Creativity
WHAT IS CREATIVITY?
Creativity is thinking of new ways to do things. It involves producing ideas or behaviors that are original. However, originality is not enough: whatever is created, whether an idea or a product, must also be useful or adaptable. For example, you might write a blog post that is unique because it is entirely gibberish. That’s not going to be useful, so it would not be considered creative.
There are two essential components to Creativity- originality and Adaptiveness. A creative individual generates ideas or behaviors that are novel or unusual and these make a positive contribution to the individual's life or the lives of others group.
The four types of creativity
For our purposes, we turn to the four types of creativity as defined in a research paper in 2004 by neuropsychologist Arne Dietrich. Mr. Dietrich laid out creativity on a four-square matrix where along the x-axis is Cognitive and Emotional, and on the y-axis is Deliberate and Spontaneous. Let's discuss these four types.
Deliberate and cognitive
Creativity that is deliberate and cognitive comes from hard work in a particular area. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light bulb (improved from the invention of Joseph Swan) and the telegraph, is a great example of a deliberate and cognitive creator. His work involved doing experiments repeatedly, making tweaks as he did, until something finally worked. This process followed him during all his brilliant career as his work contributed exponentially to the modern world.
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is home to this type of creativity. The PFC is one of the three regions of the frontal cortex, which is the space right behind your forehead, and is the home of the language, the memory, reflexion and superior executive brain functions. In a more concrete way, it allows you to do two things:
The key aspect of deliberate, cognitive creativity is having an already formed body of knowledge to combine existing information in new and innovative ways. Gaining this high degree of knowledge obviously takes time. So, for these types of creative thinkers, it's essential to provide lots of opportunities for research and learning.
Then, they must be provided with enough time to develop a creative solution.
Deliberate and emotional
For some, creativity comes from sitting quietly and reflecting on their situation. Dietrich calls this type of creativity deliberate and emotional. These types of creatives likely have "a-ha" moments where they seem to pull a solution out of thin air. But, most don't see that the idea isn't actually out of nowhere, but from time spent pondering and asking questions, as opposed to research and time spent studying. This type of creativity comes from the cingulate cortex–an area of the brain that connects our emotions to the PFC.
To help people whose creativity falls on this scale, it's important to give them time to think. For example, if a bad event just happened to you or a relative, you may reflect on yourself trying to understand the decisions and incidents that led to this situation. You’ll naturally use this type of creativity to reflect on the event so you can face it and ultimately, be able to move on and learn from the situation.
You can offer them questions and insights, but you shouldn't expect them to have a solution immediately. Instead, present things to them, then allow them to come back later to share their thoughts.
Spontaneous and cognitive
Spontaneous and cognitive creativity utilizes the brain's basal ganglia – this is a part of the brain where dopamine is stored, and it operates outside conscious awareness. It's also a part of the brain that is primarily involved in processing movement-related information. Someone who falls into this category is said to require time to do something else, allowing their subconscious to keep working on the problem. When explaining this type of creative thinking, an example is how Isaac Newton thought of gravity while watching a falling apple.
It does require an existing body of knowledge, but the idea is that while someone is doing another unrelated activity, their brain continues to work on a solution to their problem. Solutions may come while cleaning dishes, driving, taking a shower, or walking outside.
For spontaneous and cognitive people, it's essential to develop stages of creativity over time. For example, on day one, they may want to set up the problem but then come back sometime later to solve it.
Spontaneous and emotional
Perhaps the type of creativity that people consider the most elusive and something you either "have or don't have" is the spontaneous and emotional creativity type. Great artists and musicians such as Mozart, Baudelaire or even rap singers like Eminem are often these types of creatives and experience powerful and emotional (from the amygdala) creative moments that seem like an epiphany or even a religious experience. It's more challenging to design these moments into our regular lives, but a high level of skill is often required of the person.
When faced with team members of this type, it's essential to create an environment that helps them hone their skills and collect their creative ideas, even if the applications aren't immediately revealed.
How to harness your team's creativity
Understanding these creativity types is one thing, but putting them into practice is something else entirely. These days, being creative is made all the more difficult for people as demands at work or on specific projects don't allow the time or flexibility to really honor your creative way of thinking. Whether you're a manager, director, or employee, it's essential for most people to find time to be creative if they want to get ahead in their careers, grow their business, or develop a strong-performing team. Inner reflection is necessary for people who want to grow in their life as professionals and as people.
Here are some ways to honor and harness your team's creativity:
Encourage ideation
We all know "time is money." And depending on how fast-paced or time-crunched your business or projects are, it can be difficult to allow "time to think." But, as you can see from the descriptions above, time is exactly what some need to produce their best ideas. Encouraging ideas and creativity means consistently allowing your employees space and time to explore. Maybe you can't do it all the time, but you should do it when you can.
Collaborate regularly
Another key to harnessing your team's creativity is providing spaces where they can collaborate regularly. Like any good sports team, they need to get to know each other and how they can work best amongst one another. That kind of teamwork requires practice. Even if you don't have a project requiring creative thinking, developing exercises or games is essential to help team members regularly work on those creative parts of their brains.
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