osborn, 1950s

9. Creative Process
COMMUNICATE
RESULTS
HYPOTHESIS
TESTING
HYPOTHESIS FORMATION
Prof. Morris Stein

10. Creative Process
INFORMATION
ILLUSTRATION
INCUBATION
CREATIVE
PROCESS
INTEGRATION
Andy Green
ILLUMINATION

11. Phases of creativity
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Preparation
Concentration
Incubation
Illumination
Evaluation
Application
Carol Goman

12. Uccello Process for Non-Stop Creativity
IMPLEMENT
DECIDE
EVALUATE
COLLECT
COMBINE
EXPERIMENT
NEW
IDEAS
INCUBATE

13. Four Stages of Creativity
• Graham Wallas, 1926
PREPARATION
VERIFICATION
INCUBATION
ILLUMINATION

14. Stages of Creative Thinking
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•
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•
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1st soft divergent
What if
Why not
Metaphor
Analogy
Breaking rules
•
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2nd hard convergent
Will it work?
Can we do it?
Does it fit in?
Who can help?
Suppose it fails?

15. Metaphorical Thinking
• Aristotle wrote that “the greatest thing by far
is to be the master of metaphor.”
• Metaphor is a mark of genius
• How is my job like driving a ferrari?

16. Analogy
• Comparison between one event or item and
something else that is similar
• Life is like a grapefruit because you just start
to enjoy it and it squirts you in the eye.
• Life is like….because…

17. Brainstorming
•
•
•
•
Suspend judgment
Free-wheel
Quantity
Cross-fertilise

18. Brainstorming
1. State the problem
2. Restate the problem --- How to…
3. Select basic restatement --- In how many
ways can we…
4. Warm-up
5. Brainstorm
6. Wildest idea

19. Barriers in Creativity & Thinking

20. Barriers
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•
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Learning Styles
Purpose
Physiology
Psychology
Teaching Styles
Environment
Rewards
•
•
•
•
Intelligence
Perception
Conformity
Fear self-imposed
barrier

21. “almost all errors in thinking are
errors of perception”
Prof David Perkins, Harvard

22. GENDER INFLUENCE

23. As military aircraft become more
complex, perhaps in the future
women rather than men will be
more likely to pass the aptitude and
performance test
SP Reid

24. Barriers
• Culture
– Traditional
– Authority
– Face
– Harmony
– Individualism vs Collectivism
– Language
– Norms

25. Cultural programming can continue
for years and eventually operates at
the “unconscious” level. It can take
up to three generations for a culture
to change.
~ Ed Hall~

26. Possible Barriers (?)
• Culture
MORE Asian
We
MORE Western
I
Harmony
Rote learning
Authority
Hierarchical
Face
Respond when spoken
Assertiveness
Critical thinking
Egalitarian
Task
Self-esteem
Self-reliance

27. Conditionings
Social / Culture
• maintaining status quo
Family
• Parental authority
Religion
• Sin, right, wrong
Work place
• Procedures

28. PERCEPTION

32. FEELINGS / EMOTION

33. GUT / INSTINCT

34. HABITUAL PATTERNS

35. BEING in the NOW
Listening & Meditation

36. Thoughts
Perception
Decision

37. If we believe what we need is in
short supply, we will fight all the
harder to acquire or hoard it
SP Reid

38. Labeling / Definition

39. Personal values

40. If you wish to conquer,
first conquer yourself.
Chinese Proverb

41. Food for Thought
• The danger of training, where talents doesn’t
exist or is weak, is that we burn out before any
significant improvement shows. We also waste
time, energy and cost, and no matter how
good the training, at least we can only achieve
mediocracy. If we want mastery, we must train
where a natural talent already exists to a
strong degree
• Peter Shephard

42. Don’t try to put in what was left out.
Try to draw out what was left in
~ Buckingham and Coffman ~

43. Benefiting from Creativity
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Day-to-day solutions
Improve quality of life
Organisation’s effectiveness
Break out from the mundane routines

44. REMEMBER
• We can change our patterns by looking from a
different perspective
• Creativity involves changing our assumptions
and beliefs

45. RECOGNIZE THAT EVERYONE HAS
THE ABILITY TO BE CREATIVE

46. The OTHER Aspects

47. You need THESE too
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•
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Breathing
Eating
Aerobic exercise
Sleep
Mental energy – thoughts & emotions

48. Happiness vs Self-awareness

49. A problem is a chance for you to
do your best
Duke Ellington

50. People don’t resist change. They
resist being changed
Peter Senge

51. Mindset
• Most used patterns will be the strongest
• Can be a hindrance, dangerous