Are you creative?
Your mind probably followed that up with another question – Are you artistic?
Most of us confuse creativity with artistic ability. Sure, artistic talent may allow you to express your ideas better by painting prettier pictures and articulating eloquent prose, but creativity begins long before it .reaches your limbs. It is the ability to stretch our imagination, try on varied perspectives and has barely any correlation with how well one can draw. Most artists are creative, but not all creative people are artists, and we observe this frequently in the world of business and academia in the likes of Warren Buffet and Daniel Kahneman.
According to David and Tom Kelley, co-authors of the book “Creative Confidence," all humans are born creative. Children display creativity as they sing, dance, and scribble for its joy without any inhibition. But as they grow up, they encounter situations where someone dismisses their work because it does not meet the social ideal, which crushes their enthusiasm. Many individuals thus abandon their creative pursuits altogether, as the fear of judgment settles in.
Research on creativity by Professor Dean Keith Simonton from the University of California, Davis, on the contrary, points out that much of the great work by celebrated creators came about not because they are born with it, but due to their ability to keep at it even in the face of failure. Thus, creativity is a mere mindset that all humanity can access.
Creative confidence is the audacity to tap into your innate creativity. It makes up the very core of the design thinking process popularized by IDEO, a global design and innovative company, that focuses on bridging the gap between human needs and technical feasibility by emphasizing upon human-centered design. This process can be broken down into five stages - empathizing with your customers/users’ needs, defining the core problem areas, ideating solutions, prototyping feasible solutions, and testing the fit of the solution to the problem by allowing users to try it.
In his quest to spread creative confidence, David Kelley spent his “Aha!” moment exploring Dr. Albert Bandura's work on phobias. Dr. Bandura termed his technique of eliminating phobias the “guided mastery” process, which involves taking the subject through a series of graduated steps to overcome their fears. Interestingly, candidates following Dr. Bandura’s technique also reported experiencing lesser anxiety and greater confidence not only in fearful situations but also in other areas of their life. Dr. Bandura termed this .improved confidence as “self-efficacy” and defined it as the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.
Learning from Dr. Bandura, Kelley and his team at IDEO identified four fears that hold us back from expressing ourselves creatively: the fear of ambiguity, the fear of being judged, the fear of the first step, and the fear of losing control. Furthermore, they crafted strategies to overcome these fears.
Fear of Ambiguity
The unknown is seldom a comfortable place, but that’s where creativity thrives. Creative insights that matter are born from developing empathy for the key stakeholders. While the office environment feels organized, safe, and comfortable, genuine insights live on ground zero amidst all the chaos.
The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (also known as the d.school), another one of David Kelley’s endeavors, brings together students from various disciplines, from legal and finance to marketing and the social sciences. It encourages these individuals to step out of their comfort zone by engaging in anthropological fieldwork.
It is thus suggestible to venture out, interact with your stakeholders, and let your problem statement shape itself rather than being molded by your preconceived notions. Empathy maps can be used as a tool to present what stakeholders say, think, feel, and do, and navigate the problem by bringing forward some key insights about their behaviour.
Fear of Being Judged
To fit in and avoid being judged, many edit their ideas into a safe solution that conforms to the general ideals, leaving hardly any space for creativity to flourish. More than the fear of sounding ridiculous to others, it’s the stifling self-judgment that crushes our creativity.
Tom Kelley pens down the idea of a “bug list” in his book “The Art of Innovation” as a means to exercise creative thinking. This technique involves keeping a log of all the things that bug you and further, use it as a prompt to think of better alternatives.
Another way to dismiss judgments is to engage In brainstorming meetings, which essentially creates a judgment-free space where ideas bloom. This can be accomplished by simply tweaking the manner in which one offers feedback. It is thus beneficial to start the feedback by pointing out a positive aspect of the idea before offering any criticism. This, in turn, encourages the listener to be more receptive and helps them to perceive the feedback constructively.
Fear of the First Step
The success of a good plan is contingent on its execution. Whether it may be personal goals or business endeavors, the hang-up is often in getting started. The best way to avoid being overwhelmed by a huge goal is to break it into smaller tasks and find bite-sized pieces that can be immediately tackled.
The approach of perceiving every new endeavor as an experiment has the psychological benefit of taking the pressure off the activity and keeps a window open to revert back to the way things were if the experiment fails.
Fear of Losing Control
Creativity also demands the courage to let go of attachment to our own ideas and instead be open to suggestions from others. The beauty of collaboration lies in ceding control over the project or team and bringing varied perspectives onto the table to get a more holistic assessment of the problem. If need be, it is also important to recognize when an idea seems unviable and to cut the losses as early as possible.
Although crafted with benign intentions, the standardized education system trains individuals towards conformity rather than embracing their individuality. Yet, the rapidly evolving world demands creativity in every discipline and industry. Cultivating creative confidence liberates us from the bounds of our perceived reality and brings us the courage to explore the exciting unknown.
“Creative confidence is about believing in your ability to create change in the world around you. This self-assurance lies at the heart of innovation” - David and Tom Kelley, Creative Confidence.
Pranjal Tipnis
