Do you have innovation in your creativity?
The world would be a dreadful place without creative people. Could you even imagine life without art? The thought alone makes me tremble.
The ways in which societies have perceived the concept of creativity have changed throughout history, as has the term itself. The ancient Greek concept of art, with the exception of poetry, involved not freedom of action but subjection to rules
What is creativity?
Creativity is a way of living life that embraces originality and makes unique connections between seemingly disparate ideas.Creativity is the production of new and useful ideas by individuals or teams and it appears in many forms and many functions within firms of all kinds, from entrepreneurial start-ups to well-established enterprises. Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality and is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing.
What is innovation?
The word “innovation” is derived from the Latin verb innovare, which means to renew. In essence, the word has retained its meaning up until today. Innovation means to improve or to replace something, for example, a process, a product, or a service. Innovation is the implementation of a new or significantly improved product, service, or process that creates value for the business, government or society.
“Creativity” is not the miraculous road to business growth and affluence that is so abundantly claimed these days. And for the line manager, particularly, it may be more of a millstone than a milestone. Those who extol the liberating virtues of corporate creativity over the somnambulistic vices of corporate conformity may actually be giving advice that in the end will reduce the creative animation of business. This is because they tend to confuse the getting of ideas with their implementation — that is, confuse creativity in the abstract with practical innovation; not understand the operating executive’s day-to-day problems; and underestimate the intricate complexity of business organizations.
Ideas Are Not Enough
Why don’t we get more innovation?
One of the most repetitious and, I am convinced, most erroneous answers we get to this question is that businessmen are not adequately creative and that they are enslaved by the incubus of conformity. It is alleged that everything in American business would be just dandy if the industry were simply more creative and if it would hire more creative people and give them the chance to show their fructifying stuff.
Many people who are full of ideas simply do not understand how an organization must operate to get things done
Openness towards ‘crazy ideas’ is a fundamental precondition for successful innovation. However, something that is difficult to imagine and seems somehow rather crazy dos not sit well with those focused on cost savings and details. More often than not the response to an innovative thought is, “If it’s such a great idea why are our competitors not doing it?” But as Einstein said, “You can recognize a great idea by the fact that it seems impossible to realize.”
But how do we tap into that creativity within us? Here are some ideas they offer in cultivating a creative spark:
- Choose creativity. Stop squashing that little kid inside of you. Make a commitment to decide you want to revive your innovative voice.
- Think like a traveler. Stop being oblivious to your surroundings and instead try to see things as if you’ve just landed in that spot and are seeing things for the first time. Expose yourself to new situations or information. Listen to a TED talk, read information from other industries and try to experience new things that may spark an idea. For example, the head of a London hospital was so impressed with the precision of a Formula One pit crew he watched on television during a race that he asked them to help train hospital staff members to improve chaotic patient handoffs from surgery to the intensive care unit.
- Daydream. Stop feeling like you’re a slacker if you aren’t actively engaged in three things at one time. New findings in neuro-psychology find that flashes of insight often come when your mind is relaxed on completing a specific task. Kelley says one of the first steps is allowing yourself to step away from the computer or smartphone, to simply allow your mind to wander. He says he reaches a creative state upon waking and often has a pen and paper nearby to jot down his ideas when his brain is in a relaxed state.
- Be empathetic. Remove your own ego from the equation when it comes to generating new ideas by taking the time to observe the people who need the solutions. What are their needs?
- Be an anthropologist. Observing people in their “natural habitat” can help generate new ideas, even if you do think you’re the expert who knows best.
- Ask “why”? Anyone who has been around a young child knows that “why?” is asked about a million times a day. Children are endlessly curious and are persistent into getting to the heart of the matter. If you ask why someone uses a landline phone, for example, you may learn that the answer has less to do with practicality and more to do with psychology.
- Reframe challenges. Before you start searching for solutions to a problem, step back to make sure you’re asking the right questions. Try humanizing the problem as shown by GE’s Doug Dietz who went from just designing MRI machines to making it more about getting young patients safely and willingly through an MRI scan.
- Build a creative network. Creative whizzes often are seen as lone wolves, but some of the best ideas come from collaboration. Begin by acknowledging to yourself that you don’t have all the answers, and working with others can help relieve the pressure. Meet people after hours to sit around and talk about innovative ideas, or use creative digital communities.
What is creativity and innovation in entrepreneurship?
In a nutshell, the two elements together involve rocking the boat: The norm is not good enough, so what else is possible, and can we make it a reality? That’s not always an acceptable direction to take. According to Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic in a Business Insider article, being creative can actually damage people’s careers in existing organizations that don’t foster raw creativity or, worse, an innovation that works and proves the norm deficient.
That said, entrepreneurship depends on every day on creation and innovation to create unique opportunities, market disruption, and new revenue streams. The internet never would have happened if scientists just settled for phone lines and satellites being sufficient for communication. Today, we can barely imagine functioning without digital access in just about everything we do.
So, both are needed, but creativity is the spark and innovation is the gas to the pedal that produces results.
