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A Good Leader Knows The Team’s Colours.
Leadership can be a very challenging task. As leaders we don’t always get to choose who is on our team. In fact very often a leader inherits a team, of which most of the members have been there far longer than the leader, and may even know more...
Creating Assets: Spark Your Thinking With These 16 Comprehensive Questions
Here are some questions to get your thoughts and cash flow moving that will also keep your product creating aligned and focused. Find the gold mine in your surroundings by looking at any promotional literature you have created, audio or video...
Five Principals for Prosperity
Many years ago, forty to be exact, I started my own business at the tender age of nineteen. The street markets in and around Manchester England was my happy hunting ground. Every day was an adventure and despite the weather and difficulties of...
How To Ensure Effective Color In Today’s Manufacturing Processes
Scientists will describe color as the quality of an object with respect to light. But, as any one of us knows, our human response to color is very emotional. When skillfully used by designers, color creates the kind of harmonious balance and...
It Starts with the Selection Process: Prevention is the Best Cure
How many times have you heard this when talking with an experienced coach or consultant. You say: 1.My department is not making quotas. I’ve provided training. I motivate. What am I doing wrong? 2.My marketing department head does good work,...
Make the Most of Your Time - Focus on Strengths
Time efficiency and business effectiveness are much better served when we focus our efforts where we are strongest – when we are aligned with our values and skills. And by delegating those parts of our skill-set which less best suited, we get the...
Making Profitable Lemonade From Lemons!
This October 31 turned cold, wet and dreary across Chicago and its suburbs. A rotten night for Halloween.
This October 31 turned cold, wet and dreary across Chicago and its suburbs. A rotten night for Halloween. And it could have been a...
Providing a Target Yields Better Results
Did you ever wonder why employees don’t always get their best possible results for job performance? While there are many possible reasons, one that is simple to resolve is to start off with clear expectations for the job. Imagine a military...
The Moonlighting Time Crunch and How To Beat It
The Moonlighting Time Crunch and How To Beat It © 2002 Elena Fawkner If you're in the paid workforce and toying with the idea of starting a home business so that one magic day you can tell your boss what you REALLY think of him or her, you ...
THE “SEVEN Cs”: Partnership Danger Signs - The 5th C: Control Issues
THE “SEVEN Cs”: Partnership Danger Signs - The 5th C: Control Issues
By Dorene Lehavi, Ph.D.
A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.
The 5th C: Control Issues
When control...
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Forcing Inspiration
Most people, when they have to complete a creative endeavour, often tend to wait for inspiration. It is not unusual to find, therefore, that most people take inordinately long to complete projects or never finish them at all. Look at the infinite number of people with half-finished first-drafts under their bed. This reveals a lack of understanding of how the mind and creativity work, for the best way to find a bucket-load of inspiration is to force it out.
1)Engaging in the Task.
Simply engaging in the task generates ideas. By defining the work process, people can frame the mind for the coming task and keep work flowing.
2)Absorption in the project.
Absorption in a project creates inspiration for other, similar projects. Screenwriters know that they will come up with lots of good ideas for other screenplays while they are working on the present one.
3)Blocks.
One reason for a lack of inspiration is that the creator suffers from any of the many forms of evaluation apprehension. By forcing engagement in and completing the project, that creator can leapfrog blocks, which progressively decline with further projects. Confidence comes from having undergone a set of positive successful experiences.
4)Competencies.
Another reason for not embarking on projects is the lack of developed competencies. Competencies build up gradually over a set of positive experiences:
i)The experience curve shows us that in the early stages, relative lack of experience, knowledge and refined methodology limits performance to sub-optimal levels. With time these factors improve and productivity increases exponentially.
ii)Subliminal and subconscious learning – when we are motivated by an endeavour we will become good at it by working at it on various cognitive levels.
iii)Subliminal and subconscious perception – many skills and actions are initially learnt with much conscious effort, then, with practice, they come easily and smoothly. After complete automisation, paying attention may actually be detrimental.
The above
concepts are encapsulated in common expressions such as, “you have to write a million words before you write anything good.” Knowledgeable screenwriters know that it was really only after a certain number of completed screenplays that they really began to get good.
5)Process.
One of the most sustained myths about creativity is that it is not a process. In fact, inspiration and insight results from a definite process which includes:
i)Dividing the problem into sets of smaller problems.
ii)Intensely investigating problems.
iii)Forcing the production of ideas using creative versus critical thinking.
iv)Seeking stimuli.
v)Applying constant conscious thought.
vi)Engaging in rest and unrelated activities.
vii)Allowing incubation
6)Forcing prolific activity.
Forcing engagement in an endeavour triggers prolific activity – and it can be concluded with a high degree of certainty that quality of output is closely related to sheer quantity. The single best creative product tends to appear at that point in the career when the creator is being most prolific.
In conclusion, inspiration is best attained by forcefully and consciously engaging in a project. Experienced hands will tell you, just do it!
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These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased at http://www.managing-creativity.com
Kal Bishop, MBA, http://www.managing-creativity.com
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You are free to reproduce this article as long as the author's name, web address and link to MBA dissertation is 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.
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