1. ThinkAbout Creativity
The Business of Thinking®
ThinkAbout Creativity

2. WHOLE BRAIN® MODEL D A B C LOGICAL ANALYTICAL FACT-BASED QUANTITATIVE
UPPER
LEFT D
UPPER
RIGHT
LOGICAL
ANALYTICAL
FACT-BASED
QUANTITATIVE
HOLISTIC
INTUITIVE
INTEGRATING
SYNTHESIZING
ORGANIZED
SEQUENTIAL
PLANNED
DETAILED
INTERPERSONAL
FEELING-BASED
KINESTHETIC
EMOTIONAL
LOWER
LEFT B
LOWER
RIGHT C

3. ? Why is creative thinking so important?
What does creative thinking actually involve?
What kind of people tend to be most creative?
What are the biggest obstacles to thinking creatively at work?
What is your biggest challenge in being creative? ?

4. Outcomes: At the end of this module you will be able to:
Use the Whole Brain® Creator to generate lots of new and different ideas – some of which will have value for the business.

5. Think About Creativity How do the 4 quadrants think creatively?

6. ThinkAbout Creative Thinking
Working solo
Analyzing data
Accomplishing
Applying formulas
Putting things together
Making things work
Solving tough problems
Making the numbers
Being challenged
Analyzing & diagnosing
Taking risks
Providing visions
Inventing solutions
Having variety
Bringing about change
Playing around
Selling ideas
Developing new things
Designing
Opportunity to experiment D
UPPER RIGHT
UPPER LEFT
Having an ordered environment
Preserving the status quo
Being in control
Paperwork tasks
Establishing order
Planning things out
Getting things done
Attending to detail
Building things
Stabilizing
Getting groups to work well together
Being part of a team
Communication aspects
Building relationships
Listening and talking
Working with people
Persuading people
Teaching/Training
Expressing ideas
LOWER RIGHT
LOWER LEFT B C

7. ? ? What do you like doing? What parts are you good at?
What sorts of things do you do?
What sort of things don’t you do?
“ThinkAbout” your everyday creativity. How creative are you? What can you do to be more creative? ? ?

8. Creative thinking is a Whole Brain® Process
It requires thinking from all 4 quadrants
There are 4 distinct stages in the process
Each stage requires thinking from a particular quadrant
The process is on-going — meaning that the implementation of an idea often requires as much creative thinking as did coming up with it in the first place
The process can take less than a minute and go on for a long time
In many cases, all stages are being done at the same time
Groups with diverse thinking preferences are often the most creative

9. The Whole Brain® Creator
Introducing:
Creative thinking is a Whole Brain® Process
Less than 3% of people are naturally whole brained
The Whole Brain® Creator helps individuals access Whole Brain® Thinking
The Whole Brain® Creator

10. The Creative Thinking ProcessL F D N D I N M F I B L E O P R
Stage 1 – Think About 'It B C A D
Stage 2 – Dream About 'It L F N G S E B N S I I D E A S E A I D E A D F I N D I N G S E L F
Stage 3 – Play About 'It B C A D
Stage 4 – Act On 'It M I P L E M E B N T I N G S E C L F A D B C

11. The Ladder
Are you dealing with the issue at the right level? Climb up and down The Ladder to change your perspective.
An Organization A Geographic A Perspective
Ladder Ladder Ladder
Industry World Concept
Organization Hemisphere Issue
Division Continent Similar Occurrence
Team Country Specific Situation
Individual State
Here

12. The Generator WHO DO WHAT I increase sales Use The Generator to:
re-define your ‘It’
think about ‘It’ in new and different ways
start getting ideas
Step 1 — State your ‘It’ as a ‘who’ ‘do’ ‘what’ statement
WHO DO
WHAT I
increase
sales

13. The Walk
Some people take their dogs for a walk. Try taking your ideas for a walk instead. What ever is on your mind, take it with you. Stride out, breath well and see what you come up with. And don’t forget to take a note pad with you just in case.

14. The Picture
Sometimes our subconscious knows more than we do. To get in touch with your subconscious do the following exercise.
Relax, take a few deep breaths, close your eyes and ask yourself
What does ‘It’ look like?
What does ‘It’ feel like?
What does ‘It’ taste like?
What does ‘It’ smell like?
Write down any thoughts you have
Now draw a picture of ‘It’. When you have finished, describe ‘It’ to someone else.

15. The Sleep
Finally, if you can wait until tomorrow, take ‘It’ to bed with you and sleep on it.
Just before you go to sleep, get it clearly in your mind, focus on ‘It’ and say to yourself “I am going to dream about ‘It’.” Then go to sleep.
When you wake up, don’t leap out of bed straight away. Lie there for 5 minutes and slowly think about ‘It’ and any insights you might have had. Have a bit of paper handy to make notes.

16. The List Instead of just looking at all the ideas you have,
come up with — play with them.
Use ‘CREATES’ to get your mind going
Ask yourself, what ideas can I ...
C ombine, blend, mix, resort, add together
R everse, make them go backwards, upside down
E xtend, exaggerate, make bigger, longer, smaller
A dapt, change alter, eliminate, disguise
T ransform, remake, turn into something else, eliminate
E rase, do away with something completely, remove, eradicate
S ubstitute, replace, alter

17. The Yellow Pages
Use the Yellow Pages to find out what other people think.
Turn to any page, and pick the profession at the top of the page.
Ask yourself “What ideas would that person come up with?”
For example, what ideas would a physiotherapist come up with?
What about a policeman, an entertainer or an accountant?
Write down any ideas you come up with.

18. The Selector IMPACT 1 2 3 4 Big Medium Small
IMPORTANCE
High X X
How long is it going to take you to implement your idea?
What’s the payback? Is it really going to make a difference?
Use the Selector to see if your ideas are worth pursuing X X
Low
Low
High
FREQUENCY
IMPACT
Big
Medium
Small 1 2 3 4
TIME IN WEEKS

19. The Improver
Most ideas need a bit of help along the way. Even if you have come up with a great idea, it probably has a few things working against it, slowing it down and stopping it from being a certain winner.
Use The Improver to turn great ideas into winning ones.
Your idea: _____________________
Everything going
against it:
Everything going
for it:
What can you do to decrease?
What can you do to increase?

20. Stage 1 – Think About 'It The Ladder
The Stage
What To Do / Questions To Ask
Power Tools
The Ladder
Write down everything you know about ‘It’
Write down everything you don’t know about ‘It’
Write down all the old answers and ignore them
Write ‘It’ down as an open question
Write ‘It’ down as simply as possible
Write ‘It’ down 3 more ways — in different words
Select 2 or 3 questions to ‘Dream About’ A G S E L F D F N D I N I B L E M P R O B C
The Generator

21. Stage 2 – Dream About 'It
The Stage
What To Do / Questions To Ask
Power Tools
Relax, take a stretch, have a drink, put some music on and slow down
Now dream that you have solved ‘It’, What happened? What is the result? What does it feel like?
Now go and find someone and listen to them. Ask them what they would do? Ask for their ideas
Now think about something else for a few minutes ... then when you are ready to ‘Play’
The Walk
The Picture A D E L F S S N I G B D I E A S E N C
The Sleep

22. Stage 3 – Play About 'It
The Stage
What To Do / Questions To Ask
Power Tools
Ask yourself what if ‘It’ got bigger, louder or faster? What if you had unlimited funds? What if you had all the resources you needed? What ideas come to mind?
What can you do to make ‘It’ a whole lot worse?
What would you do if you lived in a zoo? a circus? a garden? a railway?
Select a few ideas that look promising to ‘Act’ on
The List A I D E A D F N I D N I G S E L F
The Yellow
Page B C

23. Stage 4 – Act On 'It’ Take each idea in turn and:
The Stage
What To Do / Questions To Ask
Power Tools
Take each idea in turn and:
Write down 6 good reasons why ‘It’ won’t work
Write down 5 things you like about ‘It’
Write down 4 things you could change about ‘It’
Write down the 3 biggest obstacles in your way
Write down the 2 people who’s help you need
Write down the 1 thing you must do to start the ball rolling
Repeat this with each idea
If you get stuck, take your idea and think about ‘It’ all over again
The Selector
IMPORTANCE
High X X X A D X
Low
Low
High
FREQUENCY I M P L E M E B N T I N G S E C L F
The Improver

24. ThinkAbout Creativity
THINK ABOUT 'IT’
PLAY WITH 'IT’
ThinkAbout Creativity
ACT ON 'IT’
DREAM ABOUT 'IT’

25. Ideas Come in all shapes and sizes.
Are easily forgotten unless we capture them.
Are sometimes hard to find unless we know where and how to look.
Have little value unless we do something with them.