5 Pieces of Kindling

kin-dling

–noun

1. material that can be readily ignited, used in starting a fire.

2. the act of one who kindles.
( Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.)

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Deluxe Edition (Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (Deluxe))

If you have ever built a fire — indoors or out — you know that you can’t just lay match to log. The preparation that has to occur (the kindling) builds the foundation so that when a spark does occur there is something for it to ignite.

The same is true for creativity and innovation. Without a receptive foundation, the spark will just languish and die.

The question that I believe is the most important is the hardest to answer; How do you create a creative culture in an organization that is productive and consistent?

Our starting point for this series is a quote attributed to Socrates — ” If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you always got.”

Kindling Pieces

Everyone in your business needs to understand and buy into the idea of building an organization that allows new ideas to spark in the hope that each spark will ignite but with the knowledge that most sparks burn-out before they flame.

This means building a creative culture that at times will seem “anti-productivity.” Here are the 5 pieces of kindling we will explore over the next few weeks:

  1. Expose your team to the world! Find interesting opportunities to expose your team to ideas that are outside your office. Teach them how to look for new thoughts and how to apply them to your business. Creativity is not just for artists, designers, writers or marketers.
  2. Encourage thinking time. We are too connected to the world and it is too easy to fill all our time. Turn off access to your company’s e-mail system and the internet for one day a month. Declare one afternoon a week meeting-free zone. Take all electronic devices hostage before brainstorms. Make thinking a priority for every staff member. (Including yourself.)
  3. Excel at failure. Thomas Edison once said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Accept it. Learn from it. Celebrate it. Grow from it!
  4. Expect rigorous development, evaluation, and implementation. A creative environment without a way to take the right ideas to market is a waste. No creative visionary wants their ideas to languish only on paper. But, to make sure you are promoting a strong creative culture, it is imperative to know the when and the how. Make sure your culture implements a great development and evaluation program as well as a sturdy structure for implementation in the marketplace.
  5. Elevate the priority of creative thinking in your company’s goals and objectives. Hold it out for everyone to see you believe in the creative process. “Talk the talk. Walk the walk.” You have to do both to convince your team that it is safe to go outside of the corporate comfort zone.

One last thing — Creativity is a journey not a destination.

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