“The man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.” Mark Twain
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Creativity and Collaboration in Teams Secondary School No. 10, Rm. Valcea, ROMANIA
Hasan Ali Yücel Ortaokulu, Mersin TURKEY
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Creativity exercises #1 & #2
Individual exercise 1 minute to identify as many different ways of using the object as you can Theory of Categories Group exercise 2 minutes to identify as many different ways of using the object as you can Theory of Variety I.C.T. eTwinning
The barriers to creativity • • • •
Habit – tried & trusted Lack of stimulation The „intelligence trap‟ Not asking the right question: – – – –
“what is a shoebox for?” “what could you use a shoebox for?” “how many uses can you think of for a shoebox?” “can you think of 100 uses for a shoebox?”
• The fear of being wrong I.C.T. eTwinning
“It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to always be right by having no ideas at all.� Edward De Bono
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Good for evaluating ideas Rubbish for generating ideas Focusing tool
Divergent thinking
Convergent thinking
Different approaches
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Good for generating ideas Rubbish for evaluating ideas Scanning tool
Creativity at Work
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Principles of creativity • Suspend judgement • Only converge after diverging! • Quantity not Quality • Feed your brain something different – variety • Have the confidence to make „mistakes‟ • „As if‟ – free your mind • If I was Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, the Queen... • If we had £1,000,000... • If we had double/half the resources • If it had to be.... Fun? I.C.T. eTwinning
Tools for Divergent thinking • Re-expression: – With alternative words – Using different senses i.e. Illustration or Role-play – From another‟s perspective „as if ...‟
• Related worlds – Has anyone tackled a similar problem in another company/industry?
• Revolution – Identify „The Rules‟ and then identify ways of breaking them
• Random links I.C.T. eTwinning
One of the paradoxes about creativity is that although it often involves hard work and effort, ingenuity stems from relaxing and letting go. This concept has a long and distinguished pedigree in psychology. Arthur Koestler (1964) observed that this paradox is perfectly illustrated in Pablo Picasso’s famous phrase 'I do not seek, I find.' I.C.T. eTwinning
Innovation • Innovation is applied creativity • Innovation is about improving existing activities with new ideas: – New products – New processes – New market positions – New business models • Improving how? – More effective, Faster, Cheaper, Less Wasteful, Prettier... • Innovations are: – Evolutionary – incremental developments – Or Revolutionary – really alternative developments I.C.T. eTwinning
Leonardo Da Vinci the first creative genius Leonardo da Vinci was the first creative thinker who showed the importancetof introducing random and chance events to produce variation in our thinking patterns.
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The drivers of innovation • Need – The identification of problems or hurdles encourages people to solve them
• Possibility – Another breakthrough provides a „steppingstone‟ (the „adjacent possible‟) – Someone asks „what if?‟
• Connections – often between disparate ideas • Time and space to explore • A willingness and ability to move beyond ‘comfortable’ frames of reference • Networks • “Engineered Serendipity”
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“Chance favours the connected mind.� Steven Johnson (2010)
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Innovation Exercise In groups Think about one product or service you’ve used today: • Can you create a better product/service? • Can you develop a better process to access the product/service? • Can you sell that product/service to a different market? • Can you find a different way to make money from the product/service?
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Tactics for a more creative life… • Do the things you don‟t normally do – Different activities in… – …Different places with… – …Different people • Take an alternative route • Write your ideas down • Share even the silly ideas with others • Have more holidays (or at least days away) • „As if‟ • Put a different sock on first in the morning… I.C.T. eTwinning
Beermat Idea Challenge • Brilliant idea? • In 140 characters? • Submit and vote online • Or grab a Beermat and stick in the box in Senate House • The best ideas win prizes! Bristol.beermatchallenge.co.uk I.C.T. eTwinning
Good books • ‘Sticky Wisdom‟ - ?Whatif!
• „The Art of Innovation‟ – Tom Kelley • „Edward De Bono‟s Thinking Course‟ – Edward De Bono I.C.T. eTwinning
“The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through� Jackson Pollock
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“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.� Albert Einstein
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