Develop Your Creativity

What Does Creativity Have to Do With Me?

What do you imagine when you think of creativity? Do you picture a writer toiling away on a new book? Or maybe you visualize an artist working on their latest painting?

Creativity can be defined as the process you use to generate new ideas. It’s a skill you need across many roles and industries to explore new ways of thinking, make decisions, and solve problems.

Although some people are inherently creative, as a soft skill it extends far beyond the art world and far beyond inherent ability.

As the modern workplace becomes more technologically advanced, it’s become one of the world’s most sought after soft skills by employers. This is because although advancements in technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), are good at enhancing ideas, they’re still nowhere near as effective as people when it comes to making creative choices.

We asked Joy Francis, Co-founder of Digital Women UK, about the relationship between tech and creativity. Digital Women UK is a creative communications agency that helps women in tech engage with digital entrepreneurship. The organization resides in co-working spaces in London and Bristol, and, according to Joy, the tech professionals, entrepreneurs, and creators who work alongside each other in these spaces all benefit from sharing space: 

How Is the Relationship Between Tech and Creativity Developing?

Understand Creativity

Let's have a quick look at how our brains function when we’re creative.

Our brains contain 86 billion neurons, and each one, on average, forms connections with 1,000 other neurons. Different networks of neurons perform different steps in the creative process. Certain areas of the brain work together for divergent thinking, which describes generating ideas. In contrast, other areas work together for convergent thinking, how we assess and narrow those ideas down to a single solution. 

In this course, we’ll apply specific techniques for practicing both types of thinking, thus developing your creativity overall.

The short answer is yes! Although it’s true to say that some people are inherently creative, you can develop your capacity for creativity. According to Valerie Van Mulukum, a researcher specializing in the cognitive ties to the imagination, the secret to boosting your creativity lies in play, practice, and experience.

So, at this point, it’s worth noting two things:

• We are all creative in some way.

• Creative skills can be learned and enhanced.

First, you’ll discover ways to nurture your creativity and overcome any blocks that may be preventing you from reaching your full potential. You’ll then be guided through DEAR, our four-step model to develop your creative thinking. 
 

Step one, the dream stage, is for idea generation. The idea is to dream big, and you’ll explore a range of techniques to encourage divergent thinking. Next, you’ll evaluate and assess these ideas to decide on the best solution to develop. This is where you’ll put your convergent thinking to the test. In the third step, you’ll put your idea into action. Finally, you’ll reflect on how successful it was and, if necessary, re-think or start again.    

So, how skilled are you at creativity to begin with? Let’s find out!

Test Your Creativity

Creativity tests help you assess your creative strengths and weaknesses. Some evaluate you on your ability to generate lots of ideas; others focus on evaluating those ideas to find a solution. The most comprehensive, however, test you on a mixture of both.

Try the Brick Test

One of the simplest and best-known examples of a divergent thinking test is Guilford’s Alternative Uses. In this test, you’re shown an object – usually a brick, but any item can be used. You then have one minute to list as many possible uses for it. 

Take Action 

Set a timer for 60 seconds. Now write down as many uses for a paperclip as you can. Don’t worry; there are no wrong answers for this.

Now assess your answers using the following four criteria:

1. Fluency - How many alternative uses did you think of?

2. Originality - How unique or novel are your ideas?

3. Flexibility - How many unique categories did you suggest?

4. Elaboration - How detailed were your suggestions? 

For each new use, give yourself a 10 for each of the four criteria, with a possible total of 40. How did you do? Did you discover strengths in any of the four assessment criteria? Was the result what you expected?

Another way of testing your creativity is Sarnoff Mednick’s Remote Associates Test. This one assesses your associative thinking skills (the ability to form associations between seemingly unrelated ideas).

Let’s take a look.

Try Word Association

Here, you’re presented with three cue words. In each case, have to find a single word that links all three. For example, for opera, hand, and dish, the answer would be soap (i.e., soap opera, hand soap, and soap dish).

Typically, the test will consist of 30-40 questions (ranging from very easy to difficult) that you’ll have 40 minutes to complete. The Remote Associates Test encourages you to make logical connections between the three stimulus words.

Take Action

Try out this Remote Associates Test by responding to the following six prompts. In each example, can you find one word that links all three words displayed?  

1. Blood, room, salts   

2. Coin, quick, spoon

3. Aid, rubber, wagon

4. Flower, friend, scout

5. Wheel, hand, shopping

6. Illness, bus, computer

Start Your Creativity Journal 

For your first journal task, download this short questionnaire to help you identify your creative strengths and weaknesses: .docx / .odt.

Reflect: What are your strengths and weaknesses? What areas will be most important to you in your current professional role? Make a list of your goals for developing your creativity. Re-test yourself once you’ve finished the course.

Let’s Recap!

• Creativity is the process you use to generate new ideas.

• Employers worldwide see creativity as the most sought after soft skill.

• Creativity can be learned; it’s not simply an inherent ability.

• You need to think divergently and convergently to enable your creativity.

• To develop your creativity, start by identifying your creative strengths and weaknesses.

Now that you’ve identified your creative strengths and weaknesses, you’re ready to face and overcome the fears that may be hindering you.