| Module 1 - What and Why - the free module, introducing the course and some of the basics of
creativity. |
| Module 2 - The
Mechanics of Creativity - In the first module of the short course we
looked at the 'what' and 'why' of creativity. Now it is time to explore
the 'how'. Getting an understanding of what is happening in your brain
when you are being creative. How various aspects of socialization and
education conspire to block your natural creativity and how these
blockages can be freed up.
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| Module 3 - The
Creativity Toolkit - Creativity is a definitive human
characteristic. A key aspect of creativity is creating tools to support
and extend our natural abilities. Throughout the course we will be
helping you to build your personal creativity toolkit. Now that the
basics of creativity have been pinned down, this module introduces the
elements of the toolkit that will be used throughout the course. |
| Module 4 - Experiencing
Techniques - The technique is at the heart of business creativity.
These tricks of the mind are the essential levers to disturb the
pathways of the brain enough to generate some original thoughts.
Techniques come in all shapes and sizes from elaborate set pieces
requiring props and an extensive location to a mere thought or turn of
phrase. This module is a techniques sampler, using different styles of
technique to get a flavour for the way they work and feel.
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| Module 5 - Imagination
Engineering Framework - The concept of a framework occurs in
practically every serious book on practical creativity. As is often the
case with creativity, the need seems paradoxical. We are used to the
image of creative people working in free-flow, unfettered by convention
and any form of structure. But, in fact, this image is as realistic as
any other Hollywood portrayal of life. Many people with pure creative
jobs writers, artists, musicians work in a very structured way. And
even where it isn't true of these 'pure' creatives there is a different
imperative in business creativity. This module introduces our four stage
Imagination Engineering framework.
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| Module 6 - Surveying
- The world is awash with information. There's the information overload
of overfull e-mail in-trays, burgeoning TV channels, millions of books
in print, the World Wide Web and the corporate tendency to produce ten
documents when one would do just as well. When faced with a problem
requiring a creative solution, it is possible (and advisable) to pull
together a one-liner problem statement, but this doesn't stop there
being masses of supporting information, both in print and collectable
through the electronic media. Most of this module is concerned with
structuring information and formulating the problem statement remember
also the compass and level chain techniques seen in earlier modules.
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| Module 7 - Building i - There is only so much you can do to survey the problem area and choose
a destination, but when it comes down to generating new ideas,
techniques flock in multitudes, threatening to overwhelm the creativity
practitioner. The requirement to open up the mind, giving a new
viewpoint, is ripe with possibilities for anything from a structured
assault on the problem to a total deviation from the requirement.
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| Module 8 - Stretching
- Creativity benefits from deviations having focussed strongly on
techniques in the last two modules, we are going to give some
consideration to personal creativity before returning to the Imagination
Framework in the next module. Working on your personal creativity, as we
have seen, is an effective adjunct to creativity techniques. With
practice it becomes much easier to make the connections and leaps of
imagination that are required in a creativity technique. It also
prepares the ground for achieving creative output without techniques, a
subject we will return to in module 23. Last, but certainly not least,
stretching the brain is fun.
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| Module 9 - Waymarking
- Imagine that you are looking down on a newly made highway, before it
is opened. It sweeps across a hilly plain. In either direction, the road
disappears over the horizon. It is a blank, unmarked ribbon of tarmac.
It might look impressive, but from the point of view of someone wanting
to get to a particular goal, it's not very useful. You can't get onto
it, you don't know where you are going or where there are hazards. If
it's a long road, you won't have anywhere to stop for a rest or to
refuel. It has plenty of potential, but it is not usable until the fine
details are filled in. This is the stage of the Imagination Engineering
framework called waymarking. In the metaphor, it's turning a blank strip
of tarmac into a usable road. In practical creativity terms, it's taking
a pile of rough-hewn ideas, selecting one or more to go forward with,
and refining those ideas until they are capable of practical
implementation.
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| Module 10 - Navigating
- In theory, creativity has personal value in its own right. It can be
fulfilling for the individuals involved, even if nothing is done with
the output. However, creativity that stops short of implementation is
incomplete. There is no real creativity without implementation.
Imagination Engineering uses the term 'navigating' this originally
meant travelling by sea, and was later widened to include general
travel, particularly with a pioneering aspect. Since then the term has
come to mean the art of directing travel, rather than the travel itself,
but we are using the more archaic concept. This module is about planning
for implementation and selling your idea.
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| Module 11 - Working the
Framework - In the last few modules you have experienced each of the
four stages of Imagination Engineering. Now it's time to pull all four
stages together, working a full framework for a single problem. We won't
be introducing any new techniques instead it's a chance to reinforce
the knowledge you have already gained and put it into practice. In this
module there are no side references the aim is to concentrate on the
framework.
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| Module 12 - The
Knowledge Pool - With the Imagination Engineering framework firmly
lodged in your mind, let's take a side excursion into personal
creativity. However good your grasp of techniques, there is still a
human being generating the ideas that the technique catalyses. We have
already looked at some exercises to help your flexibility in forming
associations and new ideas. In this module we explore personal knowledge
management. There's a good reason for this. Creativity depends on a
being able to dip into a wide-ranging pool of knowledge, combining
elements and influences to come up with something new. The more that you
can encourage the development of your personal knowledge pool, and your
ability to make links and associations within it, the better your
personal creativity.
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| Module 13 - Building ii -
The most varied and dramatic creativity techniques (and certainly the
greatest volume of techniques) lie within the building stage the idea
generation phase. In this module we are going to reinforce your armoury
of building techniques to have the widest possible choice available to
suit every requirement and to avoid getting stale, a real danger if you
always use the same approach.
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| Module 14 - Devising
Techniques - There's something faintly incestuous about the idea of
using creativity on creativity but it's a valuable approach. There are
plenty of excellent techniques in this course and the various books we
recommend but equally there is merit in adding your own techniques to
your toolkit. Devising your own techniques is not only personally
satisfying, but allows you to keep your creativity fresh, and to use
techniques particularly suited to your conditions, your company, your
resources.
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| Module 15 - Creative IT
- There's something faintly unnerving about the thought of creative IT.
It brings up all sorts of science fiction images of self-aware computers
and technology taking over human functions. However, with the possible
exception of some of the more formulaic best-selling novels, which could
well have been written by a computer, there is nothing to worry about. IT's role in creativity, like that of a creativity technique, is as a
mechanical aid to the human mind. The technology doesn't do the
creativity, it helps to make it easier. Computers can contribute to
creativity at a number of levels. Even everyday software like a word
processor or a Web browser can give effective support to creativity, but
there is also an increasing range of software available especially
targeted at enhancing and structuring creative output. WARNING - a
significant portion of this module features software only available for
Windows.
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| Module 16 - Team
Creativity - Teamwork is a valuable component of creativity, and
almost the whole of the Imagination Engineering framework can benefit
from team input. It is really only the pure idea generation stage that
needs some individual space. However, though teams have the potential to
be great creative resources, they need help to reach this status. In
this module we will look at the mechanisms for getting teams working
together better, and for helping them to work creatively rather than
destructively.
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| Module 17 - Creative
Careers - At this stage in the course we are going to take a step
away from pure creativity and put it into context. What's the point of
getting all this creative ability? It may be that it's enough to know
that you are becoming more creative and more able to encourage
creativity in others, but for most of us there's an element of 'what's
in it for me?' In the first module you undertook an exercise looking at
the activities you would most like to undertake. Part of the goal in
being more creative is to be able to achieve more of your desired
activities to drive your career in your prepared direction, using your
creative skills. This module helps assess just where you should be going
with your creativity. |
| Module 18 - Rewarding
and Supporting Creativity - Being creative all on your own is one
thing; doing it with others is a different matter. We've seen some of
the practical aspects in module 16, but this module will concentrate
mostly on the need to reward and support creativity in others. Any
company looking to be more creative (and that means any company that
intends to survive) has to be thinking about these issues. Even if this
isn't something you are liable to be involved in directly, make sure you
complete this module. Part of the process is to do some deeper thinking
about the importance of creativity and how it can be enhanced
important for everyone.
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| Module 19 - The Role of
Fun - At the beginning of the course we met Arthur Koestler and his
three creative persona the artist, the sage and the jester. In this
module we will be exploring the essential contribution humour and fun
bring to creativity. It's not about getting yourself the job title of
jester (we'll look into that in module 22), but rather the wider aspects
of fun in creativity.
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| Module 20 - The
Creative Environment - There's a classic nature/nurture balance in
creativity how much your creative ability is down to your nature as an
individual, and how much it is down to your environment. Both
contribute. You have an innate creative ability, yet all the things we
have been discussing on this course, from techniques to facilitation are
external factors that can assist and improve on that innate ability.
In this module we will be looking at the external factors that are most
strongly linked with your working environment. What it's like physically
and mentally, what you use and are surrounded by.
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| Module 21 - Selling
Creativity - Everyone knows that creativity is a great idea, right?
So doesn't it sell itself? The answer is no for a number of reasons.
All too often, those who you need to sell to simply don't see the need
for innovation. This module isn't so much about selling your ideas (see
module 10) as selling the need to be more creative.
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| Module 22 -
Organizational Creativity - There's something about the concept of
an organization that's inherently stodgy. It's probably because an
inevitable implication of organization is bureaucracy. Organizations
need processes to operate even if they are very simple ones and once
those processes are set in tablets of stone, they generate a bureaucracy
that takes on a self-importance totally out of proportion to its role. A
creative organization sounds like an oxymoron. But it is possible.
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| Module 23 - Zen
Creativity - The title of this module brings out the urge to devise
rather strange statements like whats the sound of one hand clapping?
(of which more later). In fact, the title is rather misleading. This
module does not truly deal with Zen creativity, but rather creativity of
a style that is associated with the sort of feeling Westerners usually
associate (at least partially falsely) with Zen, concentrating on the
slower and more reflective creativity within but that makes a very
clumsy title.
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| Module 24 - Another
Framework - In the previous module we explored the internal world of
creativity, the state where you are so familiar with creativity
techniques that you yourself become the technique. However, being able
to do this requires an ease with techniques that can only be achieved
with practice and the techniques will continue to provide repeatable,
valuable creative input for you for as long as you want them to. Bearing
this in mind, this penultimate module gives you another opportunity to
work through a full Imagination Engineering framework, pulling together
the learning of the previous modules.
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| Module 25 - Creativity
and Innovation - Over the last 24 modules we have explored
creativity and innovation in depth. Now its time to carry forward what
you have learned and do something with it. Hopefully you have already
started this process, but theres plenty more to do.
|
25
module creativity course (US dollar pricing)
Imagination
Engineering $45 including shipping -
Imagination Engineering develops the theme of unleashing your personal
creativity for business - or life. This is a medium length business book
with a difference - it's designed to be enjoyable to read. Watch out for
an innovative format, lots of marginalia, surprising ways to kick-start
your creative thinking and a strong linking metaphor to help with the
business of innovation stimulation. Read more about the book: