By Richard White – de Bono Accredited Trainer.
Change for the better is always good but we have to make it happen, we can’t sit back and wait for it. Adding to that, the old adage “nothing is perfect” suggests that everything can be improved and we should constantly be looking for ways to do it! But how do we do it and, perhaps more fundamentally, how do we find the time? We not only have to be more creative, we have to be more efficiently creative.
Efficient creativity
Efficient creativity becomes even more necessary when we understand that creativity involves more than generating ideas. It’s a process:
- We have to be clear about what we’re trying to achieve;
- Then we generate ideas, lots of them; and,
- Finally, we assess and modify the ideas for practical application.
Implementation usually produces challenges, which are overcome with more creative thinking. So, done properly, innovation is a cyclic activity that can be applied to everything we do.
The tools in Dr. Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking and Six Thinking Hats® workshops are designed to help us be more efficient. The workshops provide frameworks for effective thinking as well as idea-generating techniques and processes for assessment and implementation. We can use the tools to make improvements at all levels from top-level strategies and policies down to basic processes and activities.
Three questions
As an example, we take a simple process and then ask three questions:
- Can we do without it?
- What’s the reason for it and is that still valid?
- Is there a better way?
These are not criticisms – we ask these questions in order to bring ideas to mind. The ideas may not answer the questions but that’s OK, it’s the ideas, whatever they may be, that we’re after. Once we have the ideas we can assess them and implement those that are useful. It’s a simple technique but it can produce powerful results. Try it!
Developing a creative mindset helps us to be constantly seeking and finding ways to improve what we do and how we do it.
Becoming more efficient in other areas:
- See how one organisation made their project teams more effective and efficient.
- Making your words effective and dynamic.
- Are you getting the most from your team?
- eBook: Do More With Less.
More about Richard White
Richard White is a certified master trainer in Writing Dynamics™, Think on Your Feet®, The Skilled Presenter™ and Grammar on the Rocks™. He is also accredited to deliver Dr Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats®, Lateral Thinking and Power of Perception™.
He brings a wide range of practical business experience to his training. He has worked in a corporate environment as an engineer, before spending 15 years managing customer service, marketing and sales departments. He subsequently held a senior position on people development programmes in BT. His corporate career gave him both first-hand knowledge of day-to-day management issues and the opportunity to play a leading part in many cutting-edge projects.
