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Welcome to the Practical Innovator Newsletter, which
is now being brought to you through Constant Contact
technology. You can expect some adjustments over
time as we learn how to use this new technology! Please
let me know what you think! And if you know of
others who might be interested in receiving a copy,
please feel free to pass this copy on to them! Thanks!
| Managing for More Creative Results |
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(Adapted from "BREAKTHROUGH CREATIVITY: Achieving
Top Performance with the Eight Creative Talents")
Question: There are several members of my team who
are "people persons." How are they creative and
what can I do as team leader to bring out more of
their creative potential?
Answer: Since achieving creative results often
depends on groups of people working together who are
not used to working together, "people people," or
those who have an abundance of what I call the
Harmonizer talent, can make major contributions to
the organization's creativity. Some of their most
creative results include:
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| Creativity Tips for Teams |
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Five tips for getting fast, creative results from teams:
1. Don't stop at the first good idea. Most great
ideas come after many ideas have been generated. In
brainstorming sessions, don't let time pressures
keep the team from exploring lots of ideas that can
contain the kernel of the best solution. Allow time
for the team to push on through "deadspots," to
continue to build on prior ideas, and find even
better, break-through ideas!
2. Practice deferring judgement. One of the main
reasons that brainstorming doesn't achieve promised
results is because teams fail to put off judging the
ideas. It's much easier to criticize than to
continue to build on lots of ideas. Hold off the
critic until all possibilities have been explored.
3. Make sure you are solving the right problem.
Too often assumptions and current mental models
unconsciously frame a situation, and teams end up
solving the wrong problem. Or they solve the
symptoms and not the source of the problems and thus
have to keep tackling the same problem over and over
again. Instead, take the problem apart and examine
it from a variety of angles before proceeding to
solve it. Remember that a problem correctly stated
is half solved.
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| Lessons from Research |
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In a February 2004 opinion column in the Wall Street
Journal, Carly Fiorina, Hewlett Packard's chair and
CEO, urged leaders to maintain the U.S. lead as "the
most competitive and creative of all nations." Her
argument was that we should not hide behind a
protectionist policy in an attempt to run away from
the "reality of a global economy." Instead, leaders
need to keep pushing their organizations to find new
and different ways of creating and delivering
products and services.
One way for leaders to stay on the competitive edge
is to stay tuned to the future. How do you do this?
According to Global Foresight Associates, a
Waltham, Massachusetts futures research and
consulting firm (www.globalforesightinc.com), you
practice "360° scanning." You stay abreast of
trends and changes in:
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| Tips for Trainers using the Eight Creative Talents |
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My experiences working with the Eight Creative
Talents have resulted in several learnings that I
would like to share with those of you who are also
using the Eight Creative Talents in your work. This
section will be an ongoing part of the Practical
Innovator Newsletter going forward so those of you
who might like to share your experiences are welcome
to send comments or questions to me at
Lynne@breakthroughtcreativity.com.
One of the most frequent questions in workshops is
how the eight creative talents relate to the MBTI ®
and why there can be differences between the results
of the MBTI ® and the talents. There are three
issues here that need to be addressed:
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Changes from Breakthroughcreativity.com |
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Over the summer, I decided to switch to this new
technology for my newsletter for two reasons:
1. If I am going to promote creativity, then I need
to do a little bit of experimenting myself!
2. It allows me to concentrate on writing more
frequent, although shorter, newsletters and to worry
less about the
delivery details. Stay tuned......
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