Creation and Analysis

How frustrating can it be when you express an idea that is not yet fully developed and people criticise it, doubt its merits, break it down before it was fully developed. The frustration is there because you are still in the creative process and want to use the conversation to support that process and improve and further develop the idea, whilst most other people think and feel they are in an analytical process.

These two processes should not be confused and certainly not mixed for a creative process to lead to an outcome.

Many ‘out-of-office’ days are there purely to make sure the participants are in the same creative mindset and are freed of the rules and ‘how we do things’ that are based on past analysis. In office meetings we predominantly analyse and make decisions; they are about results, reports, literally analyses. Ideas offered in those meetings are usually dismissed.

The more an organisation or team is rules based, the less room there is for creativity. If creativity is required, remove processes and bureaucratic limitations that hold people back in creating fresh solutions.

And when in the creative process, don’t analyse. Do that the day after.