Creativity

Question 1

Define creativity (4 step process)

Answer 1

1. The process of sensing difficulties, problems, gaps in information, missing elements, something askew;
2. making guesses and formulating hypotheses about deficiencies;
3. evaluating and testing these hypotheses; possibly revising and retesting;
4. and finally communicating the result.

Question 2

What are 5 characteristics of creative people

Answer 2

1. Knowledgeable
2. Comfortable with ambiguity
3. Discovery orientation
4. Intrinsically motivated
5. Willing to take risks

Question 3

Compare and contrast creativity and innovation

Answer 3

1. Creativity is the production of novel and useful ideas – the ability to form new concepts using existing knowledge.
   
   • There are two key skills involved in creative thinking: Convergent thinking (singular answer) and Divergent thinking (Thinking that moves outward from the problem in many directions without boundaries)
2. Innovation is the realization of novel and useful ideas in the form of products and services.
   - Company can be on the brink of disaster and saved by innovation. The most successful organizations today are efficient, adaptable, and able to generate novel ideas as market conditions change. Organizations must constantly think “outside of the box” to improve existing processes and to create new products and services.
   - Radical vs. incremental innovation: Creative ideas fall somewhere between two indices: feasibility and value

Question 4

Define Creative synthesis

Answer 4

a process in which innovation occurs by emphasizing affirmation rather than negation, and integration of the differing perspectives. (stay positive)

Question 5

*What is brainstorming? (3 points)

Answer 5

1. Brainstorming separates idea generation from evaluation
2. produces many new ideas
3. stimulates creativity and group interaction.
   * group discussion to produce ideas or solve problems.*

Question 6

*There are two key skills involved in creative thinking

Answer 6

1. Divergent Thinking: is thinking that moves outward from the problem in many directions without boundaries. Task conflicts stimulate divergent thinking in teams. Janusian thinking – another form of divergent thinking that refers to the ability to welcome conflicting ideas and ambiguity.
2. Convergent Thinking: is thinking that proceeds toward a single answer. Ideas evaluated as to their feasibility, practicality, and overall merit.

Question 7

*Define Janusian thinking

Answer 7

Another form of divergent thinking that refers to the ability to welcome conflicting ideas and ambiguity. Holding 2 conflicting ideas and be okay with it

Question 8

• 7 IDEO Rules for Brainstorming

Answer 8

1. Defer Judgment: Creative spaces don’t judge. They let the ideas flow, so that people can build on eachother and foster great ideas. You never know where a good idea is going to come from, the key is make everyone feel like they can say the idea on their mind and allow others to build on it.
2. Encourage wild ideas: Wild ideas can often give rise to creative leaps. In thinking about ideas that are wacky or out there we tend to think about what we really want without the constraints of technology or materials
3. Build on the ideas of others: Being positive and building on the ideas of others take some skill. In conversation, we try to useand instead of but…
4. Stay focused on the topic: We try to keep the discussion on target, otherwise you can diverge beyond the scope of what we’re trying to design for.
5. One conversation at a time: there’s lots of conversations happening at once, which is great! Always think about the challenge topic and how this could apply.
6. Be visual: In live brainstorms we use coloured markers to write on Post-its that are put on a wall. Nothing gets an idea across faster than drawing it
7. Go for Quantity: Aim for as many new ideas as possible. In a good session, up to 100 ideas are generated in 60 minutes. Crank the ideas out quickly.

Question 9

*Explain what IDEO is and their Creative Design Thinking Process

Answer 9

• IDEO is a design and consulting firm that uses the design thinking approach to design products, services, environments, and digital experiences.
• Design Thinking is an iterative (repetition) process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is a way of thinking and working as well as a collection of hands-on methods.
• Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which is known as design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.
• For IDEO, design thinking is a way to solve problems through creativity.

Question 10

What is the nominal group technique? (3 points)

Answer 10

1. Nominal Group Technique is a structured process where agreement is lacking or members have incomplete knowledge of problems. ​​
2. Formalizes the decision-making process, is efficient, and may work well if you have a larger group involved in the decision process.
3. All ideas are saved in the process and still retained as possible alternatives.

Question 11

How could the nominal group technique be used to reduce status differences that may inhibit brainstorming?

Answer 11

This technique minimizes position power when you have persons of unequal status in the group, promotes openness and acceptance, allows voting (prioritizing), efficient time use, ideas preserved and built upon.

Question 12

What are the disadvantages of the nominal group technique?

Answer 12

This method works well but can consume a lot of time with individual solutions and debate so effective time management needs to be implemented. Needs a good facilitator, there’s no time for elaboration.

Question 13

The three components of Amabile’s model of creativity are

Answer 13

1. Expertise: Technical, procedural, and intellectual knowledge
2. Creative-Thinking Skills: How flexibly and imaginatively people approach problems.
3. Motivation: Intrinsic is more effective than extrinsic. Having so much fun they forget about the extrinsic rewards

Question 14

*What are 5 things for remember when going through the convergent and divergent thinking creative process and what is this process? (4 step process)

Answer 14

1. Cannot jump ahead in the process
2. Different behaviors at different times
3. Different goals at different times
4. Must know when to switch modes
5. Must know how to switch modes

Process:

1. Generation
2. assessment
3. refinement
4. implementation

Question 15

what are 4 ways to encourage creativity

Answer 15

1. Avoid micro management
2. Build trust
3. Use effective brainstorming techniques
4. lead by example

Question 16

*What is convergent and divergent thinking

Answer 16

divergent thinking concentrates on generating a large number of alternative responses including original, unexpected, or unusual ideas. Thus, divergent thinking is associated with creativity. Convergent thinking involves finding only the single correct answer, conventional to a well-defined problem