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Creative teams are impossible
What could you expect from people who have been trained all of their lives not to be creative? What could you expect from people who have been raised by parents who thought their children had to fit into society?
Children who went to school and were trained to behave and do whatever the school wanted. Children who lived in a society that thought good citizens should live according to the rules.
I have a surprise for you; all of us belong to this above mentioned group of people. We all were raised after we were born. Fortunately, we would say, but very unfortunate for our creativity.
As a father of five children, I have also done my best to make my children fit into the wild wild world and have trained them accordingly. All of my children went to primary school, and we all know what happens to creativity there; it dies.
Afterwards, my children went to high-school, college and university. Well done Leen, but what happened to their creativity there? Well, read the research that has been done about that and you will be quiet forever.
So, after this depressing start one can really wonder what happens then in all these brainstorm and idea-sessions, where teams of people are brought together to create something new. Well, honestly, although sometimes people have a great time, not much happens.
And the main reason is that breaking through this massive un-training to loose your creativity that all of us have gone through seems to be impossible. I always tell people that they just have to subtract 3 to 4 years from your current age to find out the number of years during which you have been trained to behave. In my case that number is 48 years.
And now we think that just bringing people into a room and tell them to become creative helps? Get out of here!
First of all, we bring them into a room! Why is that? That is because we think we should brainstorm in a room, or to make it worse; in an office.
Well, brainstorming in an office is impossible. The person who invented the real office-office must have been brain-dead doing so, because who wants to be found in an office. It is good to realize that the space in which one has to become creative all of a sudden is essential. High ceilings, huge spaces, create high and huge ideas. Never forget that, so the best brainstorm could take place in an airplane hanger. Yes, indeed it could!
But outside the space is even bigger, so take your people outside. Raining? Even better, because the key to brainstorming is to first take your people out of their comfort zone.
The comfort zone is tricky, because people really get mad when you drag ‘em out of it. But, you have to bring your team down to their bare essentials. What makes theme extremely mad or what makes them extremely happy. These emotions are a good start for any brainstorm. Start at 5 in the morning with cleaning a park, no breakfast, and in the rain. That is something good for a start.
Second rule is to stimulate anarchy. There is no danger there because in no way people will break any rules or will show criminal behavior. Because remember, we have been trained thoroughly to behave!!
And what is anarchy? Scream, yell at them to do anything they want. Tell them they have to break the rules. Tell them not to abide with any rule the company has. Tell them to be criminal.
Because the golden rule is that” when you stimulate anarchy, in the most positive case you get creativity as a result”.
So, when you want to get into a brainstorm session with your team, just remember two things;
Big spaces create big ideas……and anarchy is a necessity.
Good luck, and don’t be afraid!
>> Leen Zevenbergen is an entrepreneur and author of Rip Off Your Necktie and Dance: Revitalise Your Business with Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Global Publishing Ltd)
Tags: Brainstorming, Business Advice, creativity, guest blog, Leen Zevenbergen, management development
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