In an advanced crisis period, once the diagnosis has been made, it is time to think about Changing the world.
This is undoubtedly why we are experiencing a real momentum aroundinnovation : open innovation, participatory innovation, design thinking at all levels.
When a system feels the need to reinvent itself, it can find tools on the side of creativity.
Creativity still has a bright future ahead of it.
Creativity is not a performance, as can be productivity in relation to production, or the profitability in relation to investment.
Creativity is a process, a gait, a ability to do otherwise.
It makes it possible to leave an existing system and to build alternatives.
I was recently talking to the boss of a creative agency that has been exploring design for over thirty years. She confided to me her conviction that some would be Creative Natives, capable from birth of doing things differently.
Proof that creativity is not only a sum of techniques, but above all a state of mind, a way of being and of perceiving the world.
Good news: we are all creative.
A good creative facilitator must instill this state of mind in the group, by establishing and enforcing Alternative rules of the game.
To be creative, you have to be available for the group.
Being a prisoner of the past or obsessed with the future prevents reaching a true threshold of creativity.
Creativity starts with a full and complete presence.
First, trust in yourself.
Your brain has an immense wealth of invention. To regain confidence in your imagination is to regain confidence in your capacity for invention.
Then, trust in others:
Listen.
Don't judge.
Rebound on the proposals.
Creativity is often connect two dimensions that were previously foreign to each other.
Creativity mobilizes intelligence, but not only that.
It also mobilizes the heart, theemotion, the Lived body.
Intelligence remains a valuable ally: it makes it possible to understand the dominant logic in order to better transform it.
To be creative is to stay whole.
Mindset is not everything.
As in improvisational theater, creativity is based on structured techniques that stimulate the production of ideas.
The animator, like a conductor, combines these techniques through methods and exercises.
Here are the three main techniques at his disposal.
Association is a fruitful technique, sometimes destabilizing.
Incorporating an outsider into a group can improve the quality of work. Psychological sociologists have demonstrated it: the presence of a Perfect unknown can raise the collective level.
This principle also applies to ideas.
Associate, bounce back, create chains of ideas:
The association fosters creativity.
Sometimes, to solve a problem, you have to start with Get away from it.
Creative distance is about transposing the question.
Three main routes:
Going away makes it possible to come back better.
Bissociation consists in combining two different fields of reference to create new ideas.
We are looking for improbable hybridizations.
Take a random word from a journal and relate it to your problem.
We can also work with photos, scents, music.
Creativity is often born from Collision between two worlds.
In creativity, the animator plays a central role.
It establishes a favorable climate, enforces the rules of the game and combines techniques wisely.
But we can also imagine trained, autonomous groups capable of functioning as an improvisation troupe where everyone is both an actor and a director.
Creativity, like improvisation, can be learned.
A selection of articles to extend the reflection, discover other points of view and make your ideas grow.
