Continual Innovation

If you believe of creativity as issue identification and concept generation, then it follows that problem identification and some of the far more straightforward ideas will be generated in an office environment.

An office environment is also useful in that, with objectives, targets, people management and so on, it forces output, which produces better outcomes than a “do your best” approach. There is a positive relationship between the quantity of ideas and top quality.

Nonetheless, richer and more complex ideas need the mind working on issues at various cognitive levels – the process of incubation – and are far more likely to be produced without time pressure and when the mind is engaged in other tasks, which is why it is usually said that great ideas are produced “out of the blue” and away from the office – in the bath, walking across a zebra crossing and so on.

Creative Thinking is a process that, roughly, goes like this:

a) Identify the difficulty

b) Intensely investigate the difficulty

c) Separate creative from critical thinking – use strategies to force out ideas

d) Seek stimuli

e) Continuously engage with the difficulty

f) Permit unconscious processes to take over by way of rest and engagement in unrelated activities

This illustrates that it is not the place that is most crucial, but the method.

This topic is covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity &amp Innovation, which can be bought (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Excellent Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and website URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com