A Practical Guide to Business Creativity E-Book

Jodie Newman

• Herausgeber: Icon Books
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Serie: Practical Guide Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 217

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Introducing Business Creativity: A Practical Guide provides innovative techniques and proven theories to help you improve your creative thinking and get more out of yourself and your business. Whether you are trying to develop entirely new initiatives or redesign the way you operate, this book will help you break out of your old patterns of thought, think outside the box and generate pioneering ideas that you can put into action. Introducing Practical Guides bring you the world's greatest theories and research to improve your life, your skills and your well-being. Packed full of straightforward, realistic advice that has immediate results, Practical Guides are engineered by experts in their fields to help you achieve your goals.

Leseprobe

First published in the UK and USA in 2013

by Icon Books Ltd,

Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP

email: [email protected]

www.iconbooks.net

This electronic edition published in the UK in 2013 by Icon Books Ltd

ISBN: 978-184831-424-5 (ePub format)

Text copyright © 2013 Jodie Newman

The author has asserted her moral rights.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Typeset by Marie Doherty

About the Author

Jodie Newman runs her own creative consultation business, called Creative Consulting. She initially trained at the Royal College of Art as a furniture designer before entering the commercial world of marketing and procurement – it was here that she realized that innovative thinking was ‘the difference that made the difference’ to businesses. She is now a highly experienced facilitator, trainer and speaker, who runs workshops and training for companies and individuals who want to improve their creative thinking and get more out of their working day.

Contents

Title page

Copyright information

About the Author

Introduction

1. The Creative Process

2. Growing a Culture of Creativity

3. The Creative Tool Kit

4. Evaluating Your Ideas

Summary

Further Reading

Index

Introduction

In an increasingly competitive business world, both individuals and companies need to be able to set themselves apart from the rest while running an efficient business. As processes, transactions, manufacturing and a whole host of other operational activities become increasingly automated and efficient, what is it that will propel a business to be better than its competitors? In a word: IDEAS. Ideas are the most valuable currency of our business landscape and will only become more important in the future. Why? Because creativity cannot be automated. You may be able to buy a machine that will churn out your cupcakes faster, in any flavour that the customer desires, but it will not generate the ideas needed to make your cupcakes better, tastier, more innovative or more beautiful. Nor will it come up with new ideas for other tasty treats to help you grow your business. An automated customer telephone service might be brilliant at taking payment or giving order statuses, but it is pretty rubbish at thinking of new ways to impress and delight customers.

This book is for anyone who wants to be better at coming up with ideas, whether on an individual level or within a team, department or company. Working with businesses of all sizes for the last ten years, I have met people who say they could ‘never be creative’, those who purport to be ‘ideas people’, and plenty in between. But both labels can be misleading. If you feel you struggle to come up with ideas and be creative, this book will give you a range of easy-to-use tools that can be called on at any time. These tools can be put to use with a pencil and the back of an envelope, or a set of marker pens and a flip chart – it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you approach each tool with an open mind, a belief that you can have good ideas and that the process of generating them will be fun … and easy.

For business owners, this book will provide a great starting point to weave creativity into everything you do. There is some value in announcing: ‘Right, we need better ideas to get ahead of our competitors, let’s have a brainstorm’, but far more in applying this creative intent across the whole business, making it part of your vision and strategic plan, allowing everyone to be part of the process and thus reaping far more reward as a result. We will look in detail at how to build a creative culture – everything from the physical environment to measuring your creative output.

There is no size of business that cannot embrace creativity. I have worked with start-ups who, being small and agile, often have a natural ability to create ideas, try them out, refine and perfect them. As these businesses grow, it is often my task to recapture that original creative spark and rekindle it in an organization ten times larger. This book will help businesses create a structure around encouraging and protecting ideas to ensure that this creative agility is never lost and can only flourish. For larger businesses that are realizing that creativity may well be their only competitive advantage in the coming years, there is a fantastic opportunity to create positive change and allow any employee to become part of the ideas process that will shape the business. The suggestions in this book can be made wholesale, or implemented one by one. What is important with bigger organizations is that change – and the context of change – is communicated clearly. With people who embrace the creative challenge to make a better business, ideas can quickly become the lifeblood of an organization and its success.

Whether you are an individual wanting to improve your levels of creativity, or a CEO or management team wishing to put ideas at the very heart of your business, there is one thing you must undertake if you going to succeed: practice. When I mention this word in my creative thinking training workshops, it more often than not elicits a grumble. Practice? Groan. It sounds a bit too much like homework for most people’s liking. But there is no magic wand to wave that will make people or businesses more creative. It takes a little time and effort. Imagine there is a creative muscle in your brain, lying unused among the synapses. When you start to generate ideas, just as when you do exercise for the first time in a long time and use muscles that you forgot you had, it feels a bit unnatural and strange. The odd twinge is not uncommon. But the more you use the creative tools in this book, the easier it will feel. Every time you sit down – or stand in the shower – to think up ideas, that creative muscle will get stronger, and better at what it is supposed to do. Before long you will be able to summon any number of ways of looking at a problem, and your only issue will be finding a piece of paper big enough to capture them all.

I have run my business, Creative Consulting, for over ten years. What gets me out of bed each morning is my passion for putting creativity and ideas at the very core of a business and watching the difference that it makes – to the staff, to the customers and to the bottom line. I have worked with new businesses that wanted to launch their products to the world in a creative way, marketing agencies that needed killer ideas to help them win pitches, recently merged companies looking to create a ‘best of both worlds’ culture, retailers that sought new ideas to make them stand out from the crowded high street, media organizations that wanted to give every member of staff better ways of solving business challenges, news organizations that wanted to define their own creative future, and multinationals that wanted Europe-wide promotion ideas to win them more market share. The variety of businesses I help is endless, but the desire is common to all: they have recognized that creativity can have a huge and sustainable impact on the success of what they do.

I have used all of the tools and approaches described in this book many times, so know that they work with all manner of businesses, no matter what shape or size. Like all good tools, they can be misappropriated and used flexibly to suit your needs (I have been known to bang a nail into a wall with a pair of pliers, which did the job just fine). One of the greatest parts of my job is going back to a business with which I have previously worked, setting up a creative process and teaching a number of creative thinking tools, to see how they have made them their own. I encourage you to do the same with the techniques in this book.

This book is intended to be as practical as possible. It is not a theory of creativity, but a practical guide to making ideas work for you and your business. I will take you through the stages of the creative process so that you can see how simple coming up with an idea can be. The focus then turns to growing a culture of creativity within your business and engaging your staff in the process. The central section is the creative tool kit – a wide range of creative thinking techniques that can be applied to any challenge. And finally, I talk about the critical part of the process: evaluating and implementing your ideas. By the end of the book, you will have the means to make your business one that counts ideas among its most valuable assets.

So what is creativity, anyway?

Being creative is big news for businesses and there has been much discussion of late as to why creativity is essential for businesses. In A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, the term ‘Conceptual Age’ is used to describe our current stage of commerce and the critical contribution that creativity makes to modern business survival; in Disciplined Dreaming, Josh Linkner calls this the ‘Age of Creativity’. Business thinkers and creativity experts all seem to agree: without creativity, businesses that exist right now will fail in the future.

So what exactly is creativity, where can you get it and how can you build it into your business? This book will take you through these points step by step, and give you practical, effective tools for changing your business through creativity, from initial brainwave to final application. If you are in any doubt as to the importance of making this change, I talk later about the benefits of making ideas central to everything a business does, but I fundamentally believe that as the economy and business landscape shifts and reshapes, creative businesses – be they accountancies, manufacturers or retailers – will be the ones left standing.

Look up any definition of creativity and there will be mention of new ideas, the imagination, of bringing something into being that did not previously exist and of originality. Ken Robinson, a thought leader in innovation and creativity, calls it ‘the process of having original ideas that have value’. It is these original ideas that will help your business stand out from the crowd and win more customers, and it is that value that will be added to your bottom line. The value can be financial: just look at Apple. In his 2006 article ‘How the iPod changed Apple’s fortunes’, Jim Dalrymple explores how the ideas that led to the iPod transformed Apple. Interestingly, the device was not the first mp3 player on the market: it was not a breakthrough idea that brought financial success for Apple the first time. Rather, it was a combination of innovations in interface, software and service that created the difference. The value that ideas can bring will often reach out beyond just the financial benefit. Ideas can enhance your reputation and your brand, which in itself adds value back into the business. And ideas that bring your customers a better experience create valuable customer loyalty – do your products or services engender the same level of loyalty that an Apple product does?

The world, and particularly the business world, can sometimes appear to be divided into two camps: the creative people, and the non-creative people; the pushing-the-boundaries people, and the building-the-boundaries people – and people often have preconceived ideas about who fits into which category. Which do you consider yourself?

There is a great, classic creativity test (the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, developed by Dr J.P. Torrance), which tests one particular and essential component of creativity: divergent thinking.

Divergent thinking

Divergent thinking is one of the key facets of the creative process. It is the process whereby you generate as many different options, ideas and interpretations about a single topic or challenge as you possibly can. The purpose of divergent thinking is to enable you to see different aspects of a situation, which in turn helps you to create original ideas.

Grab a paper clip, a house brick, a spoon, a bottle of water or any other everyday object you have to hand – and make sure you have a pen and paper. Give yourself one minute to write down as many uses as you can think of for your item. Now count how many different thoughts or ideas you generated in 60 seconds. How did you do?

On average, an adult will manage perhaps ten. For example, for a paper clip their list might include ideas such as: clip to hold papers together, hair clip, cufflinks or bookmark. Highly creative people who are practised in divergent thinking might score up to 200, and their list may contain ideas such as an obstacle in a flea circus, a clamp to keep two drinking straws together or a tool for cleaning under your fingernails. You can also analyse the ideas by looking at four different criteria, or sub-categories of divergent thinking:

Fluency – this is the abundance of your ‘flow’ of ideas, measured by how many ideas you generate within the time; the most common way to measure divergent thinking in a test such as this.

Originality – this is how original (or uncommon) the ideas are. The flea circus idea is more original than, say, a bookmark, so would score more highly here.

Flexibility – this is how flexible you are in your creative thinking, measured by how many different areas or topics your list covers. Hair clip and cufflinks, for example, are within the same area (dress), but the flea circus, drinking straw clamp and fingernail cleaner are all ideas from different areas.

Elaboration – this is how detailed your ideas are. ‘Bookmark’, as an idea, is about as simple as a paper clip idea can get, while a clamp to hold two drinking straws together is a more elaborate use of the paperclip and would score more highly.

If your score was closer to the lower end of the scale, do not worry – the key word here is ‘practised’. In 2009 the Harvard Business Review published ‘The Innovator’s DNA’, the culmination of six years’ study of business executives and entrepreneurs. The report concluded that creative capacity was only 20 per cent ‘inherent’ within individuals – and that therefore 80 per cent of creative ability was learned. The tools and techniques in this book will help you to develop and exercise your divergent thinking muscles and creative skills as part of a tool kit designed to weave creativity into everything you do.

Why do businesses need to think and act differently?

In most industries, the marketplace is crowded. Think of a recent product or service that you purchased and how many alternatives you had to choose from. For me, a recent online shopping trip for a kettle saw me choosing from over 50 options – and all I wanted to do was make a cup of tea. Rarely does a brand new market appear containing only a single business, which can enjoy the solitude of being able to sell its exclusive product or service without competition. And even then the business in that fortunate position will soon be facing stiff opposition from other companies creating their own versions and jostling for market share. What do these businesses, and those that enter an already crowded market, need more than anything else? A competitive edge. And how do they get that? With great ideas.

Consumers have huge choice when it comes to the products and services they need; in most instances now, they can choose via the internet a vast range of products and services from a global marketplace. So using creativity to stand out – whether this be to develop new products, a new way of providing a service, or a new way to sell – is absolutely essential. And it is not just about making small, incremental improvements; it can be about looking for new ways to do what you do that will radically transform the product, service or marketplace.

The best way to create value is to innovate your way ahead of the competition.

Paul Sloane, The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills

Products and services are either a commodity, or have added value. For example, if you manufacture bread, you may well be selling it at a commodity level; having to price it at market rate, or under, in order to compete with the myriad of other bread manufacturers who are also offering basic white, brown and granary sliced loaves. This is arguably the toughest business environment to be in, as you have the most competition for the least return. However, if you apply the creative process to your product range and spend time generating ideas to evolve the product – or indeed, create a breakthrough product that redefines the ‘bread’ category – then your products are no longer just commodities.

In 2010 Marks & Spencer Bakery wanted to boost bakery sales with new ideas to build incremental sales. They embarked on a creative process which involved gaining fresh customer insights and generating ideas, and produced the innovative Half & Half Super Soft Loaf, which contained sliced white bread on one side and wholemeal bread on the other – thus ending the age-old struggle for parents who were being badgered into buying white bread for their kids while preferring brown for themselves. The product was accompanied by another innovation: the packaging opened and could be resealed at both ends. It was one of the most successful lines that M&S launched in their bakery department that year. And what was the one significant thing that facilitated the improvement? The application of creativity.

There is a second, equally compelling reason why your business should put creativity at the top of the agenda: brain capital.

Brain capital

Brain capital is the sum of the all the brains that work in an organization. Every person that applies their brain to a problem can generate ideas, particularly if given encouragement and the appropriate tools. Creativity thrives when a diverse mix of brains from different parts of the organization come together to generate ideas – often the best ideas come from someone who can approach the problem from a totally new perspective. How well are you using your brain capital?

Each brain in your business has the potential to bring fresh, creative ideas to bear on what they do – and yet it is amazing how many businesses fail to exploit this capital. Does your company have processes or activities in place that make the most of your brain capital? If not, this book will show you how to put these in place. It is incredibly important to recognize that everyone can contribute – and encouraging everyone to have a voice is not just a sound commercial decision, but means that staff will be happier and feel more involved in the business: an ideal atmosphere for further creativity.

A few years ago, I worked with a marketing agency to help them get their creative mojo back – they complained that their pitch concepts were often very similar to each other, and that there was no real originality in the campaign ideas that they were coming up with. This was a real problem as they lived or died by their ability to wow the potential client with fresh new ideas that would mark them out as a creative, credible and income-generating marketing partner.

I started by talking to the senior team about what they wanted their agency to be famous for, and they were all crystal clear: they wanted to be famous for great ideas. This would attract both the best brands to work with the agency and the best talent to work within it. So why, when the wish was there at the top of the business, was it not happening?

I spent some time there, talking to the client services teams and creative teams, as well as the other internal departments, and attended a couple of their brainstorms. The cause of the problem became clear immediately: these sessions were attended by the same few ‘ideas people’ every time, with the same person in control of the flip chart. There was no brief, but simply a quick, verbal outline of the problem. The meeting room was populated by people from the same client team, and there were no representatives from the creative department, let alone reception, accounts or HR. One of the senior team held court at the flip chart, writing down only those ideas that they felt ‘made the grade’. I watched as certain people in the room realized that their ideas were not making it to the board and eventually stopped contributing. The session was controlled by the senior person and a handful of others who were obviously considered the ‘ideas people’, who dominated the session and tended to dismiss, subconsciously or otherwise, ideas that came from other people. At one point, the senior person started to write up his own ideas without sharing them with the group at all. Toward the end of the ‘brainstorm’, he chose the strongest idea that they would then develop, which just so happened to be one of his own ideas from the beginning of the session. All in all, it was about the least fun and productive creative discussion I have ever seen.

It was no surprise that their thinking was stuck in a rut. No matter how creative a person is, there will be patterns to their creative process. They will subconsciously use the same range of tools to create new ideas, and when this is reinforced by working on similar client briefs with the same group of people – who also have the same type of creative thoughts as they always have – the thinking will quickly go stale.

There were two ways in which this issue could be tackled: from a business culture perspective and as a process change in terms of how they generated their ideas. We started with the latter, as this is often the quickest way to demonstrate the value of a new way of being creative. As the key issue for their brainstorms was that they were leaving the majority of their brain capital out of the process, we started there. For every idea generation session that the agency held from then on, the rule was to include representatives from across the business. Bringing brain capital together in this way produced a myriad of fresh perspectives on the challenges they were facing, and this brought new ideas from all corners of the organization that would have otherwise not been heard. Along with this new way of using their brain capital, I introduced a more structured way of running the idea generation session to allow everyone to fully contribute, and trained them to use new creative tools that would break old thinking habits and force new ideas to the fore.

There was inevitably resistance from the creative department, who felt that a new way of ‘doing ideas’ was encroaching on their territory of expertise. They were the ideas people, after all, and so didn’t need help with coming up with them. I could have talked to them until there was no oxygen left in the room, trying to convince them that their creative talent could benefit from using new tools and that these tools would help reinvigorate their thinking. I could have preached all day that working with other parts of the business rather than being cloistered away from everyone else would be of huge creative benefit. But instead, I simply invited them all to an ideas session and tackled a current brief. As their brains – alongside those of their colleagues from reception, finance and production – were taken along unfamiliar creative thinking paths, and new insights were being generated, a few of them even uncrossed their arms. By the end of the session, and well over 150 ideas later, it was clear to them that the process had something to offer everyone.

As these new ideas sessions went on, and proved to be a success in terms of converting pitches to business wins, I then went back into the business to train a handful of employees to facilitate the sessions themselves, so that they could really get the most out of the brain capital in the room. The next time I returned to the agency was to run a large ideas session that included the prospective client team who had given them a pitch brief: now that really was making the most of their brain capital.

Despite the notion of creativity in a business context sometimes conjuring ideas of a structure-less, directionless chaos – anathema to the quiet control many organizations are aiming for – this is far from the truth. There is nothing to fear from letting creativity rule your organization, and with the processes and tools explained in this book, you can transform your team, your department or your business into one where creativity is at the heart of everything you do, and so begin to reap the financial and cultural rewards. The only side effects could be increased motivation, high morale and a growing sense of job satisfaction among your staff.

1. The Creative Process