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What is creativity? New product development Idea generation Problem solving Creativity audits Helping to create the environment for creativity Training Training for individuals Training for teams Training for leaders More on creativity |
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What is creativity?Creativity covers a huge gamut ranging from something little more than working to procedure to an ability to create that seems little short of magic. For most people using creativity techniques generates higher levels of creativity. These are ways of kicking your thinking out of its rut by offering a stimulation that has nothing to do with the problem. For an example of this look at the Thoughtflip page in the Resources section.Arthur Koestler identified three types of creative individual, the Artist, the Sage and the Jester. The Artist creates beauty or challenge. The Sage creates ideas or solutions and the Jester creates humour. All three types are necessary in business and if you look at truly creative companies you will find them all in abundance. To be creative, you have to play. No one had an original idea sitting around a Boardroom table. Using a range of stimulating, playful, outrageous, silly, reflective, challenging and inspiring creativity techniques, we help to kick people’s thinking out of the tunnel and into new territories. As well as teaching creativity techniques, our facilitated workshops apply these to specific needs, and help groups to produce a range of decidedly different, yet workable and tangible solutions. We make no apology for the fact that we believe problem solving, idea generation, product development or the creation of a corporate vision should be fun. With us, they are. We commit to making sure our clients have an inspirational time. We also commit to facilitating the delivery of results that make a real difference to the bottom line. New Product Development There are a number of strategies for creating sustainable differentiation but clearly, for many companies, continually developing products that stay ahead of the market is a way to win. Some companies listen closely to their customers and try to deliver what they ask for. The truly creative companies deliver what their customers haven’t even imagined yet. To be able to do this takes an interesting combination of product knowledge, market knowledge and an ability to think beyond perceived constraints.
Given a group with product knowledge and market knowledge we have tools and techniques that will allow them to think beyond their constraints and create truly innovative products. Idea generation
All organisations need ideas. Some believe that there are areas that have ownership of this. Often this area sits within Marketing or Research and Development. Truly creative organisations realise that everyone is a potential source of ideas and that there is no area that cannot be improved with a little creative thinking.
We can take any group and enhance their ability to generate ideas. It doesn’t matter whether you are looking for smarter ways to get your products to your customers or a better way of handling the Purchase Ledger. Problem solvingEvery organisation faces intractable problems or inherent contradictions in the way they do business. Most organisations take these as being facts of life and things you just have to live with. Truly creative organisations realise that there is always a different way of doing things. All you need is to think a little differently.We have an impressive record of helping organisations to see new ways around the obstacles or contradictions that are facts of life for them. Creativity AuditsHow creative is your organisation? What areas of creativity are you good at and what areas could do with improving?Through a series of interviews and questionnaires we can pick apart the creative ability and potential of your organisation and give you some pointers to the levers that you can pull to make a real difference. Helping to create the environment for creativity
These days most organisations accept the need for them to be more creative. Many would like to do something now but have no idea where to start or how to create an environment that fosters creativity.
We can help. We are not only aware of some of the latest thinking on creative organisations but we have many years of experience of working for and working within some. We can help you to get started on improving your creative ability by improving your creative environment. Training
As well as having some first class facilitators we also have some great trainers. We can offer a range of training options that will help you to improve your organisation’s creativity.
Training for individualsOften when organisations wish to give their creative ability a boost all they are really after is to have a few individuals around the place who can help come up with ideas, solve problems or help to develop that killer product. The most creative organisations realise that the more people in the organisation that have this ability, the better it is for all aspects of what they do.We offer courses for individuals that will teach them how creativity works and how it doesn’t work. We can teach them ways of thinking that will allow them to move beyond their current limits and create more than they imagined possible. Training for teamsSometimes it is not enough to have a few creative types sprinkled about the place. Sometimes you need teams that you know will deliver creative solutions.We can teach teams the same things that we would teach individuals but in addition we would give them a shared language and a shared way of working that would allow the team to be far more than the sum of the individuals in it. Training for leadersHow is it we can have organisations that are made up of hugely creative individuals that put together produce a whole that is uncreative? Without doubt the most significant area for creative organisations is the leadership. Creative organisations are led in different ways to less creative ones. Very few people consciously choose to be poor performers. Very few people consciously choose to inhibit their natural creativity. But many organisations are led in ways that encourage under performance and inhibit creativity.We can teach leaders ways of being that enhance their organisation’s creativity. We can show them how some environments and ways of working produce creative organisations and some stifle the natural creativity that’s there. More on creativity(The videos below are hosted outside our website. Any links that you might follow via these videos leave this site and we take no responsibility for their content.)Creativity and educationOne of the ways we become really boring at dinner parties is banging on about the effect of education on children's creativity. This twenty minute video by Sir Ken Robinson is a really good summary of what we tend to be saying.AwarenessThis is an awareness test from Transport for London (just over a minute)Contact us. | |