Three important levels of creativity
What is creativity?Creativity is a function of knowledge, curiosity, imagination and evaluation.
The greater your knowledge base and level of curiosity, the more ideas, patterns, and combinations you can achieve, which then correlates to creating new and innovative products and services.
But merely having the knowledge does not guarantee the formation of new patterns.
The bits and pieces must be shaken up and iterated in new ways. Then the ideas must be evaluated and developed into usable ideas. In other words, there really is a process.
To help you master that process, you must first understand three important levels of creativity: Discovery As the name implies, it’s when you become aware of (or stumble upon) something – you discover it.
For example, there is art called “discovered art”. It might be a rock with a unique shape or a piece of wood with an interesting pattern.
If you have ever purchased a piece of natural stone or wood art, that art was discovered art. Many inventions start with a discovery.
Invention Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. But you have to ask yourself, “Would the telephone have been invented without Bell?”
The answer is yes. Eventually the telephone would have been invented because the science was there.
It might have taken longer, but it would have happened. So, while invention is higher than discovery, it’s something that is going to happen. If you don’t invent it, someone else will.
Creation This is the highest level of creativity.
For example, the stage play, Othello, is genuinely a creation. Elizabethan drama would have gone on without Shakespeare, but no one else would have written Othello.
Similarly, there are things that only your organisation can create! The key is tapping in to what those things are.
Here’s an example of how this could play out in your company. While at a conference, you might discover a tool, a technology, or a process that you didn’t know before.
You purchase the tool for your staff, and that discovery helps everyone work better. After some time, that discovery may also spur an innovative idea of how to apply the discovery differently.
You may then use that innovative idea as an inspiration that yields something never seen before, something created by your company that helps you and your customers. That’s how the three levels of creativity can work together.
Realise that creativity and innovation are different.
Creativity refers to generating new and novel ideas. Innovation refers to the application of an idea and, in many cases, is a collaborative enterprise. Innovation is applied creativity.
Source:
https://leaderonomics.com/business/creativity-innovation-successful-organisation
