How Do You Create Creativity?
Written by Greg Plata, Director of Brand Strategy and Development
Job description: Write drunk, edit sober.
Can you guess what the job title is?
Answer: Marketer.
“Oh you must be creative, you work in marketing!”
But, what is creativity, and where does it come from?
Creativity relies heavily on divergent thinking—namely, the ability to find unusual and nonobvious solutions to a problem. The belief that a good idea can come from anywhere, anyplace, anytime or anyone. However, it’s not solely divergent thinking, creativity relies on divergent thinking’s relationship with convergent thinking. It’s important to note, divergent thinking in isolation has the potential to create more problems than solutions. It’s crucial to know how to use the power of divergent thinking, and when to use its partner, convergent thinking.
Let’s start with the basics.
Divergent thinking is the process of creating multiple, unique ideas or solutions to a problem that you are trying to solve. Through spontaneous, free-flowing thinking, this type of thinking requires coming up with many different answers or routes forward.
Convergent thinking, is when an individual uses linear, logical steps to analyze a number of already formulated solutions to a problem to determine the correct one or the one that is most likely to be successful.
Creativity is as much of a talent, as it is a process – knowing how to unlock the power of divergent thinking, while also being aware of other factors such as goals, objectives, budget and, most importantly, time (aka convergent influences). Divergent thinking takes time, not just the opportunity to explore, but to reflect and review.
So maybe that job description wasn’t too far off after all…
Writing drunk = divergent
Editing sober = convergent
Yes, creativity plays a big role in the marketing function, but it is the result of many moving pieces, working together in unison. Strategy, Client Service, Art Directors, Copywriters, Community Managers, Producers, Developers…we’re all marketers, working toward a common goal, using the power of creativity to help solve a brand’s business problem.
Sure, a little liquid courage might help here and there to get the creative juices flowing, however, I’m certainly not encouraging copious amounts of alcohol to do so. I can tell you from experience that trying to edit anything with a hangover isn’t the most pleasant experience.
Instead, here are a few ways to train the divergent thinking muscle before you jump into your next brainstorm.
Complete the Incomplete Figure Test
From the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking introduced by psychologist Ellis Paul Torrance in the sixties, this test was used as a way to administer a more creative IQ test. You were given a stack of images with a “doodle” on them, and you were asked to finish the picture. Higher points were awarded for answers that included rich imagery, implied narrative or used humour and or fantasy.
Concentrate on Quantity
This exercise, called the 30 Circles Exercise, was created by Bob McKim of the Stanford Design Program, the 30 Circles Exercise. You’re given a piece of paper with 30 blank circles on it, a pencil and 3 minutes on the clock. Your challenge is to fill as many circles as you can with a drawing of “something,” focusing on quantity over quality. Maybe there is a theme connecting them all, maybe not! After you’re done, share with the group and reflect on what similarities there were and encourage collaboration from others. The motive of this exercise is to prevent self-censoring. If quantity is your goal, you don’t have time to analyze whether your idea is bad and editing can take place later (sober!). This is where creativity flourishes.
Alternative Uses
Simple - you get two minutes to think of as many possible uses for a common object. Also commonly referred to as “The Paperclip Test,” J.P. Guilford developed this test in 1967. After the two minutes are up, your responses are ranked according to the four categories of divergent thinking:
Fluency: how you named each solution
Originality: how common the answers are
Flexibility: how many unique subjects or themes you explored
Elaboration: level of detail to each response
Daily Headlines
On the way home from work (your commute from the home office to the living room) imagine your day was a news story in a local newspaper. Spend a few minutes thinking of the major events and story arcs of your day, key players and characters, points of drama or conflict, etc.
Then ask yourself: What would the headline be? Try to come up with at least three different headlines each day…and write them down. Trying to keep them in your head can be limiting to the process.
This is a great exercise in both divergent and convergent thinking. Coming up with a headline involves a good amount of convergent thinking, by taking all the different parts of your day and trying to summarize or pick the “most important” ones. However, generating multiple headlines forces you to get divergent again with your thinking.
Automatic to Alternative Thoughts
These are quick, habitual thoughts we have in response to events or situations:
Your boss says, “Hey Laura, give me a call later today we need to talk.” And usually, the first thing that runs through your mind is “Oh no, what happened? What went wrong?”
A rollerblader cuts you off on the sidewalk and the first thing that comes to mind is “Jerk”
You get an email from the golf course, and you think “Yes, finally my new clubs are in!”
Automatic Thoughts can be an issue because they are often unrealistic or overly negative, and people often get caught in vicious cycles of negative self-talk. As a result, these thoughts are usually not very original or new. And so often we keep thinking along the lines of our first thought without questioning it at all.
A great exercise that flexes the divergent thinking muscle is to:
a) start to notice automatic thoughts, and
b) get in the habit of generating alternatives to them
At least once a day, try to catch an automatic thought, then pause and jot down 3-5 alternative thoughts that also fit the situation. In the above example, with our boss calling, some alternative thoughts could be:
I haven’t had a raise in a while, maybe Peter wants to discuss that?
Perhaps Peter is looking for an update on the rugby game?
Does he want to talk about a new business opportunity?
These are just a few exercises that can help flex the divergent thinking muscle and re-invigorate creativity. Check out the links below for more.
…and in the meantime, I’m going to call Peter about that raise.