Creativity

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Fostering Creativity with Edward Glassman, PhD

Edward Glassman, PhD, (now retired) was the President of The Creativity College®, a division of Leadership Consulting Services, Inc. and former Professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he headed the Program For Team Effectiveness And Creativity.

A former Guggenheim Fellow at Stanford University and a Visiting Fellow at The Center For Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina. He led scores of creative thinking meetings and workshops for large and small organizations, including DuPont; Amoco Chemical; IBM; Texaco; Ciba-Geigy; Hoechst-Celanese; Milliken; Federal-Mogul; Calreco/Carnation; A.T.&T. Bell laboratories; Standard Products; Eastman Chemical; Thetford; Lucas Engineering (UK); and numerous others.


Ed Glassman Interview

Read Ed's responses to questions about his career, books, and where he's headed in this 20 Questions interview.


Anti-Creativity Forces vs Creativity Triggers

Anti-creativity forces constitute our cultural mind-ruts and are very difficult to weed out.


Anti-Creativity Habits and a Fun Puzzle

Anti-creativity habits inhibit spontaneity and repress our wit and humor.


Assess How Your Team Helps Creativity

This approach can make a difference to the teamwork, commitment, and effectiveness of your team.


Assess Your Creativity Habits

On a scale of 1 to 5, identify the factors that hinder your creativity at work.


Brainstorming Isn't Creative Enough Anymore

Using old fashioned ways of waiting for ideas results in a low probability of success when seeking the highest quality solution. So move into the 'Age Of Modern Creative Thinking Techniques.'


Brainwriting Techniques

Brainwriting approaches that yield exciting ideas that may be used by individuals and groups.


Building Teams to Help Creativity at Work

Open feedback will improve the ability of the team to work together, increase performance, stimulate creativity, and creative thinking.


10 Ways to Chair Meetings to Foster a Creative Atmosphere and Help Creative Thinking

These suggestions to the chair can make a great deal of difference to the success of the meeting.


Creativity & Innovation Meetings: I. Solve Important Problems of Your Organization

Advanced creative thinking techniques can produce unexpected new and useful ideas in your organization.


Creativity & Innovation Meetings: II. Designing The Meeting

To ensure the highest quality solutions and success, I build the following into every Creativity & Innovation Meeting design.


Creativity & Innovation Meetings: III. Creativity Techniques

Steps and techniques of creative thinking to achieve the highest quality solutions to a problem.


Climb the Problem-Solving Ladder

Eight rungs to analyzing problems, listing and combining ideas, and creating solution-oriented action plans.

Two Creativity Triggers to Jumpstart Idea Generation
Unblock Your Writing and Idea-Generating Blocks.


Forced Creativity Combinations for the Arts
Creativity flourishes best in a zany atmosphere where all ideas, even bizarre ones, survive beyond the initial, usual Quick Negative Evaluation.


Warm-ups Stir Your Creativity
17 Warm ups; fun creativity triggers to get your creative mind ready and in the mood.


Creativity Triggers Are For Everyone
Creativity triggers produce golden thoughts — whether you are a doctor, lawyer, teacher, advertising exec, civic group leader, manager, government worker CEO, librarian, or professor.


Overcoming Resistance to Creativity Triggers in a Low-Creative Team
What keeps you from using creativity triggers to boost creative thinking with your team?


Ways to Shift Paradigms & Think Outside the Box
As a team leader, help the people in your work group think more creatively.


Useful Creativity Triggers While Working Alone
Use this useful sequence of idea-generating creativity triggers when working alone.


Creativity Triggers for College Students
All college students are creative. Unfortunately almost all students attempt creative thinking without training.


Team Interaction Patterns: Who Talks Most and to Whom
Patterns of team interaction during meetings greatly affect the team's communication, and, in turn, the creativeness of its members.


What is Creativity?
Creativity is the combining of old bits & pieces in your mind (and also in your surroundings) to produce 'new and useful' ideas.


To Improve Your Creative Output and Innovation, Improve Your Ideas
These idea-improving techniques help you add to your creative output and innovation and may stimulate additional new ideas or provide new perspectives.


Good Relationships Improve Creative Output & Innovation
50% of R&D scientists and engineers wrote that "other people" were the biggest help to their creativity at work.


Mind Ruts & Paradigms
The "Half of Eight" challenge.

Enhance the Creative Climate Around You
A creative climate focuses attitudes and behaviors that lead to the freer use of everyone's ideas.


Pre-Workshop Innovation Questionnaire
The pre-workshop questionnaire I ask participants to fill out prior to a workshop or to a Creativity & Innovation Meeting.


If You Always Do What You Have Always Done...
The quiet revolution in creative thinking.

Future Fantasy Techniques & Creativity
Creativity techniques that involve 'future fantasy' produce unexpected, high quality solutions to complex problems.


Dark Creativity
Are original thinkers more dishonest?

A Paradigm Shift: The Sound of One Hand Clapping
This article is the result of trigger-ideas and paradigm shifts sparked by reading about a dozen books on Zen.


Listening to New Ideas at Work
Ways to give honest opinions without spoiling creative thinking and stifling people's desire to present new ideas.


There's More Than One Way To Think Creatively At Work
What is your creative thinking at work like? I am fascinated by the things creative people say about their own creative processes.


Everyday Creativity & Card Magic
There I was, writing about the secret behind a fine trick, and it finally struck me as immensely creative.


Creativity & Innovation Depends On Your Leadership Interactions With Your Team
Creativity & innovation depend on your leadership styles, your roles and behaviors with your subordinates. Four useful styles exist, each with effective behaviors.


How Self-Direction & Self-Motivation Helps Innovation & Team Creativity
Leaders do not always know how to boost creative effort in their team. These suggestions can help.


How to Constructively Evaluate and Analyze a Creative Idea...
and Just About Anything Else (Like-Improve Analysis).


Beef Up Creativity in Regular Meetings (Turn Them Upside Down)
How to use advanced creativity techniques during regular meetings of your team. Includes list of creative spoilers and how to increase creative thinking during meetings.


How to Use Linear & Non-Linear Bizarre Ideas to Produce a Useful, Unexpected Innovation
Creativity at work is a process of combining old information and old ideas into New & Useful ideas.


Identifying New Products in a Creativity & Innovation Meeting
Creativity & Innovation Meetings can solve important company problems and, at the same time, teach advanced creativity procedures.


Habits Managers Need To Change To Help Creativity
Many managers are unaware that their own habits, often productive, can lower creativity at work.


Creativity As A Learnable Skill
Many people mistakenly think that they lack the ability to be creative.


Can Government Be Truly Creative & Innovative?
Of course, you say. We just have to get government officials to attend a creativity & innovative meeting where...


Some Favorite Idea Generating Brainwriting Procedures
Favorite procedures that enhance people's creativity: dream interruption, clustering brainwriting, and brainwriting circles.


Nurture The Creative Flame at Work
Research has shown that people turn out work that is more creative & innovative if they are internally motivated.


Helping Your Team's Creativity at Work
Helping your team's creativity at work — research to stimulate more interaction, idea sharing, and on-the-job creativity.