Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Interesting stuff. Is the creative mode something that is genetically bestowed or can it be learned? Presumably one could foster this kind of thinking in some way. Any more specifics you could offer on this aspect?

Ellen, I'm having problems with the language in this post and perhaps in the research.

It seems like you're using "problem solving" (identifying and closing a gap between the current state and a desired state) and "creativity" (the generation of ideas) and "innovative" (modifying an idea to make it usable) as interchangeable terms. It also seems like we're talking about "brains" which are physical organs as interchangeable with "creativity" which is a process.

Part of my problem comes from the fact that human beings naturally come up with ideas. Some come up with more. Some come up with ideas that are farther from current practice. Some discuss their ideas more and share them more easily. In other words, for me, human beings are all creative. There are no uncreative people or uncreative brains.

What I understand the research to be saying is that when we look at the brains of people who come up with more or farther-from-the-current-state ideas than their counterparts, we witness certain kinds of brain activity.

Those are interesting findings, but they're the start of a research process, not the end of one. Now we need to find out if the activity has any bearing on measured creativity. We need to find out of the difference in brains and their activity is congenital, subject to modification or a combination of the two.

Hi Dean - thanks for stopping by. yes, there actually are ways to generate more creativity and yet creativity tendencies are also in part genetic. That's what most research suggests anyway. The way I like to suggest to increase creativity -- is to do one or two routines a day -- in a different way. Perhaps use a different intelligence for instance - to solve an ordinary problem at work. Does that make sense?

Wow -- you are a thinker Wally! I like the idea and agree -- with the fact we are all creative. In brain based work -- it is really far less about guessing what's creative or not in humans and far more about the evidence of innovation and creativity in the workplace - based on agreed upon rubrics. Perhaps I could have been more clear on that -- Thanks Wally! Ellen

Thanks, Ellen for the way you responded to Dean. It helped me understand his post in a different way, which sparked the following.

If you want to increase "creativity," there seem to be three things that are easy and also work.

As Ellen suggests, vary the inputs. Once a month head down to your local Barnes and Nobel and pick up a magazine from their newsstand that you've never read before. Tool through the channel guide on your TV and spend half an hour watching a show on a station you never watch. Ask anyone significantly different from you (older, younger, different race, from a different part of the country, etc) to recommend a book or TV show. Then experience it.

Find a way to capture ideas when you have them. My own research found that the capturing was often the thing that separated people called "creative" by their peers from the pack. A notepad, index cards, a small digital voice recorder can all be "idea catchers." Once you've caught your ideas find a way to save them. Review your saved ideas every couple of weeks.

Return to the well. If you always get good ideas when you're driving and you need a good idea, grab your digital recorder and go for a drive. If you get lots of good ideas when exercising, go exercise. If you get them when walking, take a walk. You may have a special place in the house where you relax and get ideas. Go there.