What is creativity?

- Be creative. I don't know about you, but when someone challenges me to be creative like that, I immediately tense up trying to figure out where the creative switch is. How can I turn it on? It actually causes me to be worried rather than creative. So what is this thing we call creativity and how do we encourage it? As we explore how to build creative organizations, it's important to have an understanding of what we mean by creativity. Creativity can mean a lot of things. From artistic flare or talent or being great at generating wild ideas or brainstorming to taste in clothing or lifestyle. In this course, we're not going to define it in any of those ways. Though aspects of creativity can show up in each of those examples. In their book, "Defying the Crowd", Sternberg and Lubart define creativity as the capacity for generating ideas that are novel and appropriate. Novel meaning ideas that are fresh, new, or bring a unique perspective. Appropriate in that they forward the work at hand, they are relevant, useful, and move us toward improved results. With this definition, we can all claim some capacity for creativity. We've all had novel ideas that have moved the organization forward whether in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, or uncovering new opportunities. And how did these ideas arise? They emerge as we are able to let go of our established ways of thinking and see the world in new ways, discover hidden patterns, and make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomenon. Examples can be a step change, like Copernicus asserting that the earth revolves around the sun rather than the other way around, or as incremental as an employee noticing that one step of a process no longer adds value. Research conducted by Renzulli and Hartman does suggest that creative people have certain common characteristics. They tend to be curious, always seeking to learn, self-expressed with a willingness to share and connect, willing to take risks treating failure as a learning opportunity, playful, often stretching boundaries of conformity. These characteristics sometimes seem rare like only certain people have them. In fact, people still disagree about whether creativity is innate, you know, Jim is so creative but I'm not, or whether it's a skill that we can nurture and develop. We are assuming the latter. Creativity is a human capacity to be developed and we can build our organizations in ways that foster that development. How? We cultivate the characteristics we've mentioned by encouraging creative behaviors such as observing with an uncritical eye, associating, bringing together unrelated ideas, questioning, to learn and explore, networking, to add ideas and perspectives, and experimenting, to learn quickly. If we build our organizations in ways that promote these behaviors, we will see innovation, growth, and resilience in our businesses. One action to take is to begin noticing moments of creativity in your organization. Pay attention to the characteristics and behaviors displayed in the situation. Understanding the elements of creativity will inform and empower your leadership.