An easy-to-use work of improving creativity - fast. After an exploration of the key skills that will help you to nurture creativity, the course itself consists of a programme of 150 exercises and techniques to help you to develop your creativity either alone or as part of a group. Targeted reading ensures that the practical exercises are backed up with expert knowledge. This dynamic personal development programme is split into 30 units, all designed to be completed in your spare time in one week. Alternatively, if you are under pressure to get results, a whole unit can be fitted in within a day. The final section provides a refresher course that pulls together key learning points, ideas for further reading, and detailed tables that will help you to select the right creativity techniques to use in specific situations.
Introduction 1 Getting the basics Why creativity? Creativity primer
Culture Techniques Personal development Mental energy Fun 2 Work plan
Introducing the course Checklist 3 The course Unit 1: A taster 1.1
Exercise/Technique: Surveying your mind 1.2 Technique: Knots 1.3
Exercise/Technique: Random picture 1.4 Exercise: Life saver 1.5 Technique:
Ideas to get you fired Unit 2: Getting to know you -- loosening up a new
group 2.1 Technique: This is my friend 2.2 Technique: Tower of Babel 2.3
Exercise: Twisters 2.4 Technique: Follow my leader 2.5 Technique: True and
false Unit 3: Clarifying the problem -- just what are you trying to do? 3.1
Exercise/Technique: Compass 3.2 Technique: Obstacle map 3.3 Exercise: Water
into wine 3.4 Technique: Destination 3.5 Exercise/Technique: Chunks and
breaks Unit 4: Challenging assumptions -- thinking differently about a
problem to understand it better 4.1 Exercise/Technique: Do nothing 4.2
Technique: Up and down 4.3 Exercise: Round the world 4.4 Technique: Time
slices 4.5 Exercise: Questioning everything Unit 5: Good vibrations --
positive thinking 5.1 Exercise/Technique: Altered states 5.2 Technique: Yes!
5.3 Technique: Circle of energy 5.4 Exercise: Pub quiz 5.5 Technique: Beam me
up Unit 6: New 'how to's -- getting different cuts at the problem 6.1
Exercise/Technique: Excellence 6.2 Technique: Restatement 6.3
Exercise/Technique: Versatile coat hangers 6.4 Technique: Mud slinging 6.5
Exercise: Going down Unit 7: Incremental creativity -- step change techniques
7.1 Exercise/Technique: The level chain 7.2 Exercise/Technique: Car and goats
7.3 Technique: Attributes 7.4 Exercise/Technique: Found story 7.5
Exercise/Technique: Technical creativity Unit 8: Distortion -- idea
generation techniques that modify the nature of the problem 8.1 Technique:
Challenging assumptions 8.2 Exercise/Technique: Distortion 8.3 Exercise:
Birthday bonanza 8.4 Technique: Reversal 8.5 Technique: Size matters Unit 9:
Pure energy -- injecting oomph 9.1 Technique: Spoon and string 9.2 Technique:
Piggyback plus 9.3 Exercise: Get another life 9.4 Technique: Sit on my lap
9.5 Technique: The paperclip race Unit 10: Seeking knowledge -- building a
personal knowledge base to feed creativity 10.1 Technique: Broken CD 10.2
Exercise: Sense and sensibility 10.3 Exercise/Technique: The little black
book 10.4 Exercise: All that glisters 10.5 Exercise: Programmed thought Unit
11: Seeing it differently -- looking at solutions through different eyes 11.1
Technique: Fantasy 11.2 Technique: Someone else's view 11.3 Exercise: Get a
laugh 11.4 Technique: Metaphor 11.5 Exercise: No time to read Unit 12: A
swift kick -- random stimuli to generate a new starting point 12.1 Technique:
Random word 12.2 Exercise/Technique: Cool site 12.3 Technique: Found objects
12.4 Technique: Quotations 12.5 Exercise: An excellent mistake Unit 13:
Looking somewhere else -- taking a look beyond the obvious 13.1 Technique:
It's a steal 13.2 Exercise/Technique: Inside view 13.3 Technique: Evil genius
13.4 Exercise: School daze 13.5 Technique: Morphology Unit 14: Simple fun --
laughter makers 14.1 Technique: Row of eyes 14.2 Technique: I am and I know
14.3 Technique: Makeover 14.4 Technique: Steeplechase 14.5 Technique: Giants,
witches and dwarves Unit 15: Breakdown -- techniques that break down a
problem into components 15.1 Technique: Components 15.2 Technique: Substitute
15.3 Exercise: Different views 15.4 Technique: Been there before 15.5
Exercise/Technique: Long division Unit 16: Touchy-feely -- generating ideas
using right-brain activities 16.1 Exercise/Technique: Set it to music 16.2
Exercise/Technique: Da Vinci Scribbles 16.3 Technique: Touch me, feel me 16.4
Technique: Draw it 16.5 Technique: Squirrel box Unit 17: Natural input --
using nature and science as tools to generate ideas 17.1 Technique: Frontiers
17.2 Exercise: Leaf mould 17.3 Technique: Auntie gravity 17.4 Exercise: The
thrill factor 17.5 Technique: It's only natural Unit 18: Memories are made of
this -- memory techniques 18.1 Exercise/Technique: Extremes 18.2 Technique:
Story chains 18.3 Technique: Take a note 18.4 Exercise/Technique: Number
rhymes 18.5 Exercise: Strengthening your ghosts Unit 19: Strange translations
-- generating ideas from misunderstanding 19.1 Technique: It's silly 19.2
Exercise: Cloak and dagger 19.3 Technique: Lost in translation 19.4
Technique: They're winning 19.5 Exercise: Spinning knowledge Unit 20:
Creative comms -- stimulating new approaches by forcing different modes of
communication 20.1 Technique: In the dark 20.2 Technique: Out for the count
20.3 Technique: Buy me 20.4 Technique: Blindfold birthday 20.5 Technique:
Lego' Construction Unit 21: Going green -- environmental techniques to
enhance creativity 21.1 Exercise/Technique: Something completely different
21.2 Technique: Unconscious creativity 21.3 Exercise/Technique: Go gallery
21.4 Technique: Game theory 21.5 Technique: Snapshots Unit 22: Spatial
thinking -- right-brain group sessions 22.1 Exercise/Technique: The magic
tunnel 22.2 Technique: Handcuffs 22.3 Exercise: Quick on the draw 22.4
Technique: Towering 22.5 Technique: Plane sailing Unit 23: Selection
techniques -- which idea is best? 23.1 Technique: The GBP100 bid 23.2
Technique: SWOT 23.3 Exercise: Material gains 23.4 Exercise/Technique: Basic
option evaluation 23.5 Exercise/Technique: Sophisticated option evaluation
Unit 24: Changing group dynamics -- more energy and fun 24.1
Exercise/Technique: You're an animal 24.2 Technique: Bursting with energy
24.3 Technique: On the square 24.4 Technique: Magic carpet 24.5 Technique:
Peer groups Unit 25: Refinement techniques -- polishing up your ideas 25.1
Technique: Signposts 25.2 Technique: Hazard markers 25.3 Exercise: Horse
whispers 25.4 Technique: Second-best solution 25.5 Exercise/Technique:
Stakeholders Unit 26: Knowledge expansion -- more techniques to help personal
knowledge management 26.1 Exercise: On the box 26.2 Exercise/Technique:
Category magic 26.3 Exercise: Doing and knowing 26.4 Exercise: Fact quest
26.5 Exercise: Binning paper Unit 27: Spock rules -- logic exercises to
challenge the brain 27.1 Technique: One spare square 27.2 Technique: Contract
fishing 27.3 Exercise/Technique: Ands 27.4 Technique: Rules rule 27.5
Exercise/Technique: Racing demon Unit 28: Making it happen -- techniques to
expedite implementation 28.1 Technique: Planning for selling 28.2 Technique:
Planning for implementation 28.3 Exercise: Story time 28.4
Exercise/Technique: The top ten list 28.5 Exercise: Scribbling Unit 29:
Right-brain teamwork -- more exercises to encourage groups to engage the
right brain 29.1 Technique: The wrong drawing 29.2 Technique: Abstract
drawing 29.3 Exercise/Technique: PR from Hell 29.4 Technique: Passing the
buck 29.5 Technique: Fontastic Unit 30: Mental workout -- personal creativity
exercises 30.1 Exercise: Metaphorically speaking 30.2 Exercise: Holistic
awareness 30.3 Exercise: On the edge 30.4 Exercise: Muddled model 30.5
Exercise: Rapt concentration 4 Review Pulling it together Collected reading
list Appendix Random words People for 'Someone else's view' Techniques with
high Culture ratings Techniques with high Techniques ratings Techniques with
high Personal development ratings Techniques with high Mental energy ratings
Techniques with high Fun ratings Techniques suited to stage 1 --
understanding the problem Techniques suited to stage 2 -- generating ideas
Techniques suited to stage 3 -- selection and refinement Techniques suited to
stage 4 -- planning for selling and implementation Index
Brian Clegg is a journalist and creativity consultant. He is a well known writer both in traditional media and on the World Wide Web. He worked at British Airways for 17 years. In 1984 became one of the airline's first PC programmers. While at BA he developed a considerable interest in business creativity.
Brian left the airline to established himself as a freelance writer and set up Creativity Unleashed Limited (www.cul.co.uk), a company specialising in consultancy on business creativity and computer usability. He is a regular contributor to PC Week, Personal Computer World, Computer Weekly and the internet-based magazine, V3. and consultant. He can be contacted on email at brian@cul.co.uk
Recent books have included Instant Time Management (Kogan Page) and an exploration of mankind's enduring fascination with light: Light Years. Paul Birch is a change and creativity consultant and trainer. One of his previous roles was that of 'Corporate Jester' at British Airways -- an internal consultant who challenges and provokes at all levels of the organisation. A well-known author, he has also written Instant Leadership and co-authored Instant Teamwork and Instant Creativity in the Kogan Page Instant series.
