Creativity and innovation ....................................................................................
14 suspend judgement to encourage the creative process and avoid
premature criticism – analysis and criticism repress creativity)
15 know when to leave a problem (remaining aware but detached)
for solutions to emerge – patience is important here as is the
suspension of judgement
16 tolerate ambiguity and occasionally live with doubt and
uncertainty
17 stimulate own curiosity (in everything including travel) and the
skills of observation, listening, reading and recording.
Managers should remember that creativity should challenge the status
quo to test continuously for improvements, because:
- a thing is not right because we do it
- a method is not good because we use it
- equipment is not the best because we own it
Creativity can be improved by remembering that the creative
process has four main stages and each needs to be properly ‘worked’:
1 Preparation (information gathering, analysis and solution
exploration)
2 Incubation (letting the mind work to continue the process)
3 Illumination (inspiration – which can come when the individual
is not necessarily thinking about the problem but is in a relaxed
frame of mind)
4 Verification (testing ideas, solution, hunches, insights for
applicability).