Face to Face, electronic (live), electronic (print), virtual,

Face to Face, electronic (live), electronic (print), virtual, 

Which forms of IDEA GENERATION Sessions are you leading this week or next?

How do you accomplish the value and qualities of face to face facilitation in ideation sessions that are done electronically?
picking up on clues in person: facial expressions, body language, tone of voice,

Generate a holistic, collaborative, supportive environment
electronically?

What is lacking usually is...

availability of a trained facilitator
availability of people with experience at idea generating
use of a mixed variety of idea generation tools
commitment of the people to the challenge
knowledge of the challenge by the people involved
setting
timing

and other variables.

As most people who criticize brainstorming generally have limited experience with IDEATION generation, IDEATION MEETING Facilitation, and also when they quote research it is always poorly door research that did not research BRAINSTORMING the technique.

Curious as to how people use online or electronic methods produce greater results than when they hold face to face meetings.

Idea generation has been my focus for much of the past 35 years since I first began learning about creative thinking tools, techniques and processes.

There are many highly skilled facilitators available today around the world.

Alan

let's talk about how I or one of my colleagues closet to you can help you by facilitating your people and/or training your people to become stronger, more creative facilitators.

Alan and his Generations of Websites

Alan and his Generations of Websites

Months ago you willingly were one of the VIRTUAL CREATIVITY COLLEAGUES who helped me work on my challenge

In What Ways Might I revived my speaking career?

You, Chris Barlow and Janet Finley were the ones that helped me the most.

I am now finally having my new website created
completely compatible with the latest tech toys.

I would greatly appreciate your input
before I release it in the next month
if you have a little time to share.

FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS
SIMPLIFY SIMPLIFY SIMPLIFY

are my mantras this time.

My previous 3 generations of websites became
Monstrous encyclopedias based upon my initial dreams
in 1990 for a resource for articles, books, tapes, movies, videos about ALL THINGS CREATIVITY.

I need to attach the 90 second or less attention span of today.

Alan 1.0  (created by two men two on opposite sides of the Earth
http://www.cre8ng.com/welcome.shtml

Alan 2.0 (created by me using Contribute 3.0)
http://www.cre8ng.com/index.htm



Alan 3.0 (1 of 4) (created also using Contribute)
http://www.cre8ng.com/creativethinking.htm



Alan 4.0 (WordPress custom template created for me)
http://www.cre8ng.com

now 

Alan 5.0 and Beyond....ha ha
(WordPress custom template 12 years later)

soon to be released...

7 CREATIVE POEM STARTERS

A local retired professor, news journalist and writing group friend
recently asked me to look at the recent issue of the WRITERS DIGEST
where there are a mix of articles focused on CREATIVE THINKING for writers.

The first piece I read this morning is under a regular column titled:

"POETIC ASIDES" by Robert Lee Brewer

His title:

CREATIVE CHALLENGE: 7 CREATIVE POEM STARTERS

Here are the key suggestive words.  I encourage you to find the July/August Issue and read the more detailed description of how to use these 7

1. DILIGENCE - read, read, read, write, write write and the Inspiration will return

2. MEMORY: dive into your memory for ideas

3. RESPONSE: respond to things around you

4. SOUNDS: let the words you are writing spark your creativity

5. FORMS: let various poetic forms help spark your creativity

6. PROSE: switch back and forth between writing forms

7. BORROW: borrow from rather than plagiarize or copy.

I hope I have done justice to Robert Lee Brewer's ideas.

Be a Maverick...But I'll Lose...Be One Any Way

Be a Maverick...But I'll Lose...Be One Any Way 

Be a Maverick. But I Ain't No Maverick, Don't Want to Be,
and Besides I Would Lose My Job If I Was.


Have you ever had this conversation with another employee or internally with yourself--the good faithful employee and the rebel self who wants to fly like an eagle?

I know I did several times in the earlier years of my working life in the early 60s and since occasionally.

When I was first inspired to be more creative, thanks to Edward de Bonos book, NEW THINK I began my Walter Mitty fantasy life of being or becoming the great creative person.

Within the next couple years I began to read other similar authors and discovered there were researchers, psychologists and teachers who believed people could be taught to be more creative.

The popular books then and now about how to become more creative all seem to focus on the reader becoming or being a maverick, a risk-taking, rule- challenging, dreamer, who sacrifices everything so they can create. Walt Disney, Tom Edison, Charles Goodyear, painters, sculptors, writers, designers were always used as role models for the mavericks-in-training.

Over the past few years I have begun to challenge this approach of trying to make everybody a maverick, a top or bottom 2 or 3%-er. Using the absolute tops, the most successful, the breakthrough thinker or idea finder as role models is I believe a major reason why the work of so many, many writers, researchers, teachers, trainers and consultants has produced little change in the acceptance of creative thinking or the willingness to develop and apply the creative thinking and creativeness of the typical person, the other 94%.

Scott Adams has made a fortune writing and drawing daily, example after example of how creativity and creativeness are killed or squelched in the typical workplace. Book after book has criticized managers, bosses even leaders or blaming institutions for being killers of creativity.

Simple fact, not everyone is a Micheal Jordan, Celine Dion, Bill Gates. Not everyone possesses their natural talents, skills, drive or desire or just plain good luck. While at the same time everyone of us can be and is far more creative then we are recognized for or allowed to be the 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 48 to 50 weeks a year, 30 to 50 years of our lives we give to our job or working. Yet watch us when we go home and see how creative we are in our hobbies, part- time jobs, volunteer work or with our families and friends.

Point 1
It is time for each of us to accept that we are more creative.

Point 2
It is time for each of us to apply our natural creativeness.

Point 3
It is time for each of us to spend some time regularly to further develop our creative thinking and problem solving skills.

Point 4
It is time for each of us to ask for more creative assignments or opportunities to be creative in our work

Point 5
It is time for each of us to ask for help and support from our fellow employees, supervisors, managers and bosses to use our creativity and further develop it at work.

For too long we have been blaming the management for not doing it for us or for doing it to us.

Do our fellow employees, supervisors, managers and bosses

* reject our ideas
* kill our ideas (deliberately or indirectly)
* refuse our ideas
* tell us to stick to the plan
* do the job your are paid for
* stay in line

No doubt this happens. You and I do it with our spouses, children, neighbors, friends and total strangers every day. It is natural for the greatest majority of people to prefer the status quo, the as we have always done it syndrome.

To be more creative we simply need to step out of line, get out of the box, draw outside of the lines. Yet when we do these we tend to expect things to change for the better instantaneously. We want everyone else to change. Yet we resist change. Actually we tend to resist being changed by other people, outside influences, systems, situations, bad or good luck.

That is another of the major problems with increasing the amount of creativity used in our daily lives. We expect others to change to our solutions and change instantly. Too often our ideas are simply that. Ideas. They arent solutions. They are ideas, thoughts, suggestions, opinions. They are NOT worked out ready to be applied solutions.

Therefore others who dont see, feel, smell, taste, touch, sense the same way we do resist our ideas.

What can you and I begin to do? 

* choose to work at being more creative
* choose to accept that we can improve and expand our creative abilities.
* work at taking our ideas to solution more and experiment with them before we expect others to immediately accept them.
* work more at doing small things more creatively
* stop trying to become a MAVERICK or a GIANT and focus on becoming a more creative YOU
* ask in less threatening ways for help and support in being creative
* ask in less threatening ways for opportunities to work on more creative work.
* work on your current job more creatively
* accept that you fantasize about being a giant, a maverick, a hero/heroine, breakthrough thinker and work at becoming a stronger, better, more creative you.

Who knows! By doing these for 100 days, a year, 5 years you will become the next MAVERICK that we write about for others to use as a role model.

To be more creative simply choose to be. Then be. Then support everyone else in being.

Very few of us will change the world. Yet we all can change ourselves.

The funny thing is when we do that the world somehow changes too.


alan@cre8ng.com
http://www.cre8ng.com