Colleen Jolly CPP APMP Fello · CPP APMP Fellow 1 October 27, 2015. Sponsored by Georgia, Florida,...

Sponsored by Georgia, Florida, and Carolinas APMP Chapters

SPAC 2015

Performing to New HeightsSouthern Proposal Accents Conference

Creativity on Demand

Colleen JollyCPP APMP Fellow

1

October 27, 2015


SPAC 2015

Setting the Stage: Creativity on Demand?

• We are all working too many hours • ILO: Americans work 260 more hours per year than

British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers

• ILO: Between 1999 and 2011 average labor productivity in developed economies increased more than twice as much as average wages

• ILO: >134 countries have laws setting a maximum hours per week—America is not one of them

• US BLS: Average productivity per American worker has increased 400% since 1950

• WHO: 35% of cases of work-related stress result in mental health problems

• WHO: People who work more than 10 hours per day are 60% more likely to have a heart attack

More work ≠ more creativity


SPAC 2015

• We are working in a knowledge economy that thrives creativity and innovation, dense with information

• Technology has made life and expectations around it faster—Moore’s Law: Technology doubles every 18 months to 2 years

• Average of 55 million photos uploaded to Instagram every day (FastCompany)• Worldwide, we conduct 131 billion searches per month on the web. (Comscore,

January 2010)• 57% of TV viewers use the web simultaneously.

(Nielson, 2009)

• Everyone wants to get rich quick! • No one wants to miss out!

Setting the Stage: Creativity on Demand?

= recipe for burnout


SPAC 2015

What is Creativity?

Creativity is what you make of it

• I was born this way, baby: • Greeks and Romans believed all creative ideas came

from the gods through invisible creatures called “daemons”

• Human hosts were only the instrument for genius, not the originators

• Distanced humans from their creativity—they could not claim the success of a given work of art or poem but neither could they fully blame themselves for failures

• Practice makes perfect:• Like any activity, it is a muscle to be developed • Everyone has the same “natural” capacity• Use it more = see more consistent results; use it less =

see less consistent results


SPAC 2015

Play scholar, Brian Sutton-Smith: “The opposite of play is not work. The

opposite of play is depression.” NIMH reports that one in ten adults are

depressed, up over 400% in the last two decades, with far more suffering from anxiety and other mood-related

disorders.

Brainstorming and Re-centering (Active vs. Passive)

• One is actively designed to create something

• The other is designed to arrest stress and reset our bodies and minds to allow creativity to happen

• Can be done individually or as a team • Importance of self-directed play, for both

children and adults: nourishes the human spirit and helps develop resilience, independence, and resourcefulness


SPAC 2015

“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything

happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You

don’t have to like it… it’s just easier if you do.” —Bryon Katie

Set Some Basic Rules

• No idea is a bad idea—banish “can’ts” and “that’ll never work”

• Good artists copy, great artists steal—ideas are everywhere! Repurpose them!

• Nothing is irrelevant—just saved for later

• Practice, practice, practice—it is a muscle that must be used

• Make it fun


SPAC 2015

(adapted from howdesign.com)

Take ideas from other places and make them “new” again!

BrainstormingTechniques

• Create something totally new or take something “old” and try to: • Substitute• Combine• Adapt• Magnify • Modify • Repurpose


SPAC 2015

New technology enables quick brainstorming options

Tools for Brainstorming Alone(Digital)


SPAC 2015

App providing more than 100 brain storming activities for increasing productivity and

creativity.*$1.99 Apple App Store

Oflowwww.oflowapp.com


SPAC 2015

Visualthesaurus.com

Immediately visualize word associations in a mind map.

This could help discover word associations that are new to

you.*fee, subscription based


SPAC 2015

Tin Eye LabsLabs.tineye.com/multicolr

Image search Flickr by color & meta tag.

See how people depict information or research

common visual associations by color.*free


SPAC 2015

Sometimes pen and paper is best!

Tools for Brainstorming Alone(Analogue)


SPAC 2015

Purpose: enhance your ability to concentrate on a task, which improves productivity and allows creativity thinking to take placeProcess: • Structure your work in 25-minute sessions, each separated by a short

break Each 25-minute session is one 'pomodoro' • When you complete one, take a five-minute

break before the next • When you have completed four

'pomodori,' take a longer break to rest and recharge

Developed in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo referring to the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he used to manage his

time as a student.

Pomodoro Method


SPAC 2015

Purpose: Neuroscientists and other researchers who say doodling can help people focus, ease impatience, vent emotions and even generate bursts of insight or new ideas (WSJ 2014)Doodlers listening to a list of people's names being read were able to remember 29% more of the information on a surprise quiz later, (2009 study in Applied Cognitive Psychology)Process:• Doodle. Ideally with a pen and paper

NOT on a computer

Doodle


SPAC 2015

Purpose: find inspiration from unexpected sources Process: • If you are not already: start saving

images, text, newspaper clippings or bookmarking websites that you find interesting/engaging for future

• Use a tool like Pinterest.com to see what other people are inspired by using key words

• Review these files, clippings or websites when you are looking for inspiration

Review Your Awesome Saved Ideas


SPAC 2015

Working with friends is a great way to test new ideas

Tools for Brainstorming with Another Person(at the Office)


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Purpose: identify all possible answers/solutions and identify relationshipsProcess: • Start with one question• Ask each participate to respond with a short

statement on index cards or sticky notes (up to 10 each)

• Collect and sort—Looking for ideas that seem to be related

• Sort cards into groups until all cards have been used

Once the cards have been sorted into groups the team may sort large clusters into subgroups for easier management and analysis

Affinity Diagrams/Maps(Jiro Kawakita, 1960s)


SPAC 2015

Purpose: understand your customer and their motivations; think from their perspective by “becoming” themProcess: • Identify your customer (or target customer)

groups by as many demographics/adjectives as possible (corporate/military, innovative/security, etc.)

• Assign the roles to individuals in your group who must method act as their role

• Identify some major questions, issues or challenges those individuals have while role-playing as that person

Developed in the 1980s by Rick Griggs

Role-storming


SPAC 2015

Purpose: engage the team thinking quickly and creatively, a good “icebreaker” activityProcess:• Start with two paper plates (or any

simple object)• The first person says what the plates

are verbally and demonstrates (if applicable)

• Passes plates to the right and play continues until there are no more ideas (up to 10 min)

An activity from Future Problem Solving International, an enrichment

program for high school students

PaperPlates


SPAC 2015

Try with your partner, kids or friends!

Tools for Brainstorming with Another Person(at Home)


SPAC 2015Purpose: Rediscover a sense of play “A playful brain is a more adaptive brain,” writes ethologist Sergio Pellis in The Playful Brain: Venturing to the Limits of Neuroscience. In his studies, he found that play-deprived rats fared worse in stressful situations.

Process:Any board game is fun but the stand out from modern gaming is Cards Against HumanityThe bonus with this game is you must think about your audience and what would be most appropriate for them (cards are NSFW) Scategories, Pictionary, Scrabble—all of these games get you thinking creatively under pressure

PlayBoard Games


SPAC 2015Purpose: develop clearer communications between couples/small groups and to identify possible communication mismatches (different terms, said versus silent expectations)

Process:• One person takes a prebuilt Lego (or other

simple construct) item and writes a set of instructions including materials list for the other person to build

• Second person receives the written instructions and all the materials needed to build (plus some additional) and must construct the original item

*this could be adapted for cooking/baking

LegoRebuilding


SPAC 2015Purpose: Create unusual connections, leading to new ideas or promote camaraderie through humorous juxtapositions

Process:• Mad Libs: one person prompts others for a list

of words to fill in blanks in a story before reading the story aloud

• Exquisite Corpse: each person adds either a phrase or a drawn element to a composition following a rule (word agreement, type of drawing, etc.) without seeing the entirety of the proceeding material

Mad Libs was published in 1958 and sold more than 110M worldwide.

Exquisite Corpse was developed as a parlor game in the early 1900s

Mad Libs or Exquisite Corpse


SPAC 2015

• Reduce stress, enhance well-being, and rejuvenate meaning and purpose

• Very individually experienced (some people don’t like nature and prefer to walk in a city, etc.)

• Goal is to feel less pressure while not removing pressure

• Allow creativity to happen—on a schedule

Re-centeringTechniques

Reset and realign your thoughts and feelings


SPAC 2015

These tools/techniques are best done alone and not with a group

Tools for Re-centering Alone(Analogue)


SPAC 2015

Purpose: self-soothing, emotionally re-centering, lowers heart rate and reduces stress levels

Process: Look at cute cats, puppies, other animals online—Repeat as necessary

*British Airways launched “Paws and Relax” channel on long haul flights in September 2014 to de-stress passengers

Looking at Cute Cat Photos Online(Linda Stone)


SPAC 2015

Purpose: physically feel better which can allow mental flow to happen more easily. Exercise endorphins can improve mood and when exercise is considered fun (and not duty) it is more effective (NY Times)

Process: • Leave your desk• Get up and move

around your office• Talk a walk outside• Try a fitness class• Enroll in a corporate fitness program

Exercise!


SPAC 2015Purpose: • Helps you sleep better (University of Utah study)• Could lessen the affects of colds (University of

Wisconsin School of Medicine and Health)• Better control over emotions and pain (journal Frontiers

in Human Neuroscience)• Decreases stress actually lowering cortisol (journal

Health Psychology)Process (many options):• Can be done for only a few minutes per day• Practicing mindfulness• Quieting your mind • Focusing on breathe/breathing• Repeating a mantra • Visualization

MeditateRegularly


SPAC 2015

• Brainstorm alone or with a group, at home or in the office

• Get out of your mental rut by being more mindful or simply leaving your desk

• Creativity cannot happen in an overstressed, burn-out environment

• Find the techniques that work best for you

• Remember to play!

Fight burn out and always be creative with these tools

Conclusion


SPAC 2015

Colleen JollyCPP, APMP Fellow24 Hour [email protected]://www.24hrco.com

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Colleen Jolly CPP APMP Fello · CPP APMP Fellow 1 October 27, 2015. Sponsored by Georgia, Florida,...

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Transcript of Colleen Jolly CPP APMP Fello · CPP APMP Fellow 1 October 27, 2015. Sponsored by Georgia, Florida,...