BestJobs.ro interviewed me about creativity and motivation – here´s some of the insights.

Tell us about a project you were involved in and you really enjoyed.

Recently we had an international seminar with 130 young participants and we got all of them to build big models of 12 future villages out of everything that was available in nature and stuff we got from office supplies. We video-interviewed their presentations and used it as visionary input for county development organization´s strategy.

In the beginning it felt impossible to have it all organized, yet actually it was fantastic to see, how we got the team working and how this form of conversational activity opened young people to share their vision. Great success for the client and for the participants.

I just love when my clients stretch me, it makes me feel alive. How can you inspire your clients to positively stretch you more?

Can you please define “Inspiring Creativity Trainer”? Why is creativity important in leadership or entrepreneurship?

The way I see it:

1. Inspiring is about making the positive impact.
2. Creativity is about the ability to produce novel and useful solutions.
3. Trainer is about creating an environment where people can learn and grow.

So Inspiring Creativity Trainer is a person who creates an inspiring environment where people could tap their creative potential.

In leadership and entrepreneurship creativity enables you to connect resources and challenges to create opportunities. In entrepreneurship it enables you to create something great out of “nothing”. In leadership it enables you to connect the dreams of your team-members with the current assignments in hand.

Imagine having this belief:”Whatever happens, I will find a way out.” – what would you really do if you had this belief? That´s the value of creativity.

What qualities do you feel a successful manager should have?

In my opinion, the most important role of a manager is creating and keeping the big picture – systems thinking. By using this big picture one needs to figure out what needs to be done and manage talents of team-members to do it.

Good tool for keeping this big picture is for example mind mapping – it enables you to connect and categorize ideas and opportunities.

Who is your role model? What motivates you?

When I was on my second year at the university, studying economics, I took an academic relief for one year to figure out who I am and what I´m good at. I started working through all kinds of personal development materials and took courses in psychology. My favourite back then was Anthony Robbins, because he made important things simple.

Nowadays I only take some specific elements from great people. I have my list of “superheroes” – people who are really great in some specific things. I lend their brains for tackling problems by asking myself “How would x solve this situation?”.

My main motivator: curiosity and hunger for being better. Asking myself: “Can I get a little better today?” and getting the “Yes, I can!” answer.

How should one keep each member of the team involved and motivated?

Coaching. Asking the right questions to direct the team-member to figure out what they really want and how to get it from this project.

For example:

What do you want to be remembered by after finishing this project? How do you want to feel after finishing this task? What do you need to do to achieve this result? What is the first step you need to take today to get it going?

How do you decide which tasks take priority when organizing a complete
project?

I figure out what are the pre-conditions for right things to happen – usually there are some specific things that catalyze other processes. I ask myself how can I apply my best talents and strengths to start those pre-conditional processes.

If it is a project with volunteer team members, then I usually ask what is currently important in their work-life and which part of our project is related to their other activities. If it is full time employees, then I focus on their talents and strengths + areas they want to grow in.

To be honest, sometimes I simply do what I would love to do instead of doing the “right thing”. The funny thing is that sometimes doing what you love to do turns out to be the right thing. But not always.

How would you react if this was a job interview and we would tell you that you are you got the job as a manager of a team that lacks motivation?

I´d probably do as follows:

1. Figure out what is my personal passion about this business (clarifying the related pleasure and pain).
2. Through coaching I would clarify what do the team members really dream of (what they would like to feel and how they can get that feeling).
3. I ´d involve all members into conversation about creating a compelling vision of where we would want to be and how to get there (using for example world cafe method).
4. I´d use creative thinking to connect our dreams with the expected outcomes of the company (for example “forced connections ” creativity technique).

In other words – I´d create an environment where team-members connect things they´re good at, what they love to do and what the world needs. For mapping those 3 key elements for yourself find out more from a video instruction.

Be Better!

Meet Harald.

Reverse brainstorming – how not to solve the problem

Tired of doing routine brainstorms on “how to get more clients” or ”how to get more sales” etc? Turn it around and brainstorm on how to make the problem even worse and after that turn the ideas around again – stating them in positive.

1. Define your problem.
2. Reverse your problem.
3. Brainstorm ideas for the reversed problem – be bold and provocative. Get as many ideas as possible.
4. Reverse those problems, turning them into ideas for your initial problem.
5. Take massive action and get results.

Example:

Interesting side-effects: by stating ways how not to solve the problem you often develop a deeper understanding of things you are actually doing wrong at the moment. Having them written down and finding ways to turn it around makes you more motivated for positive change.

Superheroes technique – borrowed brains

Don´t just use all the brains you have – also use all the brains you can borrow. Map your superheroes – people you admire – and get ready to rock´n roll!

1. Define your problem.
2. Brainstorm 10-50 superheroes – people who are better than you in some specific domain. Take a note on each superhero´s unique skill.
3. Ask yourself “How would x solve this problem?” or “What can I learn from x to solve this problem?” or “What has x done that could also work for me?” etc. Take notes on ideas that come to your mind.
4. Select the most interesting ideas and find ways in which you can adopt them to your current situation to solve this problem.
5. Take massive action and get results.

This technique is very similar to benchmarking, where the leading “superheros” can be your competitors. Turn your rivals into your superheros – use their brains and ideas to ignite your progress. Shift this paradigm and get results.

Forced connections – the art of combining

There is nothing totally new in this world. The difference between innovators and non-innovators is simply the fact that innovators make better connections that are of value.

1. Define your problem.
2. Brainstorm different keywords that come to your head (relevant and irrelevant to the topic) – sometimes the more irrelevant they seem, the better it is. You can write those keywords down to Post-it notes and attach them to the wall.
3. Start combining those words with each other and making up new connections asking yourself “what kind of ideas does this connection give me to solve my problem?”. Make wild connections by playing with the words and ideas.
4. Select the best ideas.
5. Take massive action and get results.

Did you know that:

• All the modern English literature is a pattern of 26 letters.
• All the paintings that have ever been done are made of 3 fundamental colors – blue, red, yellow.
• All the music that has ever been written consists of patterns made out of 12 notes.
• All the information you see on your computer screen is a pattern of binary code (“1″ or “0″).

Impressive? I want you to redefine the amount of resources to come out with something totally new. You just have to become a great connector of existing elements. “What if I combined these things?”

The journey – adventure for ideas

Switch your thinking by switching your environment. Go out to get some fresh stimuli.

1. Define your problem.
2. Explain the problem to your team-mates and get out from your office (go to the library for example). Ask each member to investigate around to find ideas that could solve the problem and meet in one hour. They can take things with them or make notes and photos for example.
3. Meet, take notes and share the ideas that you developed during your journey.
4. Select the best ones adapt them to your current situation.
5. Take massive action and get results.

Step out from your box, read materials you normally don´t read, talk to people you normally don´t speak. Get fresh ideas by getting fresh input.

Experiment by using elements from different creativity techniques, create combinations that suit you the best and create the ritual that helps you most effectively develop fresh ideas.

Are you using some cool creativity technique already? Let people know what it is and how it works by adding it as a comment. Let the world know what works, because there are hundreds of poeple longing for fresh ideas.

We possess a powerful tool – the internet connection. All the secrets, knowledge and perhaps even the truth can be found in there. But the main question is:”What do you type in after starting your web-browser?”.

I´ll make it easier for you – all the best stuff about creativity can be found using these links on creativity.

Use online tools and creativity techniques to ignite your thinking

www.mycoted.com/Category:Creativity_Techniques – large database of creativity techniques.
www.creax.com – big database of creativity links.
www.virtualsalt.com/crebook2.htm – creative thinking techniques and about creativity.
www.infinn.com/innovationhouse.html – tools for creative thinking.
www.creatingminds.org/ – creativity tools, techniques and methods.
www.thinksmart.com/ – creativity tests and entrepreneurial creativity.
www.kennieting.com/mousebrains/ - very cool tool for developing advertisements.
www.gocreate.com/tools/ – loads of creativity tools.
www.thinkature.com/ – thinking visually online.
www.mindmeister.com – team mindmapping online.
100 Excellent Online Tools to Feed Your Creativity

Get inspired by great thinkers

www.ted.com – Ideas worth spreading.
www.poptech.org – leaders of thought on making the world a better place.
www.dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/ – how artists, writers and other creative people organize their daily activities.
sethgodin.typepad.com/ – Seth Godin´s marketing blog.
www.einsteinpicasso.com/7.html – Big link database on creativity and innovation compiled by Peter Fisk.
www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_creativity.html - quotes on creativity.

Use connections and search-engines

www.soople.com – searching from different mediums.
www.slideshare.net – PowerPoint slides online.
www.visualthesaurus.com – displays connections between words.
www.kartoo.com – visual search engine.
www.pdf-search-engine.com – find pdf documents.

Get inspired by pictures

www.panimages.org – search engine that is independent from search-engines.
www.worth1000.com – Pictures with a little Photoshop touch
www.adsoftheworld.com – good ads.
www.quasimondo.com/tagnautica.php – animated Flickr photo search.
www.creativity-online.com/ – digital creativity, advertisement and design.
FFFFound image bookmarking – browse through bookmarked pictures.

Investigate what is happening at idea contests and idea-banks

www.moreinspiration.com – interesting innovations for inspiring you.
www.inewidea.com – inventions and innovative products.
www.designboom.com – industrial design competitions.
www.globalideasbank.org – global ideas bank.
www.halfbakery.com – ideas to be developed further.
www.dellideastorm.com – Dell getting ideas for product development.
www.inventnow.org – for young inventors.
www.fastcompany.com/100 – 100 most creative people in business.

Peek in the blogs

www.blogsearch.google.com – search from blogs.
www.technorati.com – blog network.

Use checklists

www.7ideas.be/7-letters-van-scamper.html – 700 idea stimulators for product development.

Keep your eye on trends

www.trendwatching.com – trends in world.
www.trendhunter.com – differentiating trends.

Give the right fuel for your brain

20 Super Brain Foods

Any good links missing? Let us know by adding them as comments.