Igniting Creativity in The Workplace

If you want to add more success, spunk and pizzazz to your work, your writing or your meetings, creativity is the answer. Creativity will spruce up your project, your day and if you let it, every aspect of your business. and your life.

Mary Lou Cook, an environmentalist and educator said " Creativity is inventing experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking the rules, making mistakes and having fun."

These are the creative things you must do more of if you want to increase your success and grow your business. Unfortunately creativity has it's share of foes. The biggest rivals of creativity are familiarity and doubt. The creativity rivals consciously and unconsciously prevent us from believing in the use of a creative component to any task or solution.

You will know when familiarity is sitting in your office. Familiarity says things like "this is the way it has always been done," "this is how I was taught to do it". Doubt does not always speak out loud, doubt instead usually speaks to you inside your head. Doubt says things like "I am not creative," "I am not artistic," " I have never done that before."

If you want to be successful if you want to be innovative in your business you have to layoff familiarity and doubt and replace them with these ten ways to increase creativity in your business.

10 ways to increase creativity in your business

1. MAKE A COMMITMENT TO CREATIVITY
Consciously choose to increase your attention and energy on finding ways to be creative. Look for ways to add interest to everyday events. Let everybody in your business know creativity is the norm it is expected and rewarded.

2. BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE MANY SOLUTIONS TO ANY CHALLENGE
Always be looking for a new way to do the same old thing. Everything from how you organize your office to how quickly you respond to inquiries can benefit from added flair brought on by a decision to look for a different solution to an ongoing challenge.

3. IN EVERY PROCESS MAKE ROOM FOR CREATIVITY
If you keep on doing something the way you have been you will keep on getting the same result. Go through an exercise in creative thinking whenever possible. Use these seven ideas to spark your thinking.

Consider Association - what goes with what, the way you associate a spoon with a fork or a lifejacket with a boat or cassette with a compact disc.

Consider, Combination - joining ideas together to form a new idea like cross promotional marketing where two or more businesses join together to make a special offer to customers.

Consider, Adaptation- modifying an existing idea. If you find an idea that streamlines your billing, you might want to use that same idea to streamline your mailings. If you get the idea to e-mail business news to all your clients every month, you could adapt that idea and e-mail your former clients and prospective clients as well.

Consider Substitution-replacing one thing for another, substitute a fax note for a thank you note, substitute tape for glue or a smile for an afte
oon frown.

Consider Magnification- making something bigger. If the four foot sign in the store window brought in customers try making it eight feet and see what happens.

Consider Minification-- making something smaller. If you are happy with the new booklet you have just put together see what will happen when you make it pocket size.

Consider Rearrangement- putting things in a different order. Take a look and see if that great press release you wrote might work better with the paragraph at the bottom, at the top. Try putting the trash can by the bookcase next to your desk instead.

4. USE INQUIRY QUESTIONS
Your brain thrives on exercise, the best way to exercise your brain creativity is to ask it questions. With my clients I use inquiry questions I leave them with a question every week and ask them to reflect on and write on that question all week. The next week they report their ideas on the inquiry question. Some good inquiry questions to ask are how can we do this differently ?How can this be easier ? What would make a big difference ? What are we overlooking ?

5. TAKE NOTES VIGOROUSLY
Taking notes increases retention of ideas and it also gives you ideas to build on later. Be sure to create a file for your notes, right after the file you create for the ideas that come to you that you are not able to use immediately. More important than taking notes and writing down your ideas is to review them on a regular basis.

6. CONSTANTLY FEED CURIOSITY
It is necessary to continue to grow and learn on a regular basis. Find opportunities to expand you skill base. Go to seminars, listen to cassettes, subscribe to different kinds of publications. Never hesitate to invest in time with an expert you will always reap the rewards.

7. RECOGNIZE RISKS AS A VIABLE OPTION
Recognizing risk as an ever present option creates challenges to be overcome. Through risking you can expand your experience and build your professional confidence. When a challenge presents itself to be met make a commitment to meet it and you will usually come out ahead. You will definitely learn something every time.

8. CONSTRUCT CREATIVE DOWN TIME
Plan and schedule recreation, as a busy professional this area is likely to fall by the waste side if you do not schedule time for it. Take a 20 minute "mini-vacation" every day to rejuvenate yourself. Go for a walk around the block, get in a cat nap, play a video game. You will find that this is when the creative ideas frequently present themselves not when you are at your desk laboring for them to come.

9. FIND A WAY EVERYDAY TO BE CREATIVE AND HAVE FUN
Fun is synonymous with creativity, the two go together like vanilla ice-cream and hot fudge. There is plenty of room for fun in your workday. Meetings are a great place to start. As a success coach I hear complaints all the time about how boring meetings are, how they drag on, how they put people to sleep. Never have a meeting if you are not going to bring in some fun. Try balloons or hats or huge pencils for everyone around the table.

10. EXPECT SUCCESS ! When you begin your commitment to creativity you must also anticipate positive results and know that your creativity will bring you many rewards.

Carol Osbo
e an entrepreneur and writer said "the competitive edge in the coming decades will be held by those individuals and companies who can tap into new life- driven sources of inspiration creativity and vitality."

Creativity is what separates those professionals that just survive from those that thrive. Your commitment to creativity is what will make the difference between success and mediocrity in your business. Apply these strategies presented here and the possibilities for your success are endless. Expect Success! nnn