17 replies to this topic

[Scottie]

Curious topic, I know, but I just got a spam mail from some creativity workshop (courtesy of GoDaddy selling my email address...)

However, the topic seems legit and it somehow passed my spam filters, so I read through it.

Founded in 1993, the Creativity Workshop is dedicated to teaching people
about their creativity and how to use it in all aspects of life, work,
and creative expression. The Creativity Workshop helps people believe in
and develop their imagination through using a unique series of exercises
in memoir, creative writing, visual arts, sense perception,
brainstorming, and storytelling. In a non-competitive, nurturing
atmosphere, our workshops help participants develop creative skills,
expanded sense perception, innovative problem solving, inspired
brainstorming, and new ways of looking at life as exciting and
transformative. The price of the New York workshop is $650, tuition
only. Our European workshop prices start at $1,650, including tuition
and 9 nights accommodations. The only requirements for the Creativity
Workshop are curiosity about the creative process and a sense of
playfulness.

It sounds like a good course, but I wonder, can you teach creativity?

I think you can unlock the creative side in people who already have it, but from personal experience, there are some people who don't have it in them, period.

Maybe you can teach people at least to bring a different perspective to their problems... but I don't know.

Back in my corporate days, I used to get really frustrated with some people who worked for me because they couldn't solve a problem unless the manual specifially outlined a solution OR they had been shown how to solve that issue before. I even did some "problem-solving" and "conflict-resolution" formal training to try and open up new avenues for people to think for themselves.

Those courses helped the ones who were already pretty good at those things, but the ones who most needed some creative thinking simply tried to apply the new routines and formulas to their old problems, then announced they didn't work and went back to the old ways.

In any case, you can probably search for the above courses if you are interested in more details - they do sound useful for anyone who's been feeling "blocked" or in a rut lately. And pretty fun to boot!

[lyn]

A lot of smart people get hamstrung in their creative efforts because of their appoach to solving problem or generating ideas.

I've seen courses and workshops that can be very valuable in teaching people how to break down idea-killing habits and adopt fresh approaches to problems. There are lots of models and tools out there for forcing or tricking the brain into exploring novel paths, and I think many of them work. Sometimes it's just a matter of teaching people to stop looking for "the" answer and start looking for "some" answers.

So, yes, I think creativity can be taught to at least some extent. For some people, mind expansion is going to be a painful process but thay can be led to produce more innovative results than they would if left to their natural tendencies. Unfortunately, people who aren't inclined to look for creative solutions are often never challenged to come up with something new.

Of course, same thing applies to "creative types" who need to be taught how to discipline their thinking, make a decision and get something done! So I hear...

[dmcconkey]

One of my "b-side" careers is as a writer of speculative fiction (SF writers get pissed at the term "Sci-Fi"). I've attended creativity workshops in that realm. All in all, my impression is that you can teach an unimaginative person to apply formula-type thought processes to generate new sounding ideas, and you can teach an already creative person to really turn it up, but you can't learn true creativity.

No matter how many times I make ads for my design clients, the C*O types always tell me to center all the type. I think Apple had a commercial where they described beige computers as "thinking jail". Parole seems not an option for those in thinking jail.

IMO.

-Dan

[Randy]

I would agree whole-heartedly Dan.

If it's already there, you can train it or expand it. But if it isn't there in the first place, no chance.

[zurita77]

It sounds like a good course, but I wonder, can you teach creativity?

I believe you can, although from my experience, it's easier when you start at an early age. Also, creativity can cover multiple areas. Some are artistically creative while some are technically creative.

[dmcconkey]

it's easier when you start at an early age.

You don't think some kids are just born to be accountants? I look at my son's kindergarten class. There are pictures hanging everywhere that kids have colored. My kid doesn't even seem to notice the lines, and when he does, the trees come out purple, the sky is brown, and the people all have bright red hair.

Makes me proud.

Some kids, though, never even think of stepping outside of conformity. Their colorings are beautiful, but I don't think of it as any artistic expression. More like following instructions.

-Dan

[noel_x99]

Different people think differently. I find that to be a fascinating thing. I constantly watch how people think. "Creativity" is a way of thinking. Thinking outside the box I guess.

I think that artistic creativity (whether art, design, or music) is given more cultural significance than other kinds of creativity. For example, I've seen administrative people and accounting people that can be quite creative in their way of thinking. They could come up with solutions that I could never come up with.

But I don't think it's something that can be taught. Its more of how your brain works, I guess. Just as an example, I could take all sorts of accounting classes. (I might even be able to pass them.) But that wouldn't make me an accountant. I don't think like that. It's not my strength...it's now how I think.

For a business, the best approach is to hire people who think different. A group of "creative people that like to solve problems" might never have the focus to get stuff done. A group of people that are "doers" and not "thinkers" are very organized and ready to follow along with whatever they are told to do. Hook those two groups up and you get creativity in action.

[janell]

Over the last couple months I've gotten a completely different understanding of the word "creativity" by reading a couple books by Marcus Buckingham - he's with the Gallup Organization. Before, I had a more narrow view about what creativity was and didn't really feel like I had any. Or, that if I just put the time into figuring it all out that I could learn it.

But, as I've come to find, that's not really how it works. Everyone is creative in something. My husband is a creative writer and artist - I can't even come close to him. But I am a creative problem solver - he just gets stuff done whereas I try and find the most efficient way to do something. But no matter how many classes I take, I don't think I'll ever learn to draw the way he can, and I don't think that he'll ever learn to be a critical thinker the same way I am.

(Buckingham's books really are fascinating - they talk about how finding your strengths and working within them will give you satisfaction and success in your career. If you want to find more about yourself, I definitely recommend "Now, Discover Your Strengths.")

Janell

(yeah, noel, what you were saying....)

[Scottie]

I do think many people equate creativity with artistic talent, but creativity can be applied to anything. It's a different way of looking at things, an ability to make something different out of the ordinary.

That could apply to things as mundane as finding better ways to get your family out the door in the morning, figuring out a way to save on energy costs, developing a tactic to convince more customers to upgrade or buy more, or rethinking an application to do more functions with less resources.

Like when we talk about creativity around here in relation to SEO, we can't tell you exactly what to do, because it comes from what your site needs. For some people, it may be a site with a different attitude, where the copy and graphics really speak to a specific audience... for others it may simply be finding more opportunities to link related information on internal pages and others still might see a need to develop a useful application to garner links.

It's looking at something and thinking to yourself, "How can I do this differently, how can I make it better?" as opposed to saying "I followed the recipe, why isn't it working?"

[dmcconkey]

Strange as it sounds to non-programmers, but I gravitated to programming (after a career as a graphic designer) for the creativity. The field leaves a lot of room for unique problem solving that gives me a tremendous jolt of satisfaction. In that light, I'll apologize to all the accountants I offended by my above comment.

I will say that my observation on children's coloring is still apt, though. A five-year-old's picture with non-standard colors, or even with a few doodles of his/her own reflects a willingness to go beyond the boundaries of convention. Whatever endeavors that child will undertake as an adult will be either aided or hindered by that approach to life.

At that tender age, it's apparent to me (by the coloring and other behaviours) which humans are creative and which aren't. Therefore the tendancy is either unlearnable or imparted earlier than age five.

-Dan

[Scottie]

I'd tend to agree with you Dan, on both counts.

I think programming can be very creative- by it's very nature, you are creating something. Rules (like programming routines) don't restrict creativity, they merely shape it.

I find I'm much more creative when you give me some obstacles to work with. Nothing saps my imagination like a blank sheet of paper!

And I definitely see in my kids (as early as 3) their different tendencies coming across. My oldest is wildly creative to the point that he gets in trouble at school a lot for not doing things "right". (He probably ought to be in Montessori school.) The way his mind works constantly amazes me and I try to challenge that at home.

My second child is different. He wants to do everything right. He does everything exactly as he should and I get as many positive notes home about him as I got negative notes about the older one. His teachers just love him, always tell me how sweet he is and how much they enjoy teaching him. And he is a little angel.

It wasn't different teaching or upbringing that made them so different- it's just how they are!

[noel_x99]

Does that make you wonder what part of "creativity" or "thinking" is genetic? What makes two children from the same family so different? The environment has to relatively close.

I feel strongly that the way people think differently should be considered a good thing - yet there seems to be something in society that doesn't always reward that.

[torka]

IMHO, creativity -- like many endeavours -- is made up of three components: talent, skill, and motivation.

Let me use an analogy, by turning the question around. Can you teach someone to dance?

Of course, assuming they have the ability to remember a combination of steps and to control their movement enough to execute it, the answer is yes. There are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dance academies all over the USA teaching children (mostly girls) as young as preschool age how to dance.

But change the question just a little bit. Can you teach everyone to be a great dancer?

And my answer to that would have to be no. Unless they are born with the talent and the desire to pursue a career in dance, no amount of "training" will "make" them have that special "something" that turns them into a prima ballerina or a world-class ballroom dancer. If they have the access to dance instruction and the desire to learn, but lack the innate talent, they may well make a career in dance, but will likely never rise above the corps or chorus line.

You can't teach the talent of being creative, whatever kind or flavor of creativity you have. That's the part you're born with, and there are all kinds. It's the raw materials you're dealt in life. Some of us were bestowed with great piles of raw artistic or literary talent; others the uncanny ability to "think around corners". Still others were given more modest gifts. Given the vast array of ways in which we can "be creative", though, I don't think anyone of normal abilities is ever totally lacking in any creative talent at all.

And you can't teach desire, IMHO. You can do your best to stimulate and nurture it, but if the person really isn't interested in the topic, there's not much you can do to force them to care. Motivation is something that has to come from within.

What you can learn, though, is the skill of how to best put to use the creative talents and desires you already have.

So, yes, you can teach someone to "be" more creative, if by that you mean help them learn to develop and make use of the particular creative gifts they've been given. But no, you can't teach someone to be creative, if by that you mean you can somehow "make" someone be great (or even reasonably good) at something for which they lack the basic talent and desire.

My

--Torka

[Jill]

I feel strongly that the way people think differently should be considered a good thing - yet there seems to be something in society that doesn't always reward that.

It's called public school.

[lyn]

It's called public school.

I hear that!

Seems to me public school was also the place we started learning that you're either a one or the other. Budding accountants get so stigmatized!

That's why I'm sticking by the idea that creativity can be taught with some success. As Torka said, there's a skill element to it, and motivation as well as talent. I see it as lot a like athletic or musical ability. Everybody's got at least a little in there; hardly anybody has enough to be great. But with the right tools and coaching, you can learn teh basic skills to throw a ball more or less accurately and you can learn to strum a few chords. A bit of success, and maybe you'll find the motivation to work at it some more and get fairly competent. Not NBA, not rock star, maybe... but doing it! Definitely, you'll become a more well-rounded and happier person exploring more of your own potential.

L.