Ordinarily, I don’t embed 20 minute videos into my blog posts, but this is one of my all time favorite videos, full stop. That it’s about how we lose our creativity as we age is profound and that Sir Ken Robinson is so funny makes it poignant and memorable.  That I stumbled across it after we had developed our own framework for creativity and that he so wonderfully reinforces our message is exciting. If you don’t have time to view his video but want tips now, here are our 6 ways to develop your creativity, based around the acronym CREATE.

1. C – Critic – Creativity cannot take hold in an environment of judging or criticizing. Many of us struggle with an inner critic, basically any internal message we send ourselves about what we can’t do — this includes messages that we aren’t creative! Similarly, we have external critics, judgments we place on others that create an environment where new ideas or risks are discouraged. Creativity needs a supportive, open environment where wild ideas and unconventional approaches flourish. Tame your critic by replacing judgment with curiosity.
2. R – Risk – Our most important inventions come from someone who was willing to take a risk to be different. People’s openness to risk depends upon many factors — nature of the risk, who’s involved, impact of the risk and overall personality factors.  We also tend to overestimate what we have and underestimate what we might gain by taking a risk. The next time you want to do something different, write down everything you currently have in one column and what you might gain from the risk in a second column. What are you overestimating in the first column?  What might you be underestimating in the second column?
3. E – Energy – Creative people have paid attention to their natural body rhythms and are deliberate about not only when they are most energetic, but also which environments most facilitate their creativity. Become more aware of the times and environments that are low energy for you and do something to shift that energy.  Take a walk, dance to disco music (works for me every time!), do something different from your usual routines (sit with a different person at lunch, read your newspaper at a different time) and declutter your desk or office.
4. A – Alternatives – Much has been written about creativity and a majority of it focuses on different ways to generate alternatives. Creative people are great at brainstorming. They can think of different ways to approach a challenge and utilize a number of tools to stimulate ideas. An easy way to explore alternatives is to choose a random word or object and then apply the characteristics of that to whatever challenge/problem you are facing.  Try this nifty little online tool for inspiration.
5. T – Time – Creative people devote regular time to developing their own creativity. Take an honest and fearless look at where you spend your time and trim out those activities that eat up your time but don’t challenge you creatively (like watching TV!). Take yourself on a monthly date and do something highly creative and outside your comfort zone like visiting an art gallery, taking a pottery or art class, going to the theatre, learning how to woodwork, etc.  Do this on your own so you don’t have to worry about your partner, but can explore your own creativity.
6. E – Execute – Ensure that your good ideas don’t go wasted. Creative people who are good at executing experience success. A great way to move closer to execution rather than procrastination is to simply take one step at a time.  Many times we can be overwhelmed by a big project … just make a commitment to take one step a day towards it.

Here are a list of my favorite resources for creativity:

• Our own CREATE deck of cards!
• Hugh McLeod’s Ignore Everybody book and Gaping Void Blog.
• Roger von Oech’s Whack Pack and iPhone Whack Pack app.
• Everything IDEO, including their deck of cards.

Happy creating!

This blog is based on the 6 of Spades, Get Creative, taken from our Teamwork Explorer. Written by Tammy.