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Advertising On A Budget - Part 2: Thinking Small
This is the second article of a three-part series. I'm illustrating the marketing challenges of a small business, PrescottWeddings.com. Our goal was to both build the PWC brand and drive traffic to the Web site. Advertising regularly was...
Creativity Management – Organizational Culture
As idea generation is a cognitive activity, it follows that certain environments will inhibit that activity (and expression of) whilst others will foster it.
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst...
Creativity Management – Overcoming Blocks
There are essentially two groups of blocks, the first being evaluation apprehension or evaluation anxiety and the second being task hindrance.
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can...
Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Launching a New Business
Owning a home used to be the “American Dream.” However, this long-standing goal that so many aspired to, and ultimately reached, has been replaced with a new goal -- becoming a business owner. At first glance it sounds perfect: Leave the corporate...
How Not to Write a Press Release
Several years ago, when I was working for an agency, I was fired from an account. What that means is the client didn’t want me writing for him anymore. Another writer, a friend of mine, got the account and life went on. Of course, I was pretty...
Innovation Management – the value of due diligence
One consideration innovators should be wary of in the rush to market is to not forego due diligence. That is, the temptation to forego, among other things, investigation into an idea’s feasibility, adequate market analysis and the questioning of...
Look Past the Bottom Line for a Property's Investment Potential
Look Past the Bottom Line for a Property’s Potential It’s unfortunate that many real estate investors tend to look at the bottom line when deliberating about a property, rather than the big picture. The real moneymakers in real estate investments...
Marketing Tips from Successful Crafters
From the feedback I have been getting in the short time since I started TheArtfulCrafter , I’ve learned that many of my readers are working long and hard at their crafts, but still are having a hard time realizing success. I don’t pretend to have...
Uncovering Your Core Values
Values are things that are important to you and as such are very powerful motivators. When you are clear on your values it is much easier to design goals that will work for you. On the other hand, you are likely to experience internal conflict if...
What is a Business Analyst? (Part 1)
What is a Business Analyst?
Today the term Business Analyst is synonymous with a career in
the IT industry but the most successful and valuable analysts
are those who understand the "business" rather than those who
understand IT.
So...
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Creativity Management – Measurement, benchmarking and Improvement
Contrary to common perception, creativity can be made tangible, measurable and useable. In terms of measurement, benchmarking and improvement, the first step is to decide on definitions, the second is to decide on methods of measurement and finally, to monitor each measurement for improvement.
Definitions of creativity are not elusive. In fact, the number of definitions helps the analyst better define creativity and refine its management:
a)Coming up with original ideas.
Misleading. It can be compellingly argued that all new ideas are actually evolutions of previous ideas. Implies a break from the past.
b)Recombination.
The recombination of existing elements to form something new. Thus creativity is not something completely new but relatively new. Offers a practical method. For example, Synectics – the practice of taking two elements and consciously creating new links and elements from them.
c)Novel and useful solutions.
Does not imply a complete break with the past and introduces the concept of applicability. Can be extrapolated to arrive at creative and critical thinking. Where creative thinking is used generate a large idea pool and critical thinking is used to reduce that pool to feasible ideas. Implies that creativity can be measured according to degrees of novelty. Someone who expands on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is not as creative as Einstein was as the ideas are not as novel.
d)Expressing unusual thought. Experiencing the world in novel ways. Effect significant changes in culture (Csikszentmihalyim, 1996).
Implies creativity has practical, expressive
and cognitive elements. Closer to the common perception of “artist.”
e)Producing a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of rare ideas. The most thoroughly “scientific” definition and practical on a quantitative level.
f)Creativity as problem identification and idea generation and innovation as idea selection, development and commercialisation. Provides a good distinction between creativity and innovation. Implies a number of differing competencies are involved and also implies the universality of creativity – we are creative on some level as we all solve problems.
Other definitions, measurement and benchmarking techniques are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com. You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.
Kal Bishop, MBA
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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author's name and site URL are retained.
About the Author
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.
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