Discuss how creativity is measured

Measuring creativity has proven to be a difficult undertaking, for anyone who has attempted to do so. There have been many different types of measurement tools used, but several methods of measurement allow various perspectives on creative work produced. Psychologist J.P. Guilford has established a standard by which a person’s divergent production can be measured. The four measures by which creativity are measured are: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. Fluency measures the number of creative responses, flexibility reflects the variety of creative responses, originality measures the uniqueness of the creative responses, and elaboration measures the detail in creative responses.

The Taxonomy of Creative Design (TCD) measures changes in the form of the creative work, allowing insight into how unique the produced work is. TCD categorizes creative work into 5 classifications: a variation of a single body of work, a combination of 2+ works, a transformation of work into a new form, an imitation of another work, or a creation that is able to be distinguished from others (“Four Ways to Measure Creativity,” 2012). Though the TCD allows creative work to be measured against other bodies of work, it does not measure the effectiveness of creative work.

The Requirements Model measures body of work against the requirements established before the work begins. The good thing about this method is that it measures the body of creative work against its effectiveness, and ability to solve the problem. A manager can simply use the work requirements to analyze each creative work against itself, versus others. Since the requirements model measures a body of work against the established criteria, it doesn’t work well in comparing creative works against one another. Additionally, clear work requirements must be set so there are clear guidelines for the creative work to follow.

The Csikszentmihalyi’s Systems Model measures how socially valuable a body of creative work is. When creative work is measures, the model analyzes the value of the work as it relates to three categories: person, field, and domain. The Csikszentmihalyi’s Systems Model guards against the title of “creative” being placed on any body of work. In order to be labeled “creative” it must be done by a person, satisfy the area which the work is created for, and be accepted by peers/experts as unique and valuable within the subject matter.

Reference:

Four Ways to Measure Creativity. (2012, March). Sense and Sensation, (), . Retrieved from http://www.senseandsensation.com/2012/03/assessing-creativity.html

Don

Discuss threats to team creativity

There can be many things that can be threats to creativity. One main concern that happens in teams is the limitation set by the manager. If the manager takes the decision making out of the teams hand then they cannot be as creative as they should be. Team dynamics can also play a role. If there are some strong personalities then this can cause breakdowns in communication limiting creativity.

Teams can also be threatened by budgets. If there is no set budget or the budget gets cut then the team is limited to how much effort they can put into a project to ensure that is the best product. To reduce these threats teams should identify at the beginning of a project what their responsibilities are. This allows teams to know their limits and discuss what direction they should take to reduce risks.

Rex

Recommend ways teams can enhance creativity

It is crucial to have the right people on your team capable of adding brilliance to the project. Collaboration works best when team members have complimentary skill sets required to complete the project. To create innovation that your customers actually want, consider collaborating with them, as well as with experts within your organization, including tech, design, marketing, and finance. This will help you access collective intelligence and make informed decisions.

Healthy relationships are at the heart of collaboration. Appreciating other, engaging in purposeful conversations, and the ability to resolve conflicts are essential ingredients for collaboration. Find ways for the team to get to know each other not just as professionals, but as human beings, to build trust and provide occasions for informal social interaction. The easiest way to do this is to share meals together.

A guiding vision and clarity of purpose are key to collaboration. Use storytelling and imagery to engage the hearts and minds of your team.

Provide a clear mission objective. Team members jointly prepare a written purpose statement for their collaboration and define rules of engagement which include goals, roles, responsibilities, and deliverables. Communicate how decisions are made.

Create an atmosphere of safety, trust, and respect. Encourage multiple perspectives, diverse viewpoints, and creativity. Keep members energized through stimulating, quality discussion around cutting edge issues.

Provide great leadership. Nurture the brilliance of your people and do everything you can to remove barriers to high performance. Avoid being too autocratic and allow time for the team to weigh in on decisions. Help build team connections across the organization. Give credit where credit is due and recognize team performance as well as individuals.

Use coaching to reinforce a collaborative culture. Coaching for improved teamwork, emotional intelligence, and navigating difficult conversations can produce dramatic improvements to the group. Ask open-ended questions like: Why? What if? What else? How might we? This will open up dialogue and tap into creativity.

Kenny

Identify the four general conceptual domains into which new ideas can be classified

There are four general conceptual domains into which new ideas can be classified. These domains are creative realism, conservative realism, creative idealism, and conservative idealism (Thompson, 2003). Creative Realism is what to strive for because ideas generated in this domain are highly imaginative and are highly connected to current structures and ideas (Thompson, 2003). "Conservative Realism represents ideas that are highly traditional and highly connected to current knowledge and practices" (Thompson, 2003, p. 97). Creative Idealism is thinking that provides a high level of imagination and originality, but it is not realistic (Thompson, 2003). Conservative Idealism thinking exhibits little to no imagination and is not connected to existing knowledge (Thompson, 2003).

Reference:
Thompson, L. (2003). Improving the creativity of organizational work groups. Academy of Management Executive, 17(1), 96-111.

Thanks,
Monica