Creative Creatures by Mark Simmonds

we are all creative

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

4 / In a nutshell 6 / The 5 creative archetypes 16 / What motivates each archetype 18 / Explaining the creative ID 20 / Applying creative behaviours to everyday challenges 24 / Creativity for individuals working alone 26 / Getting more out of team brainstorm sessions 28 / Leading creativity 30 / Creativity for the logical ones â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 5 steps 32 / Creativity for the introverts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6 top tips 34 / Creativity for the time pressed - 5 shortcuts 36 / Creative behaviour boosters 48 / Seven deadly spoilers of creativity 50 / Questions frequently asked about Creative Creatures BACK / Contact Creative Creatures

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IN A NUTSH ELL

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We unlock the creative potential in individuals, teams, and business processes to help companies generate better, fresher solutions more often...

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Stimulators are creatures of diversity who love exploring new angles and avenues. They effortlessly generate lots of new ideas and their inspiration comes from many different sources. They are very curious about the world around them and enjoy hopping from one topic to the next! Without Stimulators, the flower bed of ideas would be barren!

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Spotters are able to absorb all the stimuli available and unearth little gems which other people might miss. They are comfortable dealing with lots of inputs simultaneously, and intuitively make connections between seemingly unrelated information. When they do so, what emerges is often the beginnings of a big idea. Without Spotters, the most valuable idea nuggets would go unnoticed.

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Sculptors are the builders and storytellers of this world. Their clear vision enables them to turn half-formed thoughts into fully formed ideas. In doing so, the ideas become better and stronger. Sculptors are able to bring ideas to life so others â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;get itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by using either words or images or both. Without Sculptors, ideas are rarely implemented.

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Selectors are great at separating the good from the not so good. They do so by using information or intuition or both. They are comfortable comparing options, and naturally consider the commercial and practical implications of each. The best Selectors are objective and ask questions to help them understand the wider context better. Without Selectors, ideas might not address your goal.

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Supporters are the oil that makes the wheels turn and the glue that sticks teams together. They love facilitating the journey to reach the end goal. They understand group dynamics and are able to sense peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; individual energies. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re good at putting themselves in the shoes of others and see challenges from different perspectives. Without Supporters, people would not have the confidence to take risks.

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WHAT MOTIVATES EACH ARCH ET YPE?

• Plenty of stimulus (verbal, visual, physical) • Time to explore alternatives • Different perspectives • Freedom to develop novel ideas • Finding inspiration from • parallel worlds

• Plenty of information/data to sift through • Time to spot patterns and make connections • Incentive to locate the BIG IDEA • Willingness of others to suspend judgment

• Powerful starting ideas to work with • A clear vision of what ‘great’ looks like • Time, space and • resource to be able to sculpt and build. • Constructive feedback and builds from others

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• Having developed ideas to judge • Clarity around selection criteria • Sufficient information to make sound judgments • A commitment to act as a result

• Working with a team of people on a project • Dealing with personalities with contrasting but complementary skills • ”Being valued for the facilitative, motivating and enabling role they can play in the creative process

of selection

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EXPL AININ G TH E CREATIVE ID What is the Creative ID? It is a visual representation of the results of your completed survey. The survey was developed in partnership with Sheffield University in 2008. It illustrates your strengths and weaknesses across each of the 5 creative behaviours, relative to one another, not relative to other people. ‘Spiky’ versus ‘Rounded’? (see right) A ‘spiky’ creative ID is where one or two behaviours score significantly higher than the others. A ‘rounded’ creative ID is one where there is little difference in scores across all five behaviours. Neither types of creative ID is better than the other. So what?! By better understanding the 5 creative behaviours, your creative ID and the creative IDs of those around you, you will be able to apply this information in a number of different settings, both as an individual, a team and leader. You will be also be clearer about the areas that you can target for personal development.

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Spiky Creative ID

Rounded Creative ID Rounded Creative ID

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APPLYIN G CREATIVE BEHAVIOURS TO EVERYDAY CHALLEN GES

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1) We always seem to come up with the same ideas – how do I inject truly fresh thinking into my project? Stimulators think of parallel cases/ challenges which they then deepdive into to discover interesting principles that can be re-applied to stimulate innovative solutions within their own project in new and unexpected ways. Supporters are great at reaching out to a diverse set of people who might provide them with fresh perspectives and stimulating ideas. Sculptors will take it upon themselves to find different ways of expressing the same core idea (either through words or images) to try and find a new angle or perspective 2) My geographically-dispersed company has banned all nonessential travel – how do I have meaningful creative exchanges without having to bring people together? Stimulators are good at coming up with entirely new ways of doing things – their natural inclination to challenge orthodoxies leads them to explore new technologies and look for different ways that people can collaborate and interact with one another.

Spotters will pinpoint other companies, teams and/or situations where the same issue has occurred. They will look at these examples with the purpose of taking the core principle and reapplying them in a meaningful way to their own context. 3) Idea generation sometimes seems like the easy part – but how do I influence others so my ideas have a better chance of being implemented? Sculptors are good at influencing those around them through the logical yet captivating way they bring their ideas to life. They’re also masters of the ‘elevator pitch’ – which is an important skill considering everyone’s busy agendas! Supporters know how to identify possible ‘champions’ for their ideas who in turn are able to spread the word and help implement the idea through to launch. Selectors win people over by identifying how the idea fits either with existing projects, or with the overall brand/business strategy, or both. That way they’re able to gain traction for their ideas.

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4) There are a lot of initiatives going on across the business – how do I ensure my project gains the traction needed to make it happen? Sculptors are naturally good at the implementation phase. They know how to capture peoples’ minds by creating a great story, which ensures a project shines as brightly as possible. And they continuously keep their projects ‘front of mind’ through regular and relevant updates. Supporter-led projects are always enjoyable to work on. As a result, people will go the extra mile to champion your cause and make things happen, even if the project is not at the top of their priority list. 5) Senior management only seem to support ideas that are tried and tested – how do I encourage them to take risks so the company becomes more innovative? Selectors are good at ‘fast forwarding’ into the future. This skill helps them generate the best and worst scenarios - an exercise that’s always useful when trying to predict possible implications of taking the road less travelled. Sculptors are good at turning intangible thoughts into tangible ideas. By making ideas concrete, Sculptors remove a lot of the ambiguities that often characterise breakthrough ideas, thus helping senior management embrace a more innovative approach. 22

Supporters are good at making others feel comfortable about being uncomfortable – and when it comes to innovation – feeling uncomfortable is inevitable! So rather than remove the discomfort the senior managers are faced with, Supporters help them embrace this key condition related to innovation. Stimulators are always looking to push the boundaries, curious about what is possible and what has not been tried before 6) Everyone spends a lot of time in meetings – how can we ensure we use our collective creativity in order to reach a constructive outcome… every time? Selectors are good at taking a helicopter view which helps them frame up where people are along a project journey/specific challenge as well as enabling them to articulate the purpose of the meeting. Their desire to cut to the chase means they’ll always try to bring the conversation back to the key issues. Supporters are natural facilitators - they ensure everyone is listened to and make it their job that differing opinions are actually heard and taken seriously. They are good at resolving conflicts and at turning differing views into constructive creative conversations. They are also good at shaping meetings, ensuring that the right creative behaviour is used at the right time

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Spotters often sit back and on the surface don’t seem to contribute very often. However, they’re always listening carefully to the conversation and are good at picking out the valuable nuggets amongst what often seems like a stream of words! 7) We seem to doubt which direction to take whenever we have more than one idea on the table – how can we ensure we confidently choose the right path to follow? Selectors are masters at making decisions. Unlike some people, they don’t feel burdened by the weight that often lies in making key decisions or taking tough choices. In fact, they relish weighing up the pros & cons and enjoy the sense of achievement they feel from narrowing things down. Sculptors love bringing things to life. And when it comes to deciding which path to follow, often all you need to do is to develop your ideas up a little bit further so you can ‘try them on for size’ in order to more clearly see which one fits best! Supporters may not be the ones making the actual decisions, however they’re instrumental to the decision-making process since they help others feel comfortable about the choices they take.

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How do you maximise the resources around you to increase your creative productivity when working ‘solo’?

CREATIVIT Y FOR INDIVIDUALS WORKIN G ALON E 24

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8/7. Just got a brief from the boss. Some ideas for a new product concept by next week please! Deadlines everywhere, my inbox over-flowing, no time to organise a workshop, but I must deliver! 8/7. Re-stock my personal Stimulus Store : A2 poly board, different shaped post-its, Sharpie pens, blue tack. Look at the boss’s brief, re-sculpt the words, check out the re-expressed version with her, write it up on to a big post it note in the centre of the poly board. 9/7. Time for a stimulating Digital Deep Dive. 1) Ask for help from the Innovation group on the corporate Yammer site; 2) Visit www.Slideshare.net where I access a powerpoint presentation on the category; 3) Flick through Google images for some visual stimulation; 4) Post the challenge on the Linked-In Consumer Insights Interest Group; 5) Check out www.Ted.com for any inspiring talks. A few early ideas for the poly board. 10/7. Persuade two colleagues to go on a Walk n Talk after lunch. 20 minutes of free flowing conversation around the challenge. Building not burying. Fresh air, endorphins flowing. Plenty of supportive behaviours. Back into the office, a quick peek at Yammer and Linked-In . A few more ideas for the poly board.

12/7. Slept on things for a couple of days. The Magic of the Night and a Cycle Ride worked wonders. Had a few more ideas myself as a result. Checked in on Yammer and Linked-In and got even more thoughts! Added more post-it notes to the poly board. 15/7. Bought some competitor products at the weekend. Invited my two Walk n Talk buddies for a 20 minute Spot and Cluster session in the office canteen. Grouped all the collected thoughts and spotted some key themes and ideas. Used the brief to select the three strongest. 16/7. Working from home. Music on. A 1 hour Sculpting Session turning ideas into concepts. Bought some visuals from www. istockphoto.com to illustrate. Sent out a Creative 999 email to 3 new people in the target market, asking for feedback on the concepts. 17/7. Got some great builds in the morning. Sculpted the concepts further as a result and then spent a bit of time rehearsing how I was going to present to my boss. Wanted to use the Story Telling Technique for as much impact as possible. 18/7. Meeting with boss in 30 minutes……….. 6 digital sources. Input from sixteen people. About 6 hours’ work. 3 great ideas. Pretty confident!

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Participated in a brainstorming session that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t half as productive as it should have been? Think about the process you follow and the people you involve.

GETTIN G MORE OUT OF TEAM BRAINSTORMIN G SESSIONS 26

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Process: Break your next brainstorming session into five ‘behaviour zones’ and adapt your thinking when focusing on each of them. 1. Stimulation: Download all the ideas in everyone’s heads; quantity being as important as quality 2. Spotting: Find the connections between all the different bits of stimulus and spot the nuggets with potential 3. Sculpting: Build the nuggets into fully formed ideas and find the best way to express the ideas through words and/or images 4. Selecting: Use both intuition and logic to select the strongest ideas 5. Supporting: Continuously ensure the team works together to get the most out of each ‘behaviour zone’

People: Now that you have designed your session, identify the people who will contribute the most at each stage. 1. Stimulators: Who is it that always generates lots of ideas? Who naturally comes up with random thoughts? 2. Spotters: Who is able to spot the little gems of potential from lots of stimulus? Who is good at seeing emerging patterns? 3. Sculptors: Who is able to transform initial thoughts into fully formed ideas? Who can express an idea so others ‘get it’? 4. Selectors: Who is able to select the ideas that are most likely to succeed? Who is good at making the right decisions? 5. Supporters: Who has the ability to facilitate the team to reach a successful outcome? Who is good at getting the most out of others?

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LEADIN G CREATIVIT Y Deflator You are pretty happy with how things are, and do not really want to rock the boat too much! You tend to settle for the first option presented, the obvious solution, the easiest alternative You very rarely provide the team with any guidance on the potential of the ideas that they present to you You have little sense of destination. You do not really have a strong idea of what your vision is for the team/the department You might talk the talk, but you don’t walk the walk, and you do not encourage the team to get ideas implemented You tend to have too many projects on your ‘to do’ list and they often end up not getting fully completed You do not tend to think strategically and end up pursuing many ad hoc projects that will not meet the objectives of the business You do not place very much emphasis on either recognition or reward or the importance of a positive physical working environment In your view, one or two people in your team are creative, the others are not, and you tend to focus on the former only for fresh ideas 28

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Inflator You act as an innovation role model by always challenging the status quo and questioning assumptions (Stimulator) You constantly push your team to see if there are new angles that they have not yet considered (Stimulator) You encourage the team to consult you when they need an intuitive perspective on where the most powerful ideas might lie (Spotter) You effortlessly rally people behind a future goal/common vision by painting a clear and vivid picture of where the team is heading and why (Sculptor) You provide your team with the resources and guidance that they need to make their ideas concrete, communicate them clearly and move them through to implementation (Sculptor) There are always lots of new things you could do, but you make it your task to prioritise the things that your team should do (Selector) You always bring your team back to the bigger strategic picture and review new ideas in the context of clear criteria and overall business objectives (Selector) You put a lot of time and effort in creating a supportive environment so that your team have the courage and inspiration to offer up their boldest solutions (Supporter) When leading a new project, you always spend time with each person to best leverage their functional expertise and unique creative strengths (Supporter) 29

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CREATIVIT Y FOR TH E LOGICAL ON ES 5 STEPS

How can we make the creative process more accessible to the rational ones, those that prefer method to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;madnessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, the left brainers rather than the right brainers?

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Step 1) Select the issue that requires fresh thinking: Before beginning the process of generating and developing possible solutions, it is important to step back, re-visit the issue or the challenge and define it as tightly and concretely as possible. High involvement from the Logical ones is needed here. Step 2) Stimulate thinking around the issue: This is probably the most right brained part of the creative process and one where left brained individuals often feel least comfortable. One creative technique that encourages participation from the logically inclined is to get them to think how a similar problem has been resolved in another world by another brand outside the category. In one sense, you are simply ‘stealing’ what has been developed elsewhere and using this for the resolution of your own problem. Step 3) Spot nuggets with potential: Having generated stimulus in the previous step, it is now time to make connections between different pieces of stimulus to identify the seeds of a powerful idea. This is the equivalent of a detective looking at all the evidence

in an incident room to piece together a hypothesis for ‘who did it’! If you are a rationally minded person, you will often feel more comfortable with this step of the process as you are dealing with the hard and tangible facts generated in step 2. Step 4) Sculpting the nuggets to develop ideas: Once nuggets with potential have been generated in step 3, it is time to build these in to ideas and concepts that can be communicated and expressed more easily with internal and external audiences. Some people are naturally good at this, others not, but this step (requiring the precision skills of an architect and a builder) is not the sole domain of the right brainer! Step 5) Selecting winning ideas: The preserve of the left brained brigade! This is the time to use a number of objective criteria (with some subjective judgment thrown in) to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the developed ideas in the previous step. Even if your participation in the creative process as a logically minded individual has been limited to date, this is your time to shine!

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CREATIVIT Y FOR TH E INTROVERTS 6 TOP TIPS

Creativity is not just for extraverts!! Charles Darwin. Albert Einstein. Steve Wozniak. Isaac Newton. J.K. Rowling. Christina Aguilera. All proud introverts!! An introvert is someone comfortable being in their own company and doing things on their own, whereas an extravert thrives off the energy of others around them.

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Scenario: A team of managers has been asked to develop some new ideas over a period of 4 weeks, and a 1 day workshop is part of the mix. 1) On the assumption that introverts can be as creatively productive as extraverts but might require a different environment within which to flourish, find out who is who, and establish which conditions for creativity are required by both to thrive. 2) Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t rely on the workshop alone to develop ideas. Provide a period of time for ideation pre and post the workshop that will allow the introverts the luxury of some quiet â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;me-timeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to develop some fresh thinking (shower time, alone in Starbucks time, walking the dog time). 3) When you design the ideation workshop, make sure that you allow enough individual time for the introverts to do their own thinking. Allow plenty of time for them to escape the main conference room, find a little cubby hole and chew the cud alone.

4) All the evidence suggests that large groups of 6-8 people are not as creatively productive as smaller working groups of 2, 3 or 4. Smaller group sizes are much less painful for introverts and actually much more generative for anybody, whether extravert or introvert. 5) Within the creative process, for example taking an initial idea and sculpting it in to something more concrete, it is often a one man job rather than a task for the committee. An introverted sculptor just needs a quiet room and some quality, uninterrupted time to turn the rough nugget in to a golden necklace. 6) Remember it might be the case that the extravert possesses the verbal abilities to present their ideas more forcibly and eloquently than the quietly spoken introvert. But it might also be the case that the introvert has thought up the more original and insightful ideas. Make sure that the introverts get as much air time as the extraverts.

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CREATIVIT Y FOR TH E TIME PRESSED 5 SH ORTCUTS

Your inbox is full and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only 9am. You have got back to back meetings lined up all day. How is it possible to find the time or space to be creative ?

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1) Festering and fermenting: The problem with both creativity and innovation is the expectation that great ideas can be generated at a certain time in a certain place. However, it is much more of an iterative process, requiring toing and froing. So instead of organising a time-consuming 2 day workshop, set people the challenge and provide them with a week to come up with some fresh thinking on their own, using shower time, walking time, ‘magic of the night’ time. 2) Divide and conquer: The creative process requires different kinds of behaviours and some of us are better than others at putting these into practice. For example, one step in any creative process is to generate lots of initial thoughts and ideas. Some people are naturally good Stimulators. Leave them to collect the stimulus. Another step in the process is to pick out the gems with potential, to locate the ‘hidden nuggets’. Allow the Spotters to find the gold. 3) Steal with pride: Any challenge that you might have has most likely been faced by another brand or another business. So instead of trying to re-invent the wheel, look for inspiration from outside your world that will also serve to save you time inside it.

Virgin Atlantic, when faced with the challenge of reducing stress for their business class travellers not only introduced a limousine service to pick passengers up from their homes, but they also developed a massage service to provide relaxation in flight. 4) Virtual brainstorming: If more and more people are wedded to the office computers, then how could you use their time in front of their pcs by being innovative and creative? Screendragon, a project and process management software provider have developed a service called TableTop which enables teams to collaborate virtually by holding interactive idea generation sessions on line. 5) Sprinting not jogging: Jake Knapp, working with Google Ventures has pioneered an approach with some colleagues, whereby the usual innovation process which might take weeks or months is compressed into a 5 day period involving a small team of people. A combination of individual and team working, the development of tangible prototypes to explore the ideas and the involvement of consumers on the final day all contribute to making the process much leaner, more efficient and more effective. 35

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BEHAVIOUR BOOSTERS

Take a post-it note pad and brainstorm ideas around the topic or challenge at your desk. Make things visual to increase levels of stimulation

A 10 minute Walk n’ Talk with a colleague, outside the office environment, always building on and never burying ideas. That’s the rule!

03 Send out a 999 email around a challenge to ‘known’ Stimulators, asking them for ideas by return. Be prepared to return the favour!

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Use Google Images, TED talks, the Behance creative community etc. to stimulate your senses on line when resolving a challenge. A digital deep dive

Write the problem down on a BIG post-it note at your desk, give yourself a 3 day incubation period to let fresh ideas ferment. Jot down thoughts daily

Think what another company, brand or person (outside your category), would do facing a similar challenge, and steal inspiration with pride

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BEHAVIOUR BOOSTERS

Create an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Incident Wallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; with all the data displayed visually so that it is easier to make the connections to identify the nuggets

Give yourself quiet time and space to be able to digest, absorb all the data in front of you

03 Force yourself to make connections between at least four different sources of data to develop the nugget of an idea

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Discipline yourself into writing down a phrase or two that sums up the essence of the idea you have spotted

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be frightened to use your intuition only when spotting ideas with potential. Trust your gut!

Be prepared to explain how you see the nugget of your idea blossoming into something more complete and commercially interesting

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BEHAVIOUR BOOSTERS

Make sure that you can articulate a clear vision of what the idea will look like when it is finished before you start sculpting.

Establish the structure and the story behind the idea, the building blocks, before beginning the sculpting itself

03 Ensure that the language you use and the style you adopt is appropriate for your target audience (customer, boss, peer, another function)

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Will the use of an image, illustration, metaphor or analogy help strengthen and support the message?

If in doubt, cut the words used by half!! Less is generally ALWAYS more! Cut out the bla bla!!

Use the silence test: Does a colleague fully get what you have written without the need for further explanation, verbal or written?

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BEHAVIOUR BOOSTERS

Make sure you are clear of the criteria for selection before starting to select (e.g. strategic, financial, logistical etc.)

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be frightened to use your gut reaction or intuition as part of the selection process

03 Decide whether to use a weighted scoring system to help with selectionâ&#x20AC;Ś.or would something more qualitative be more appropriate?

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If you were running your own business, where would you put your own hard earned money?

Do you have all the information and data that you need to help you make your selection?

If you need to make a choice between 2 or 3 alternatives, can you select the best bits from each to develop an even stronger idea?

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BEHAVIOUR BOOSTERS

When supporting others around you to develop ideas, make sure you know which â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hot buttonsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to press. Different strokes for different folks

When facilitating an ideation meeting, make sure you know what a good end goal would look like and ensure that everybody else knows too

03 When facilitating an ideation meeting, take responsibility for planning the structure, direction and flow. Nobody else will!

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Make it your responsibility to ensure that the right creative behaviours are used at the right time, maximising the strengths of the right people

Make it your responsibility to ensure that everybody listens really hard, yourself included, when creative juices are flowing!

Be prepared to allow, yet manage conflict and discord in the group as this can often be the springboard to great creative output!

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Creative Creatures carried out a research study with three major international companies involving over 600 managers, and found 7 obstacles to creativity.

SEVEN DEADLY SPOILERS OF CREATIVIT Y

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1) Lack of creative motivation For creativity to flourish, organisations need to have a fundamental motivation to go beyond their comfort zone. Historically, marketing-led companies have been driven by the need to constantly improve the bottom line, but unfortunately, the hunger for financial returns has often outweighed the desire for true breakthrough thinking. 2) Lack of creative confidence Because marketers have exercised their commercial muscles rather than nurturing their creative minds, most marketing departments suffer from a lack of creative confidence. People do not consider themselves creative and even if they do, they tend to outsource creative responsibilities to others, including agencies. 3) Time pressure The economic crisis and subsequent resource cuts led to a ‘do-more-with-less’ ethos that made time pressure an even bigger barrier to creativity than it used to be. 4) Risk adversity and fear of failure Companies who are risk adverse often rely on ‘close in’ ideas or ‘sure bets’ that appear to have the highest chance of delivering the financial targets. Companies ruled by fear of failure are particularly

uncomfortable with ambiguity and tend to be slow in making things happen because they want to dot the Is and cross the Ts before moving on. 5) Unlikelihood of implementation The idea generation stage is conceptual and infused with a sense of playfulness. But when the ideas move into the implementation phase, they’re exposed to the harsh realities of daylight. Suddenly, financial hurdles, volume requirements, supply capabilities etc. all start to matter. 6) Lack of managerial support It is a commonly held belief that change happens from the top. And even in today’s network-driven world where strong eco-systems can create bottom-up change, senior and middle management will often set the tone for others to follow. They need to ‘walk the walk’ not just ‘talk the talk’! 7) Lack of autonomy and freedom Innovation processes should not become one size fits all straightjackets, but instead need to be flexible enough to accommodate a range of different types of initiatives. People need to be trusted to ‘get on with it’ and encouraged to use their ingenuity in terms of both the ‘what’ and the ‘how'.

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QUESTIONS FREQUENTLY AS KED ABOUT CREATIVE CREATURES

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Q: What is a Creative ID? What does it show? And what does it help me understand? A: The Creative ID shows how people are creative by pinpointing a person’s intrinsic creative strengths across five fundamental creative behavioural archetypes, each of which is needed to make creativity happen. As such, the Creative ID shows you the different behavioural dimensions required to undertake a creative task – and it identifies which of these dimensions you have a natural affinity with. Q: Which of the five creative archetypes is the most important one? A: All five creative archetypes are equally important since you need them all to make the creative journey happen. However, you don’t necessarily need them in equal measures or indeed at the same time. Which of the archetypes you need when, will depend on the creative task or challenge, and on which stage you are at in the creative journey. Q: Is my Creative ID a good one? A: There is no such thing as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ Creative ID. Although a Creative ID is never good or bad, it can be ‘fit for purpose’. To determine if your Creative ID is fit for purpose, you need to consider it in the context of what needs to be achieved. Ask yourself if your Creative ID matches what’s required based on the job function you have and/or the role you play within the team. Or look at the task or challenge you need to solve and ask yourself if your creative strengths enable you to do what you need to do.

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Q: Am I able to become better at the creative archetypes I am currently weak in? Can I change the shape of my Creative ID? A: Yes you can. The archetypes within the Creative ID are rooted in behavioural psychology; each of them reflects a person’s preferred behavioural creative style(s). Behavioural styles sit on a continuum from ‘traits’ to ‘states’. Traits are deep-rooted characteristics that remain consistent throughout a person’s life. States are context dependent and can therefore be influenced through focused interventions. Although the division between traits and states is not ‘hard-lined’, the behavioural styles developed by Creative Creatures in conjunction with Sheffield University are more closely linked to states than traits – this means you are able to improve in areas you’re not currently strong in should you wish to do so, or even further strengthen your strengths if that’s what you desire. Q: How can my Creative ID help me work better with others? A: The Creative ID provides you with a commonly-shared creative language which you can use in the dealings with one another as well as a better appreciation for each other’s differences and how to leverage these differences in order to collaborate better creatively. By knowing your creative strengths, you will gain much deeper personal awareness of the specific mindset and skills you can contribute with in order to solve a creative challenge. By knowing

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other peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Creative IDs, you will be able to pinpoint how people in the team complement each other, and determine who is best able to take the lead on a specific task and/or point in the creative process. Q: To be a good creative team, do you need all five archetypes? A: Yes and No. When you look at the Creative IDs across a team of people, a natural conclusion is often that the best creative teams are those that have a representation of each of the five creative archetypes in equal measures. Although all the creative archetypes are needed to make creativity happen, depending on the specific brand, project, task or challenge, the team might benefit from having more of one or two of the behaviours than another.

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CONTACT www.wearecreativecreatures.com Mark Simmonds mark@wearecreativecreatures.com Hanne Kristiansen hanne@wearecreativecreatures.com Copyright ÂŠ 2016 creative creatures