Building and maintaining creativity

What ideas do you have to get creativity flowing?

There are lots of things you can do to get more creative day to day. I think that creativity is like a muscle – you need to flex it a bit each day to make it stronger. A key factor in creativity is being open to ideas – being curious. Steve Jobs famously said that creativity is “just connecting things”.

So it’s about having a wide frame of reference on the world and lots of different dots to join. I do this by trying to absorb as much culture as I can, trying to be creative myself – like taking a creative writing class and getting out of your comfort zone and doing something new. Everything you see, hear, taste, smell, feel can be stimuli for ideas. A creative technique is to use random objects as prompts for ideas so if you go a gallery or museum you imagine that the answer to your creative problem WILL be solved by something you find there. Maybe the answer is written in hieroglyphics or in a painting. Might sound off the wall but it does work! Your brain will make connections and metaphors from what you see. At the very least you should come away inspired ;-)

In a work/group situation you can use random objects and visuals to inspire creativity in other people, asking them to make connections with the item they have ( a rubber duck, a key, whatever you have to hand) and the challenge.

What tips would you suggest in terms of developing professionally both in the long-term and the short-term?

I think both short and long term it’s about setting creative goals for yourself as your mail suggests. What can you do to be more creative day to day and what would a great creative work project look like for you over the next 6 months to a year? Can you get your teeth stuck into something and set creative goals as well as business goals. Research has shown that companies and individuals that set creative goals (just as in any other area) are far more likely to deliver a creative output.

If you don’t use any tools or techniques currently then I’d definitely recommend reading Dave Trott’s Creative Mischief and Michael Michalko’s Thinkertoys – one’s a great spin around the ad industry from a brilliant creative, the other’s more a ‘how-to’ be creative.

There’s some great free resources and stimulus out there with things like psfk.com, springwise.com and trendwatching.com which are great for inspiration. If you can I would find a buddy (in or out of work) who shares your passion for creativity and set challenge for yourselves and each other. A great way to learn something is to have to teach it to someone else so you could take a technique each month and have to share it with one other person.

What small - or immediate - changes could you make to your working environment to make it more likely to produce creative ideas in? Is there anything obvious most people are missing?

Environment is a really interesting one. Studies show that it only accounts for around 10% impact overall on creativity (you'd never know this looking at Google's offices) but I do think there are some easy wins.

Collaboration is key - so is there a way to share problems and ideas? Can you paint blackboards or whiteboards in the office. This way everyone knows what the challenge you're working on is, so everyone can contribute - maybe put it near the kitchen or tea machine and ask for ideas.

Get a change of scene if you can, this is the quickest way I know to get out of a creative rut.

Share ideas if you have a brainstorm - tell people what gets used, what clients love, what worked.

Make like a magpie. Share stimulus - cuttings, random objects, things from your weekend. Keep a box for people to dip into if they have to be creative.

How to make your business more creative