How relevant is creativity in today’s business world? Does being creative mean we should all pick up a paintbrush and give it the ol’ Picasso try? For Picasso this meant an exceptional achievement of universal and immense fortune for his revolutionary artistic accomplishments, he became one of the best-known figures in 20th-century art.
So how can being creative in business bring that kind of success to our companies? No matter what kind of business, challenges arise which demand solutions. How we approach these situations can determine the direction or success of our business.
Coming up with new and creative ideas is not uncommon for successful companies; in the Silicon Valley there are companies that have found incredible success, as did Picasso in the art world. One component to their successes was to find new and creative ways to solve problems facing how they did business and what the consumer was demanding. Prime examples are Apple, Google and Facebook, globally recognized for their innovation.
So how can we tap into and harvest our creative ideas and solutions that may have been stored in our inner rooms and left virtually unattended? How do we develop a capacity to let go of what constrains us and allow our natural creative abilities to immerge?
When there is a lot at stake and pressure to come up with some perfect solution that could propel a company or team forward we sometimes feel frozen and unable to perform on the spot. That is why it is important, as a great athlete would attest, to practice before the event.
If asked, many people would say they didn’t have a creative bone in their body. So then how can we open up to and begin to discern our creative abilities and strategically apply them to our business?
Let the silence breathe-take some time every day and allow yourself some quiet time to allow for new thoughts to arise.
Acknowledge your creativity– whether you start with a doodle or a dance; recognize these as creative expressions of yourself.
Practice-take up a new creative endeavor and give yourself permission to practice an hour a week.
Beginning in this way, when you want to tap into the creative you, you will have been exercising that muscle and be ready to engage more fully in finding a new creative solution to an opportunity as it presents itself.