DEFINITION AND NATURE OF CREATIVITY

INTRODUCTION
 It is imperative for us to note that creativity and innovation have been recognized as
important skills for the 21st century.
 This is because advancement of human societies has largely been driven by these
skills. Unfortunately, there is a glaring confusion surrounding these two related
concepts.
1.2.1 The concepts of Creativity and Innovation
 Creativity as a concept has many dimensions and facets which makes its definition to
vary depending on one’s point of focus.
 This has made the concept to be studied by many disciplines with some focusing on
the person, others on the process, the product or the environment.
 However, in all these approaches there are obvious commonalities that can be used to
define it. In fact, creativity “has similar features in all disciplines.”
 They include: imagination, originality, and progressiveness. Kampylis and Berki
define creativity or creative thinking as “the thinking that enables students to apply
their imagination to generating ideas, questions and hypotheses, experimenting with
alternatives and to evaluating their own and their peers’ ideas, final products and
processes.”

 Creative thinking also refers to the formation of possible solutions to a problem or

possible explanations of a phenomenon.
 It entails bringing into being of something which did not exist before, either as a
product, a process or a thought, or working on the old with a view of producing a
harmonized new.
Creativity is demonstrated if we:
 Invent something which has never existed before
 Invent something which exists elsewhere but you are not aware of
 Invent a new process for doing something
 Reapply an existing process or product into a new or different market
 Develop a new way of looking at something (bringing a new idea into
existence)
 Change the way someone else looks at something
  Creative Reasoning is characterized by imagination, innovation and originality in the
generation of ideas.
 Imagination – ability to be creative, new interesting ideas or insights
 Innovative – ability to be inventive, introduce new ways of thinking
 Productive – generation of something new and of value to human wellbeing
 Improvement – ability to better human wellbeing
 Creativity implies – reasonableness, independence, handwork – which enable
individuals to solve problems and make decisions.
 So, we can rightly put that in creativity there is;
 Generative thinking
 Produces, ideas materials
 Proposes – alternatives,
 Develops options, solutions, decisions

 Innovation can rightly be referred to as applied creativity since it involves putting

creative ideas into action, or something valuable, practical and useful. It’s the process
of converting theory into practice and therefore creating value and enhancing
efficiency.
 It could involve the introduction of: novel technology, original product or service
lines, fresh methods of production or providing a service and upgrading of existing
products and services.
1.2.2 The differences and similarities between creativity and innovation.

 It is apparent that creativity and innovation are closely related concepts.

 In this understanding, innovation has been identified to have two phases:
 The creative thinking phase where new ideas are generated and
 The execution or implementation phase which follows the creative stage.
 Creative thinking is demarcated as the initial phase of solving a problem which is
then followed by the innovation phase. A phase whose main focus is to implement
and execute the generated ideas.
 In any case both require a rupture of conventional ways of thinking. In this
understanding, creativity is described as a significant precondition for innovation.
  The following seem to be the most obvious differences between creativity and
innovation:
 Creativity is the activity of thinking new ideas and innovation is the
implementation or execution of the ideas or putting them into practice
 Creativity is an imaginative process while innovation is a productive
process; creativity can never be quantified or measured whereas
innovation can be quantified
 Often times creativity is related to the generation of ideas which are novel
but conversely, innovation involves introduction of better, more efficient
products or services
 Creativity does not involve risk while the same cannot be said of
innovation since most innovations have a risk attached to them
 Creativity never necessarily involves capital while money is many a time a
precondition for innovation.
 It is important to point out that innovations are typically of two types:
 Evolutionary and revolutionary. Evolutionary innovation involves continuous
incremental improvements being made on a product or service and does not
encompass great risks.
 Innovation is revolutionary when it is radical, unexpected, disrupts the status qua ‘but
nevertheless does not affect existing markets.’ It results to something new.

1.2.3 Importance of Creativity and Innovation in a changing world

 Creativity and innovation help individuals develop new products, new services and
new ways of doing business
 Help people and organizations to be flexible and adaptable hence enabling them to
solve problems and exploit opportunities creatively and innovatively.
 It’s also important in the field of education. In a rapidly changing world knowing one
specific skill and rigidly following it won’t take anyone far. Hence students must be
educated for life beyond the classroom by learning how to think more creatively and
innovatively.
 Creativity in the professions. Research shows that creativity is considered the most
important skill in any profession. That is why many organizations in the world have
placed creativity and innovation among top priorities of their institutions with new
sets of skill required in both old and new occupations.
  Creativity and innovation in business and entrepreneurship give anyone a competitive
advantage. What this means is that advancements caused by creativity and innovation
provide an edge to a business over its competitors in the industry. This ability to get a
head of the competition is one of the most significant reasons to innovate, to keep
operations, services and products relevant to their customers’ needs and changing
market conditions. Further, innovation increases your chances to adapt to changes
thereby realizing new opportunities.
 Creativity and innovation in leadership...
 Helps individuals to have general problem solving skills
 Improves ones communication abilities; both written and verbal

CREATIVE THINKING TECHNIQUES AND SKILLS

Introduction
 A creative thinker does not just think impulsively. Rather, s/he uses particular
techniques and skills of thinking in a specific manner in order to draw maximum
benefit from the thinking process.
 It is precisely because of this that we can say creativity is an ability that can be
nurtured or enhanced.

Creative thinking techniques (try to come up with the examples as you read)
 A technique is a practical method or art applied to some particular task. It is a way of
carrying out a particular task, especially the execution or performance of an artistic
work or a scientific procedure.
 In this understanding that a technique is a special way of performing an activity which
is acquired through the command of fundamentals derived from practice and familiarity.
 Techniques of creative thinking are thus the practical methods, ways of resolving
problems out of thinking in a creative manner whether in arts or sciences. These techniques
include but are not limited to:
 Evolution; means to improve in a gradual manner, from a simple state to a complex
one. As a method of creative thinking, evolution focuses on how to improve things.
For example old ideas with new ones and even new ones with better ones. The
outcome of evolution is sometimes the innovation of a completely new product or
idea from the original one.
  Revolution; involves trying a completely new way and abandoning all the pre-
existing ones. A creative thinker will at times look for new ways that haven’t been
tried before as s/he pursues the need to improve existence.
 Synthesis isanevolutionarytechniqueswhichinvolvescombiningtwoexistingideas into a
third, completely new idea although with the characteristics of the former two.
 Usually, the two pre-existing ideas are opposed to each other and the synthesis merges
the two to bring out a third that is neither the two.
 Reapplication; involves using the existing ideas, processes or products in a different
way. It calls on the thinker to consider different ways in which an existing product or
idea or method can be applied differently to solve a completely different problem.
 Changing direction; involves adapting and adjusting focus, energy and attention to
the various unknown ends of the product or issues. If one path does not work, try
another. Creative thinkers are thus pragmatic in nature, not committed to a particular
path but to a particular goal.

CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS

A skill is the ability to do something well and with expertise. Skills of creative thinking are
therefore the abilities and expertise for one to develop creative ideas. Most times this ability
allows one to produce solutions in some problem domain.

Creative thinking skills are many and include;

 Brainstorming; involves generation of ideas together with others. The ideas can at
first seem crude and unrefined but through continuous evolution and crafting, and
with diversity of views in the group, they become exceptionally original and creative
solutions to a problem.
 Role Play; is the ability to change perspective. It calls on the creative thinker to be on
the ‘otherside’ and become the object rather than the subject. This provides the
thinker with an alternative way to analyze and understand different perspectives that
surround a particular idea, process or product.
 Reframing Issues; is a mental coping strategy that is usually used to cope with
negative events. Once faced with a problem, a creative thinker is able to reframe it
and turn it in to an opportunity. Again, when faced with an opportunity, a creative
thinker is able to identify a problem with in it and at the same time creating a solution
to it for maximum benefit.
 Creative Flow;
 Open-Mindedness;
 Flexibility; is the ability to appreciate criticism and readiness for new ideas and
solutions. Means being an individual’s ability to bend his/her own ideas, those that
 s/he is familiar with and apply them in unfamiliar territories. It also means being
adaptable to situations, looking for new paths and creatively navigating through
challenges rather than being swallowed by them.
 Keeping the Ego; involves keeping calm amidst tensions and mistakes, even when
they are experts in such an area for the sake of learning of others. It includes watching
without interrupting others, to understand the other party, suspending judgment,
asking questions for clarity and not hurriedly parading one’s expertise by advocating
for their validity and the invalidity of any other.

TYPES OF CREATIVE THINKING

Introduction

 Thinking is a rational process of considering and reasoning about something.

 Whereas every person is endowed with the capacity to think, not all human beings are
capable of thinking creatively. This is so because thinking creatively is an art that
requires learning through time. The creative thinking process is not unilateral but
multilateral.
 Though the goal of creative thinking is to come up with new, much valuable and
improved processes, products or ideas, how various individuals arrive at these differs
from one to the other.

Types of Creative Thinking

The following are the most common manifestations of creative thinking.

Divergent thinking;

 This is the process of coming up with new ideas and possibilities without judgment,
analysis or discussion.
 This type of creative thinking is pragmatic in nature as it does not align itself towards
one process or path of reasoning and tackles problems that have ‘no single known
right answer’. The goal of divergent thinking is to generate many different (divergent)
ideas about a topic within a short period of time.
 It is, therefore, spontaneous, free-flowing, random and unorganized.
 The divergent creative thinker then organizes the generated ideas in a convergent
manner so as to come up with organized and structured ideas.

Lateral thinking;

 This is a person’s capacity to solve problems by imagining solutions that cannot be

arrived at through deductive or logical means.
 This implies that one ought to have the ability to derive answers through indirect and
creative approaches that are not necessarily conventional and obvious.
  Lateral thinking involves looking at the problem in a unique manner, breaking away
from the traditional patterns of thinking and disregarding any pre-conceived notions.
Simply put, its ‘thinking outside the box’.
 The lateral thinker eschews any known path or process of approaching a particular
problem and re-examines the problem in his or her own way thereby generating a
unique and creative solution.

Systems thinking;

 This is predicated on the fact that all reality is interconnected in some way hence the
need look at how the diverse parts of reality are interconnected and interrelated and
work towards a larger whole in the course of time.
 It calls on a thinker to realize that there are many players in nature, some of which can
be controlled and others cannot.
 It therefore requires an understanding of the underlying structures that control them.
 This thinking is driven by curiosity, clarity, compassion, choice and courage; the
willingness to see a situation more fully, recognizing that all reality is interconnected
as well as the acknowledgement that there are multiple interventions and approaches
to a problem.

Aesthetic thinking;

 This is an individual’s capacity to appreciate arts, beauty in nature and elegant design.
 This thinking allows one to recognize the diverse aspects of reality from a vantage
point where the individual ‘will’ is not engaged.
 Aesthetic thinking sensitizes one to the beauty (or ugliness) of ones surrounding.
 It captures not only the thinker’s reaction to their surrounding but also other people’s
reactions to the environment, capturing emotions and pleasure or pain.
 It can be sometimes puzzling and emotive and can be captured through the various
forms of art, painting, sculptures, written word or acting.

Inspirational thinking;

 This is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, the urge to
do something creative; a sudden brilliant or timely idea.
 Inspirational thinking is thus the unconscious burst of creativity in an area of reality
such as literary arts, music or arts.
 Different individuals attribute the source of inspiration from different sources such as
deities as the Greeks did.
 To creative thinkers, it is not the source of the inspiration that matters, but rather what
comes out of that inspiration.