Coloring Outside the Lines

Written by Roxanne Emmerich, CSP, CMC

How do you become creative in the workplace when those grade school teachers beat it out you?

But I wanted the sun to be red and the color from the sun to cover the mountains,” I indignantly told Sister Marie. “I'm sorry honey, the sun is yellow and you can't color outside the lines,” she replied.

In trying to win the approval of my teacher, a controlling nun who saw the world as black and white and full of shoulds, I learned to leave my creative thoughts at the school yard gate. It was obvious that they weren’t “allowed.”

Almost every adult has a story of when a teacher stifled his or her childhood creativity. In fact, those educational techniques have left such an incredible impact that research shows that our creativity drops exponentially in grade school. By the time we are adults, very little is left.

That was acceptable in the industrial age when employees had "jobs"—a clear description of how they were supposed to act at exactly the right time.

Those "jobs" are a thing of the past. They have been replaced by professions where people are expected to be spontaneous, think outside the box, create what isn't there, and rise to whatever occasion. That poses the six million-dollar question—How do you become creative when those grade school teachers beat it out you? Here are a few ideas.

Brainstorm.

Create a time to get several people together. The ideal number for maximum synergy is five. Instruct the group to throw out as many ideas as possible regarding the problem that you are trying to solve and ask them to stretch to the outrageous. Instruct the group than no idea is to be judged or criticized at this time. After you have many ideas, then decide what has potential and how can you combine, build on or fine-tune those ideas to make them plausible.

Mind map.

Grade school taught us how to make lists and outline. Unfortunately, the mind doesn't work that way. The mind works like a pinball machine where one idea bounces off of the last. Listing ideas in a linear fashion doesn't allow for the ball to bounce and creativity is stifled.

Mind mapping has been proven to cut planning time from 20 to 1-½ hours. Mind mapping is simply a matter of putting an idea in a circle in the center of a page and then as ideas come, a spoke comes out of the circle with a two or three words that sum up the concept. Whatever ideas come from that spoke are written on another spoke attaching perpendicularly to the spoke from where the idea comes from. Other central thoughts receive their own spoke coming from the center. You can jump from spoke to spoke, adding new ones and tying them together as they relate to each other. The look resembles a bicycle wheel decorated for a parade. The beauty is that it allows completely free thought to flow. Use this for planning projects, planning a writing project, or use it as a positive stimulus to the brain to enhance your creativity on an idea.

Consciously put your subconscious to work.

People often say that they have their best ideas in the shower or while shaving. This is not an anomaly. Research shows that the subconscious does its best work to solve problems when the conscious mind is doing something that is non-taxing. To activate your subconscious, walk for 30 minutes or write the problem down before you go to bed and let your subconscious work on it through the night. Maybe Sister Marie has since seen a red sun. I know I have—and I've been coloring outside the lines ever since.

Roxanne Emmerich, CSP,CMC, is producer of Breakthrough Business®, the ultimate customer service training system and works with businesses to revitalize their people's passion for work. For additional information visit www.EmmerichGroup.com or call 1-800-236-5885.