Why Do I Need To Be Creative?
You may think you don't need to be creative. But creativity can help
you do a better job of what you do. Just look at the military. Who
would think that stand-up-straight-and-stick-the-gut-in military needed
to be creative? All they do is follow orders - or so we think. But
the US military was one of the first modern organizations to realize
that innovation could help them. They organized an elite team to investigate
innovative giants as well as all creative problem solving methods
and techniques. They then applied these creativity techniques to "NATO
military, intelligence and political problems," getting inventive
solutions to new as well as old dilemmas.
You may not think you need to do a better job of what you do. I can
hear you thinking, "In many places in North America right how, employers
are having a hard time filling the positions they have. I'm sitting
pretty - I don't need to change. And besides, creativity is okay for
strategy types like the military, or marketing people or - anyone
but me." However, we need to remember that the economy is cyclic.
It has its ups and downs. Right now you may be secure in your job.
But will you be two years from now?
Doing a better job of what you do makes you look better to your supervisors.
And it also makes you feel more fulfilled and satisfied. Those are
two very good reasons for cultivating creativity in your job.
But what exactly is creativity? According to Michael Michalko, one
of the world's leading experts in the field, creative people are those
who come up with more ideas in a shorter space of time. They had more
good ideas. But they also had more BAD ideas. The key is generating
ideas quickly. Out of this wealth of ideas will spring some that better
solve your problem in new and exciting ways.
Let's look at this in another way - let's draw a picture of creativity.
Imagine two people, Joe Average and Cathy Creative. They work in the
same department of a large telecommunications firm. And they both
have problems they need to find a solution for. Joe Average holds
his idea gun and slowly moves towards his problem. He carefully takes
aim and holds his breath. Then he squeezes the trigger. He hits, slightly
off target. But he breathes a deep sigh of relief because he hit what
he was aiming at. And he puts his idea gun away. Cathy Creative, on
the other hand, has a idea machine gun. As soon as she sees the problem,
she throws her machine gun in the direction of the target, presses
the trigger, and sprays ideas all over the place. Some hit; some don't.
Some are far off target - actually hitting the ceiling and the floor.
But ten are close to dead centre.
More ideas and better ideas - that's something that can help any person
in any job. After all, who doesn't have problems to solve? Everyone
benefits from being creative. And, fortunately, being creative, or
coming up with more ideas and better ideas, is something YOU can learn.
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