Creativity is the cornerstone of hard work and a critical stage of team development, but not everyone finds creativity essential in the day to day. Some find it to be trivial and would rather stick with what they know. Where we find creativity, we usually find:
- Passion
- Determination
- Deep care for what’s being created
Creativity is perceiving the world in new or unique ways and desiring to bring them into real life. Not everyone is created to think the same way, or in a different way. There is always going to be someone that thinks more outside of the box than you do, but that doesn’t mean your light can’t shine. Now imagine a team of creators, everyone feeling inspired and driven to make and create their product. It is understandable that not everybody “makes” or “creates” tangible things, but the idea of being inspired and driven by what you’re doing is why creativity works and is an essential stage of team development. Here are some tips to turn that colorful light bulb of yours on!
1) Assess Yourself
What makes you, you? What do you like and love? What are your hopes and dreams? What are you good at? Any of these questions are good questions to ask yourself. After you have a few ideas, you have to get… you guessed it… creative! Think about how the things you love and are passionate about can be employed in what you are doing. Where there is a will there is a way!
2) Collaboration
Steve Jobs states, “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” In business and personal situations, working with others leads to great things! Sometimes all it takes is another person to bring out the best of us, or in this case our best ideas!
3) Perception
Yes, we all know the frustrations of someone telling you to start thinking a different way in order to change. Well, there’s a bit more to it. Understanding exactly what you’re doing and how you can leave your mark on it, is an invaluable point of view. Even if you are doing something repetitive, you can be known for always finishing on time, finishing early, helping others or sharpening your skills.
These tips are not intended to be individual pieces of advice. Self-assessment, collaboration and perspective all work in accordance with one another. It’s essential to apply them together, to reap the full benefits of creativity. Bill Moyers states, “Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” So let’s be encouraged to be creative and leave our marks on what we do!
