Perspectives That Serve # 13 - Innnovation

Creativity and innovation are for me what I call entry point or square one mind sets. That is, creativity is an easy perspective for me to access and it allows me to slide into the other powerful perspectives without a lot of effort. I talk more about this in a later post a few weeks down the road. You may have a completely different entry point perspective.

Creativity is the design or thinking part and Innovation also includes execution or implementation even in tests, trials, or pilots. I don’t know if the dictionary would exactly make that distinction, but I think of it that way. This is a core mind set or attitude. I’m convinced that everyone is incredibly creative in some niche or subject but many just don’t have the confidence necessary to activate it. God is the ultimate Creator and we are made in His Image. Therefore creativity is standard equipment.

One of the simplest ways I know of getting into a creative mindset is to write a challenge or outcome at the top of a sheet of paper and as fast as you can write down ten possible ways to meet the challenge or reach the outcome. The most important part of this strategy is that you have to temporarily remove the critique. You have to write as fast as you can disciplining yourself not to think about what idea is best or how difficult or impossible it might be to implement an idea. The phrase that kills… “I/We have to be realistic here.” No you don’t. You may eventually choose to be realistic but not in the early part of the exercise.

Try doing this once a day on any topic. This will build your creative muscle and almost always put you in a positive emotional state. From a Servant Selling standpoint, start out with a question like, "How Can I Personally Better Serve My Customers?" Then list 10 ways...

1. Return phone calls quicker
2. Increase the clarity of my presentations
3. Implement a customer survey

After you make your list of 10 items, you can then drill down. Take one like, "Return Phone Calls Quicker". Now try to list 10 things that would increase your response time.

This is the creative phase. Make sure you move quickly into the implementation phase where you try stuff and evaluate it. Do this with every part of your job and you will rapidly