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MANAGING AND MOTIVATING THE NATURALLY CREATIVE

What exactly is "creativity" anyway? Most authorities agree that creativity isn't so much the creation of new knowledge as it is the ability of some people to take existing knowledge and use it in a new way.  Naturally creative people have the ability to absorb a vast number of seemingly unrelated facts and draw novel conclusions from them. Unlike the rest of us, naturally creative people aren't bound by traditional patterns of thought and traditional approaches to problem-solving.  They don't have a restrictive mind-set. To understand how this mind-set can inhibit creativity, try your hand at the following puzzles as a test of your own creativity.  If you get slumped, the answer are at the end of this chapter.

CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING PUZZLES
Solving problems requires a creative and free-thinking mind.  Many of us tend to look at problems from only one point of view.  The following are designed to demonstrate the difficulties we encounter when we attempt to solve problems.

Puzzle One: Connect the Dots
Look at the nine dots below. Your task is to connect all nine dots with four straight connecting lines. Once you place your pencil on the paper, you may not lift it until
you have completed the task. The lines may intersect, but you may not go over the same line twice.

   *      *      *
   *      *      *
   *      *      *

(dots appear three in a row across and three in columns down, in a square)

Puzzle Two: Supply the Missing Letters
Look at the problem below. There is a rationale as to why some letters are on the top and some are on the bottom.  Your task is to determine why the letters are arranged as they are. Once you do this, you will know where other letters of the alphabet should be placed.  Write in the next two letters in the sequence.
B     C     D
A     E     F

Puzzle Three: A Problem in Mathematics?
Look at the problem below. Under each of the single digit numbers 4, 5, and 8 there are two-digit numbers.  Your task is to figure out the pattern and by doing so place the correct number in the blank space under the number 7.

4          5          6          7          8
61         52         63                    46

If you had trouble completing these puzzles, you are not alone.  Most people do. Why? Because the solutions to these puzzles require that we break out of traditional patterns of thought. For example, if you had trouble with Puzzle One, it was probably because you tried to keep your lines contained within the confines of the square formed by the dots. But the instructions said nothing about staying within the square. Go back and try the puzzle again.  This time, give yourself the freedom to extend your straight lines out well beyond the square.  If you had a problem with Puzzle Two, maybe it was because you tried to solve it by looking for an order or sequence in the letters. Go back and try this puzzle again. This time, think in terms of shapes. If you had trouble with Puzzle Three, try doing something more than just adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing to get the answer. Think about the order of the digits in your answer.

Did these suggestions help? Chances are you solved the puzzles or got closer to a solution. Why? Because you tried an alternative way of looking at the puzzles. Naturally creative people do this all the time. In fact, the fun to them comes from approaching problems in unique ways. Their minds travel in many directions searching for answers.  They try many different approaches to seek a solution. The rest of us are structured, logical, and frequently judgmental. They are unstructured, intuitive, and open to new ideas. For us, problems are something to be avoided. For them a problem is a new opportunity. Often, they see a problem when we see none. They question the validity of our most widely accepted notions about how things work or should work. They pepper us with "silly" questions that often begin with the word Why. Then challenge our pat answers and assumptions.  Naturally creative people are so different from the rest of us that we often find them difficult to work with and manage. To our later regret - we may have such difficulty with them that we miss the opportunity to benefit from their ideas.  History is full of examples of naturally creative people who became famous for their ideas only after a lifetime of rejection (see some famous examples at the end of this chapter).

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