Managing Personal Creativity

Zusammenfassung

Da Kreativität eine Schlüsselvariable im Wettbewerb ist, implementieren viele Organisationen Innovationsprogramme. Der Erfolg dieser meist gruppenbezogenen Programme schwankt stark. Sinnvoller erscheint es demgegenüber, das kreative Potential der einzelnen Organisationsmitglieder zu verbessern, also deren individuelle Fähigkeit, neue und relevante Ideen zu entwickeln. Maßnahmen, die die angeborene Kreativität und die Fähigkeit zur Problemlösung ausweiten sollen, umfassen vier Elemente: das Verständnis für kreative Denkprozesse, die Identifikation von Kreativitätsblockaden, Kreativitätstechniken zur Erhöhung der Ideenproduktion und die Entwicklung einer nachhaltig kreativen Vision zur Verfolgung persönlicher und organisationaler Ziele.

Abstract

Many organizations today have turned to workplace innovation programs in the conviction that creativity is one key to competitive survival. The success of such group-oriented programs varies widely, but there is one approach that can help companies better achieve their goals for innovation: developing the personal creativity skills of individual members of the organization. Personal creativity means the ability of an individual to create new, relevant ideas and perspectives. And people can actually strengthen their innate creative abilities and problem-solving capacities. Developing personal creativity involves four elements: understanding the process of creative thinking, identifying blocks to creative thinking and the skills individuals can use to increase creative response, using methods to get fresher ideas and solutions more often, and identifying a personal creative drive and lifelong vision that can help individuals achieve their personal and professional goals.

consults with corporations on the practice of innovation. He is also cofounder of Inventive Logic, Inc., maker of ThoughtPath^TM software for idea generation and creative problem solving. The author would like to acknowledge his indebtedness to George Prince, the founder of Synectics and chief researcher behind the creativity and innovation techniques used at the consulting firm and in this article.