CREATIVITY - The Top Business Skill that We're Not Developing!

82% of companies believe creativity can produce positive business results and create a competitive edge

Neuroscience Evidence: Listening and Imagining Increases Creativity and Critical Thinking

"Creativity is not really incentivized in a way that allows people to view it as skill, or have the time and opportunities to engage in creativity in the workplace. Creativity is a skill that needs to be developed." Leigh Jerome, Clinical Psychologist, Founder/Executive Director - Relational Space, Inc.

When I interviewed Leigh for my upcoming book, "Learn to Imagine", we discussed how modern society views Creativity. We often have a siloed view of creativity and departmentalize it; as in "the marketing department is full of creative people, but Accounting, ha, no way!"

Leigh talked about concrete thinkers, and she used the example of computer coding. "We don't think of coding as a creative profession. They think in code, and they write in code, so they don't see themselves as creative”, she said, "But writing code is very creative—it’s a kind of creativity! People often need help  understanding that there are many different kinds of creativity. You write code because of  your imagination. You’re imagining a process, and generating possible solutions to create the code. Writing code, or developing business tools, is a creative process.”

Through my 30+ years of business experience, I am convinced - and there is also a ton of research that supports this - that the ability to be Creative makes a difference in the performance of every individual in any organization, no matter their role - and the better equipped employees are to recognize, practice and develop Creativity, the cumulative improvement in the organization's overall performance will be significant.

I'm not alone in viewing Creativity as the top business skill. Many companies and leaders talk about wanting out-of-the-box creativity, innovation and critical thinking as their top factor for business success. "In a survey by IBM of more than 1,500 chief executive officers shows consensus: Creativity was ranked as the number one factor for future business success - above management discipline, integrity, and even vision." (North Eastern University "The Importance of Creativity in Business", November 2017) https://graduate.northeastern.edu/knowledge-hub/creativity-importance-in-business/

Yet we're doing very little to actively develop and cultivate Creativity, which is also closely linked to Critical Thinking.

THE TANGIBLE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF CREATIVITY

According to Joe Hart, President and CEO of Dale Carnegie, "From increased revenue and market share to better employee retention to creative solutions for some of the toughest challenges facing our world today, companies focusing on creativity are seeing real benefits. A study commissioned by Adobe found that 82% of companies believe creativity can produce positive business results, generating a creative dividend."

https://www.dalecarnegie.com/blog/creativity-is-the-skill-for-business-success/#

There are many other articles and YouTube videos that all say the same thing - Creativity, Innovation and Critical Thinking are the new productivity. (Note: Creativity is sometimes referred to as "Divergent Thinking")

PROVEN WAYS TO DEVELOP CREATIVITY AND CRITICAL THINKING IN YOUR TEAM

Neuroscience is revealing some fascinating evidence about Creativity and how our brains work when we're actively using our imagination.

1. Active use of Imagination is a key driver in developing Creativity and Critical Thinking. https://www.institute4learning.com/2019/11/21/imagination-the-greatest-untapped-resource-in-education/
   

2. ‘Cognitive Flexibility’ Is Key to Learning and Creativity – it aids adaptability and problem-solving – It helps people switch strategies, solve new problems, and adjust to change better than relying solely on IQ. Focus on learning that calls on learners to use their imagination.

   https://neurosciencenews.com/cognitive-flexibility-learning-creativity-18812/
   

3. Creativity is less dependent on what we're seeing - During creative thinking (divergent thinking), the visual processing areas of the brain - areas that process what we see with our eyes - show reduced activity. This means that when you're being creative, your brain relies less on processing what you see and more on internal thought networks like imagination and memory. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-024-07007-6
   

4. Storytelling enhances learning and creativity - when listening to convincing storytelling and scenarios while learning, we become co-creators with the content, using our imagination to bring characters, environment and details to life. https://scienceleaf.com/the-power-of-storytelling-boosting-student-memory-and-learning/

Here's another relevant and valuable YouTube on "The Neuroscience of Creativity" by BrainCraft

For more research articles and videos, visit https://www.prodio-learning.com/imaginative-learning-research

To listen to samples of imagination-based StoryStyle™ Audio Learning and how our nine forms of audio media ignite imagination, visit https://www.prodio-learning.com/transformative-storystyle-audio-learning

Develop Creativity in your organization, start now with imagination-based learning or onboarding, or invite me to come and speak at your Conference or train your team.

Russell Cullingworth, CEO

ProDio Audio Learning Inc.

russell@prodiolearning.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russcullingworth/