Throw-Away Creativity

Posted on 23. Feb, 2010 by Chuck Scoggins in Creativity

My buddy, Aaron Latina, started a new blog on creativity and excellence. In his first post, he discusses the creative process and, particularly, the notion that for a team to function creatively they must not stop at the first idea they come up with. Even though the first idea might eventually end up being the best idea, the true essence of brainstorming is coming up with what I call “throw-away ideas.” He says,

Usually there’s nothing “wrong” with your first idea. But we’ve been taught all our lives as school children that you should always go with your gut instinct on a test; don’t over-think yourself out of a right answer. But successful creators are successful because they force themselves to exercise their creative muscles–to push themselves through and explore many different paths.

I completely agree. This process forces you to intentionally make several ideas that you intend on “throwing away” – just to help you exercise your creative brain. And, experience shows that it works. In our brainstorming sessions, some of our best ideas came from ideas that, at first glance, seemed silly. It often turns out that the very idea I thought would be a “throw away” is in fact the one we ended up using most successfully.

A word of advice: It’s hard to force yourself to develop “throw away” ideas without intentionality and margin. It’s nearly impossible to do in a strict deadline-driven environment. If true creativity is a value for your organization, everyone (from the top-down) has to be extra-organized to be able to create the space necessary for “throw away” creativity to happen. If you leader does not create space for margin in your workflow…your organization probably doesn’t truly value creativity.

Head on over to Aaron’s Blog and then come back and let me know your thoughts on creativity in the comments.