Nurturing Innovation
{4 rules of innovation}
The biggest killer of creativity is the word "NO". It stops the process in its tracks and inoculates against future innovation. More can be achieved with higher aims by practicing the phrase "yes, and..." This phrase forces you to accept another's suggestions and to add on an improvement - greasing the innovation pipeline in your team.
| yes, and.
It sounds so easy. Ideas like to be heard. However most people are horrible at the art of listening. A good listener listens with more than just their ears, but also their body language and their eyes. Creativity needs attention, and those that pay it well reap the largest rewards.
| listen.
Yes groupthink exists - however so does groupinnovate. In the problem solving process a well-practiced team can accomplish more. I'm not saying necessarily that IQs are additive, but that ideas can grow faster with more inputs - ie. the recent popularity of crowdsourcing.
| two heads > one head.
Everyone's creative process differs. If your team is going at a problem night and day - you are really leaving no room for innovation. Also realize that creative insights are not necessarily confined between the hours of 9 to 5. Some people get their strokes of genius in the shower. I, for example, get my best ideas when I first put my head to the pillow - like the idea to build this site. If you figure out when your creative process kicks into gear during your down time - you've struck gold, now follow it!
| give it a break.
Sometimes it feels like creativity never really can strike. When it rains it pours, but when it doesn't it's a desert. I've been in those ruts, where you feel like nothing is progressing forward and your creative juices just aren't flowing to give you the ability to solve problems or make simple decisions.
