Infusing Creativity or Defying Culture

This morning, I received an email from a student from my Creative Problem Solving elective module in the MLS (Management and Leadership Studies) class. She is a head of department and was away 4 months for her MLS course in NIE.  This was what she shared...

" Lots of changes in school since I went for MLS. Missed MLS very much. No need to manage other people expectation and  frustration. Tried divergent thinking in COE meeting. Did not work out as expected. I think they had already decided on their own idea before the meeting. Felt stupid afterwards. IC said that ideas were too divergent and not convergent enough, waste time. So in reality, purpose of brainstorming in meeting is??? Ok, must have fun and stay positive, right? Trying to continue the habit of reading and reflecting. Take care and keep smiling."

This email served as a strong and genuine reminder that creativity needs to be well situated especially if people are not used to 'taking the plunge' or do not understand the ground rules for brainstorming.  Very often, they may be unwilling to confront ambiguities or even simply looking at information from a different point of view. Thus, the inhibition to take the next step beyond what is known and risk censure.  I am reminded of one of the 4Ps in Rhode's (1961) definition for creativity- Press. "Creative press refers to the environment the person is in, or the product is produced, or the process occurs." (http://www.buffalostate.edu/orgs/cbir/readingroom/html/Scritchfield-99.html)  Understanding the Press is critical as the facilitator needs to draw out the optimism of the discussion to drive towards generating more creative ideas. Very often facilitators may risk banging their heads on closed doors when we do not gather sufficient data that addresses the team's challenge, which of course includes the team's readiness and motivation for some creative thinking.

In addition, Guilford also proposed that the facilitator should have a high degree of problem sensitivity in order to best facilitate with a focused problem statement that may sit better with the team.  When a team is not ready to play with their imaginations, the contentment with preconceived solutions becomes the facilitator's worst nightmare. Yet, in my experience, when a team is ready, they embrace the process of brainstorming as they understand that complex ideas have simple parts put together with parts of other ideas to make a ‘wow’. Another point worth consideration- it is also critical for the facilitator to establish sufficient trust in order to arouse the team's curiosity and imagination, and to 'grant' full license to play with ideas and to venture beyond the "acceptable" to the possibilities- or beyond.  Of course, the facilitator on the other hand should know how much time and resources is available in order to reach the 'desired outcomes' so that while he/she should feel comfortable delaying closure in the divergent process, sufficient time is given for good convergence to increase ownerships of the team's ideas.