The subconscious is the part of the brain that controls all our bodily functions. It is the source of our instincts and 'automatic' reactions to events. It works on our behalf to keep our body in the best possible physical health and vitality. We have to play our part by paying attention to exercise, diet and protecting our body from physical harm.

In a similar way, we should protect our mind from harmful influences and 'feed' it with the knowledge it needs to work well for us. This care and attention on our part will enable the creative mind to work well on our behalf. It will sort the knowledge stored in long-term memory into those thoughts and ideas most appropriate to our creative needs at any given time.

If our memory bank is filled with fiction, fantasy, fears and misinformation then we can only be creative in those areas. This may be fine for a novelist or dramatist but real life situations need factual information.

Creativity can only work with what it is given.
In business for example, long-term memory should contain the facts, valid experience and knowledge needed to innovate new business and/or product ideas.

A designer, scientist or technologist will need a large store of relevant knowledge covering the various subjects in his or her field in order to accumulate sufficient creative material.

Creativity thus works in a 'field of knowledge'. The depth, accuracy and range of knowledge we possess limits our creativity. But as the seven Attributes demonstrate, there is more to creativity than just knowledge. We must have the right attitude of mind, which is to be open to new ideas and a willingness to question what we know. It is to have an enquiring mind with a wide range of interests.
Motivation is a key factor in creativity. Adverse external circumstances will repress or inhibit our creative faculties unless we are positively motivated to prevent this happening.

Creativity comes from within the person. It is a very individual and subjective process. It is an expression of our natural personality. Creativity, like most things in life is what we ourselves make of it. Given the opportunity, the knowledge and encouragement, the creative mind will work to provide those thoughts and ideas needed to help us in every walk of life. The method for developing our natural creativity is simplicity itself.

1. Always take notes, however briefly of creative thoughts and ideas as soon as possible after they come to mind.
2. Record time, place and activity in a pocket note book that is always at hand.
3. Transfer record to a personal notebook, record dates and state main subject(s) covered as a heading for each page.
4. Look out for a THEME IDEA from which other ideas will emerge and to which they can be connected in the record.
5. Allocate thoughts and ideas to a particular theme if possible.
6. Periodically review the record to identify your most creative times, activities and themes.

Notes on method;

1. Start small with any and all thoughts and ideas that have a special or original meaning or significance. We are not necessarily looking for inventions or world-changing ideas.
   
2. Be brief in note taking at first. Unless you have the time and space to 'go with the flow'. In which case let the thoughts flow into your notebook.
   
3. Once a flow starts it may carry on way past the original subject. The key thoughts and ideas should be selected from the rest, which may well be superfluous.
   
4. The aim is to develop a Method that suits you. Recall that method is one of the seven Attributes.
   
5. Imagine the part of the head from which the ideas appear to come into your mind.
   
6. Direct questions or ask for help with a particular problem to where you believe the source of ideas originates. Alternatively direct your questions to the crown of your head or your heart.
   
7. Once a satisfactory method has been achieved, follow it until you are completely satisfied and convinced that your creative mind exists and is working for you and with you.
   
8. Over a period of time you will begin to realise that you are getting valuable answers to real questions. Positive results will give you the confidence and 'proof' you need to use the method as a mind-developing process.
   
9. In this way you will eventually form a 'Creativity Partnership' with your creative mind that will last for the rest of your life.

 

Creative Action - An introduction

The development of a creative culture as a style of working will help any group or team achieve higher levels of creativity, innovation and problem solving and provide a structure for their own continuous improvement in quality, creativity and performance.

The first stage is to establish a cultural environment by carrying out an assessment of the existing team culture, identifying its strengths and weakness and taking the necessary action if improvements are needed. This can be achieved either by carrying out a full Seven Attributes Cultural Assessment and/or by the shorter route of using the exercise on Cultural Similarities as a workshop.

For special project teams that do not normally work together or for newly formed work groups that have not yet established a consistent work culture the above exercises will be a useful introduction to cultural team working. They will enable the group/team members establish norms of working together that will carry through to the project.

This particular workshop exercise is designed as an introduction to the Basic Rules and Methods of working as groups or teams in a creative culture. It takes the group right through the process of live 'creative action' resulting in a significant contribution to an understanding of motivation.

Although a specific subject is chosen in this instance as part of the Seminar programme, the methodology provides a template for further training, practice in creativity or for actual real live problem solving, innovative and continuous improvement programmes.

How does motivation affect performance?

Recall that motivation is 'what causes us to move, to act, to arrive at decisions'. It is that which moves us to act in certain ways by the desire to achieve external goals, satisfy inner needs or avoid unpleasant or unwanted outcomes.

Motivation itself is derived from external influences and/or from internal beliefs, thoughts, feelings and emotions. Not only is our behaviour and performance affected by our own motivations, the actions and behaviours of other people also affect our performance. Thus we can be positively motivated towards doing something with enthusiasm or to do things in fear or anger, or we can be negatively motivated to avoid doing things which perhaps others would wish us to do but who have 'put us off' by their own actions or attitude.

Motivations are thus very complex and we can often only guess at what motivates other people by what we observe of their facial expression, from what they say and, most important, how they behave. We call this 'attribution', whereby we attribute to others motives, which may not in fact be correct. In this exercise we will list as many of the causes of motivation that we know from our own personal experience: 'these are the factors that motivate or de-motivate me'. And 'these are the motivating and de-motivating factors that I believe affect other people's behaviour'. In the time available we will suggest and sort into some kind of sensible order as many factors as possible, following the Basic Rules and Method as described below.

The workshop is sectioned under five headings: Process, Basic Rules, Method, Cultural Group Formation, Subject or Purpose. Each section will be discussed or acted upon in turn. The following notes are offered as guidance and for later reference to avoid undue note taking.

The workshop begins by explaining the Process of creativity and innovation from the generation of original creative ideas by individual group members, through the development and selection of the ideas as a group activity to their innovation by practical application.

The second stage is to establish the BASIC RULES for the conduct of the workshop and then to describe the METHOD of creative working that generates, sorts and applies the various thoughts and ideas into coherent, structured and practical suggestions, recommendations and/or solutions to the project or problem in hand.

The fourth stage is Cultural Group Formation. In the case of a permanent or semi-permanent group or team, a Cultural Assessment exercise to produce a Profile, using either the Seven Attributes or the Cultural Similarities questionnaires will introduce the principles of group/team culture that can then be developed into a culture improvement programme as described elsewhere. For this Seminar workshop however, or similar ad hoc training group a rather different method is required to form a temporary cultural group just for this short demonstration session.

An alternative introduction to cultural group formation is a simple Commitment Exercise. A commitment is a resolve to see something through. It is to do our best to make a success of the project. The Commitment Exercise is also a short practical demonstration of the Seven Attributes as an aid to cultural group formation. It can also be used generally as an 'attitude test' for any given project. A high negative score will predict failure, as in: 'we are beaten before we start'. A high positive score will predict success. It affirms the attitude: 'let's go for it', 'let's give it our best shot'. The Commitment Exercise thus alerts us to the presence of negative attitudes that may inhibit our ability to make the best contribution we can to the session. The intention is that it will put us in 'the right frame of mind' before we start.

The fifth and final stage is the Subject or Purpose of the group creative session.