Putting Our Thinking Caps On
Have you ever had somebody tell you to put your creative thinking cap on?
And have you ever (even once) secretly wished you actually did have a creative thinking cap that would whisk you into warp-speed-creativity mode any time you put it on?
Yeah, we’ve been there too.
Creativity is a gift, but it’s also a skill that can be nurtured and developed. Here at Third Degree, it’s a skill every member of the team is challenged to exercise regularly. Sure, it’s part of the Creative team’s name – but that doesn’t mean we have only one team thinking creatively. Smart strategy takes creativity too.
To keep the Creative team inspired and share some creativity-building tricks with the rest of Third Degree, we invited Tom Monahan to lead us through a workshop last week. While he didn’t actually bring creative thinking caps for us to wear, he did take us through what he calls a DIY Lobotomy. And we’re feeling much better now, thanks.
Tom helped us recognize some of the habits and behaviors that allow and encourage creative thinking. He reminded us of the importance of wonder: that new ideas come from observing, questioning, letting go of what you know and keeping an open mind. To harness the power of wonder, you have to open your mind to new possibilities without censorship. You also have to push yourself to go beyond the first solution or first seemingly good idea. High-achieving thinkers in any career field are people who are prolific and fast when it comes to ideation.
That all sounds good, right? But how do you actually make it happen, you might be wondering. (Way to go! You wondered!) We won’t give away all of Tom’s secrets, but here are a few of our take-aways…
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