Going underneath the buzz words to liberate creativity

Business cliches - words used often, habitually, and often
unconsiously - inhibit the creative process.  Getting under the word into meaning and story liberates it. Just ask any work team that says they want to be more "innovative" what that actually means, and you find so many different perspectives. When you get under the word "innovation" and into what really matters, and the context and stories behind it, that is when you can start getting creative.

I find that if you say, "What if you are not allowed to say the word Innovation, then what are you saying?" it opens up a whole different level of dialogue about what really matters - what is real, not the cliche word. And sometimes it is not really anything to do with innovation at all. Then you then have a solid foundation, not a cliche, from which to really create something new.

A recent client  had been saying "innovation" becuase that was in their mission statement. When we went underneath the word, a new story emerged...what they really wanted/needed first was a culture where everyone felt like they had something to contribute. Out of that came a new way of interacting a new story, and co-creating together as a team...and then "innovation" had a solid foundation from which to be engaged. Their newly agreed-upon definition of what innovation looked like for their group fit who THEY were within the larger mission, not some abstract random concept each had initially carried into the process.

Comments

[Andy Boynton]

This is a treasure chest of good books!
For someone who's an idea hunting (and learning) addict-this list proves really valuable. Everyone has idea blind spots and I haven't heard of a few books on the list-so I bought them-thanks Michelle for pulling together a valuable "list" of important books all in one spot.

[Michelle]

Andy, thanks so much for mentioning the list of 77 Awesome Creativity Books (http://bit.ly/m51irV). So delighted you found it useful!

[david]

I recommend "Why Business People Speak Like Idiots" by Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway, Jon Warshawsky

there are a lot of buzzwords out there. "Paradigm" is one I seem to be seeing a lot of these days.

[Michelle]

Thanks - will check it out!