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A new generation of academic researchers is expanding the field of creativity, stepping into the shoes of giants like Alex Osborne and Sid Parnes. Two of today's voices are Dr. Gerard Puccio and Dr. Ronald Beghetto. Puccio serves as Chair of the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State where he focuses on creativity and leadership. Presenter of the TEDx talk entitled Creativity as a Life Skill, Puccio is also the co-author of The Innovation Team and Creative Leadership: Skills That Drive Change. Dr. Beghetto serves as an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut where his research focuses on creativity in educational settings. He is the author of Killing Ideas Softly? The Promise and Perils of Creativity in the Classroom, co-author of Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom, and the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Creative Behavior. Puccio and Beghetto discussed the big issues in creativity at the recent Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) Conference held in Buffalo, NY.
What is creativity?
A commonly agreed upon definition for creativity does not exist. Often sited definitions include: "novelty that is useful" (Stan Gryshiewicz) and "a documented effect on a relevant domain" (Howard Gardner). Puccio defines creativity as "making a change within a given context that sticks for awhile." He emphasizes four words in his definition: making, which implies that creativity is about taking action, not a state of being; change, which mandates that the output be novel or original; sticks, which suggests meaningfulness; and awhile, which captures the relevance of innovation as well as its often rapid decay.
Creativity is a process. It is much more than the single "ah-ha" moment so often depicted with light bulbs and drum rolls. Although the "ah-ha" moment is a critical component of the creative process, it is just that: part of a larger process. Several frameworks for approaching challenges in an imaginative and innovative way exist including Creative Problem Solving (CPS), design thinking, and Synectics. The CPS framework, for example, breaks down the creative process into four stages: clarification, ideation, development, and implementation. Ah-ha moments occur regularly in all four of these stages. (We will discuss the model in more depth in future posts.)
Although creativity is often described as "thinking outside of the box," Puccio believes that this description is misleading. "Creativity is not unconstrained originality," he explains. The phrase dismisses the rigor of the process and the fact that we are often working within constraints to create innovative solutions. Puccio reminds us that while Jazz musicians improvise, they are able to do so because they have "deep musical chops."
Although creativity is currently in vogue, the academic discipline of creativity has been around for some 60 years. Today there are 9 academic journals in the USA dedicated to the subject. Increasingly creativity is becoming an interdisciplinary field as the understanding and practice of deliberate creativity infuses every field from education to health care to leadership.
What is the Role of Creativity in the 21st Century?
"Creativity is necessary for survival," explains Beghetto. It is how humans adapt to change and proactively improve their circumstances. This ability is becoming even more critical as the pace of change is quickening—product life cycles are shortening to every 6-12 months in many industries—and the challenges that we face grow in complexity. "We are living in an innovation culture," Puccio explains. When the future is materially different from the past, previous experiences and traditional education are often not sufficient to solve emerging challenges. We have to be able to trail blaze and discover, unlocking new solutions as we go. That requires deliberate and continuous creativity.
Despite the fact that everyone is capable of being creative, many people do not know how. According to a global study of 1,500 plus executives conducted by IBM, most business leaders are not confident that they have the skills to lead in times of such unprecedented change. These executives specifically identified creativity as the most useful skill they will need over the next five years. Recognizing the need for creativity is an important first step, but it is not enough. "Innovation doesn't happen because 88 percent of businesses have it in their mission statement," Puccio cautions. The good news is that anyone can learn creative problem solving. Unfortunately, in Puccio's experience, schools and organizations seem to be ill quipped to promote this critical skill.
How Can Our Education System Better Prepare Students?
Mastering a body of knowledge is no longer an effective education. The practice turns school into an "apprenticeship in observation," according to Beghetto. In addition, information is often outdated before students graduate. Instead, Beghetto argues that we have to prepare students to be resourceful and take charge of their own future, so that they can discover and apply what is necessary to creatively solve challenges and live their lives. Learning creative problem solving techniques is one way to accomplish this goal. Beghetto also recommends that schools allow students to be creators as well as consumers of information in educational settings. "Outside of the school kids are learning what they need to know and sharing their own creations on YouTube," Beghetto observes. A firm believer that every child must reclaim and learn to sustain his or her creativity, he cautions against government legislating creativity. "We do not need a 'No Child Left Uncreative' mandate," Beghetto cautions.
One of the roadblocks to a more creative education is ignorance. Many parents and teachers need to be convinced about the value of creativity in education. The case must be made that creativity is not being taught at the expense of other things, but to enhance students' ability to understand and think more broadly about every other subject.
Is Brainstorming Dead?
There has been much debate about the validity of brainstorming in recent years. Specifically, Puccio sites inaccurate analysis of the research on the part of writer Jonah Lehrer in the article ">a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/30/120130fa_fact_lehrer?currentPage=all" target="_blank">Groupthink" (The New Yorker) as a key contributor to the debate. Faulty methodology in brainstorming research—nearly all brainstorming research is done with people who have no training or experience in doing or leading brainstorming—also contributes to the confusion.(Puccio is currently working on a study that will correct the methodological errors of previous studies.)
"The beauty of brainstorming is that is has been well diffused," Puccio explains. "However, like Buffalo chicken wings, which are called by the same name around the world, but taste quite different in London than Buffalo, brainstorming can look very different across a variety of settings. As it has diffused, it has often been poorly applied. People are using brainstorming without training and without an expert facilitator. It is also often being evaluated, but not assessed." Puccio emphasizes that brainstorming is not the same thing as creativity. It is an idea generation tool that is utilized as part of the broader creative thinking process. Groups and individuals use brainstorming to augment output (although ideas developed in a group tend to be more original as each contribution acts as fodder for other participants). There are other ancillary benefits of using brainstorming including disseminating ideas, teaching creative thinking to others, and straight out fun.
What are your Favorite Words About Creativity
Beghetto: What if… (His least favorite word is "creatiacide" which implies that creativity can be killed, which it can't, but it can certainly be suppressed.)
Puccio: Possibilities
This blog is made available from LinkedIn.