The Creativity Bias
We value that which we can see, but it is in the unseen were creativity happens
Daniel Pink has said, “The future belongs to creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers.”
…but this reveals a bias, an unspoken truth about creativity.
In our collective culture, we hold creativity as an aspiration, a virtue. We memorialize the life stories of history’s great inventors, movement makers, artists and iconoclasts. We take journeys both private and public to uncover paths and secrets to creative brilliance.
The truth remains that we celebrate new and original ideas after they’ve become “products”…after they are creations, models, after they are fully realized.
Celebrating a creative product doesn’t mean that we truly embrace creativity. We build upon a previous post to offer that it is in the messy process that creativity and learning happen.
We need Brave spaces to honor and recognize the creative process as learning.
Pulse Check
What is the first thing we think of when we think of creativity?
How often do we really listen to ourselves and one another in getting to an idea?
What might emerge in boardrooms, classrooms and dining rooms when we enact listening to our own and another’s messy thoughts without immediate judgment?
It is frequently in the product, the end result that we celebrate creativity. But it is in the messy process that we need to lean in, capture and shine light on creativity in the making.
Big Idea
We have a bias when we think about creativity.
We are biased towards valuing things we can see, but it is in the unseen where the creativity and learning is really happening.
It isn’t so much about the creation of something original as it is about the realities of getting there. This requires recognizing and celebrating a continuum of possibilities, as trials and options on the way to what we see, make and do.
How often do we take time to listen to and hear about process? How frequently do we consider the resistance those with new ideas, models, inventions and contributions faced, and that many still do? When do we explore and examine the falls, the iterations, the problem solving encountered to achieve what we see as creative success? When do we consider the failed creative projects that paved the way for successes?
We have shared previously that success is not a performance. To that concept, we contribute our view of the Creative Process (originally cited by Wallas, as far back as 1926; and others more recently).
School of Thought of the Week
David Kelley, founder of the design firm IDEO, observes, “Creativity is being comfortable with having ideas and not fearing being judged when you put your ideas out there.”
The idea hinges on a simple idea: genuine listening to understand ourselves…and others’ points of view, and creating a space to share process, creating an atmosphere of psychological safety, is where creativity can flourish. Creativity lives in process, not product.
One simple tool and reframe to lean into process is what we offer as
the Cre@tivity Continuum.
Inspired by the research of Anita Williams Wooley, Adam Grant, and the sketches of Jono Hey, the School of Thought Cre@tivity Continuum acknowledges that:
few ideas will come out fully-formed or solve a problem perfectly
there is a spectrum of solutions to any challenge
for ideas to flow, we need to listen before we evaluate
With the Cre@tivity Continuum, we offer the notion that we must create space for all ideas to be put forward, even if we see obvious flaws.
We need to also recognize and address the power dynamics of position, gender, race, age, background and experience that we bring that might create barriers to acceptance and freedoms of inspiration and innovation to flow.
We have previously shared ideas around the spectrum of solutions regarding how we teach, how we learn, and what works and what matters. In the Cre@tivity Continuum, all ideas, models and notions will have pluses and minuses. Before pointing out the flaws, how might we make a point in creating equitable spaces in which we honor all voices, find the good in an idea and acknowledge it?
The continuum requires listening to ourselves as well as others. Our culture implicitly supports a fear of making mistakes, but without learning to play with different solutions and ways of thinking (which will inevitably lead to incorrect answers), no one will be prepared for new challenges of the changing world.
Without listening to ourselves and others, we may lose the genesis of a solution or a creative idea.
When learning (in school, work or life) works right, leaning into the Cre@tivity Continuum means that in an equitable and creative setting, even when people aren't sure what methods to use, they have the energy and will to keep pushing forward, to be undaunted when ideas don't work, to keep trying new ideas, and be open to others’ voices. The real living and learning happens outside boundaries of right and wrong, outside of requirements, and usually outside of deadlines.
Making Big Ideas Usable
How might we come together to create conditions that open brave spaces for sharing ideas that are still forming? For jumping in, before concepts are realized? For shining light on process as well as implementation?
From various sources of research and practice, we offer the following ideas:
We need psychological safety
Coined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, psychological safety is, “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes.”
Psychological safety is the feeling you have when you can take risks without feeling afraid. Without that sense of safety, creative bursts don’t happen, because people censor themselves - even TO themselves. In psychological safety, burstiness, a term identified by Dr. Anita Williams Woolley, can happen.
“Burstiness is like the best moments in improv jazz. Someone plays a note, someone else jumps in with a harmony, and pretty soon, you have a collective sound that no one planned.” Adam Grant
Studies have found that the creativity and productivity are outcomes of bursty cultures.
Warning: Building psychological safety takes time. It’s similar to trust.
In order to create space with high psychological safety there also needs to be high accountability. Those who participate in the spaces need to know that ideas can take root.
How is psychological safety built? Ideas below…
Welcome criticism (but not necessarily in a feedback sandwich)
If you’ve ever brainstormed, you know you’re supposed to put criticism on hold. Let every thought fly. There’s no such thing as a bad idea. Adam Grant and others suggest that’s a bad idea.
“It turns out that people are more creative in groups where criticism is welcomed. It raises the bar. Psychological safety doesn’t mean that everything is all warm and fuzzy. You still need to have standards.” (Grant, 2018)
Not having to worry about who is secretly judging you, or wondering what you can or cannot say, or feeling like you need to conform to the majority opinion of the group, is precisely what frees us up for creative bursts. This podcast is a great listen on the topic of how to create space for criticism.
At the same time, intentionally create an equitable balance of structure
Why structure? “If you agree together on some rules for when and how to work, you can focus all your energy on doing the work.”
Creativity needs to be combined with equitable implementation. We need effort to generate ideas, but also give them a try. Ideation is relatively abundant. It is its implementation that is more scarce. And to move forward with either, Creativity needs structure.
This might mean
Set aside time during which new solutions and ideas can flow. This could be independent, internal, personal. For example, the creative teams at IDEO set aside a weekly tea time ritual designed to encourage collaboration and “casual collisions”—a time when people step away from what they’re working on and connect with each other.
Constraints are necessary. In an order for water to flow, it needs rocks and gravity. These are the science from which movement happens. Constraints might be deadlines, requirements, or resources.
One recipe for unsuccessful creativity is having unrealistic time constraints. In life, in school, in work, people miss deadlines, take a long time to iterate, and those waiting get impatient. The way to flip this is whenever possible, to find ways to split up the process, get to fast iterations and fast learning. The notion of what is failure changes dramatically along the time axis. The antidote of not being allowed to fail is to learn faster. It doesn’t feel like a failure, it feels like trying and learning.
Provide a space for collaborative expression and reflection on the process. Where is burstiness amplified and celebrated? How are the players in the process supported? How can individuals reflect? Google, for example, asks employees how they are doing in terms of innovation and creativity with their Googlegeist surveys. They ask colleagues if they have the right resources, the right environment, and the right skills and mindsets. Based on the results, they take action to improve their 3 lowest scoring areas. How might we bring this to schools?
Amplify diversity
Diverse backgrounds and perspectives help with creative bursts.
A recent article in Scientific American provides insights for the notion that diverse groups are more creative. It’s not just because diverse groups have access to a wider range of ideas, backgrounds and lived experiences. To be successful, they need what is referred to as a brave space, not just a safe space. Here, they may feel the discomfort that comes in learning and disagreeing, but the the discomfort comes with civility, shared feelings of value, shared rules, and this culture motivates everyone to up their game.
Spend time with one another
The most important element in raising the level of creativity is the time we spend getting to know each other. The more time we spend with one another, in various and real ways, the greater the likelihood of developing bonds that lead to psychological safety. These do not need to be scheduled, but small, consistent moments like IDEO’s tea time, agendaless meetings, even open office hours at work or school at a distance, can help deepen relationships and trust over time.
Engage in what Dr. Nicole Furlonge (below) calls, hungry listening
This is listening without judgment, with all of its threads and angles. It means quieting your brain and resisting the instinct to respond with or TO your own thoughts. It is full sensory listening. It does not mean turning your own thoughts off or being passive accepting everything. But it does mean recognizing there is a continuum and to see it, we need to pause our instinct to say no to the new.
When we pause to recognize and listen, this keeps elements of the idea available to build on for others and respects views of all participants solving the problem. This means creating space in classrooms, boardrooms and even dining rooms to talk about both the good and bad, and real intentional space for everyone to share their voice.
With the challenges we are facing, we need to rethink what creativity means. It is not about new inventions, products, concepts, drawing or art. It is about problem-solving. It’s the flexibility of our mind, the ability to see things in new ways, or see things that no one can see and envision something entirely different. To move forward we must remain open, to listen to ourselves and others, to understand process is messy and involves trial and failure.
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