Müge İrfanoğlu // Allianz Türkiye - Agile Coach
Creative Confidence (Tom & David Keller)
I continue to share the books that I recommend to those who work in different roles in agile organizations or who want to do some in-depth reading about agile working.
The times we live in are volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous… The problems we have to deal with are also changing all the time. Creative solutions are indispensable for being agile and directing change.
Written by Tom and David Kelley, creators of IDEO* and 'd.school’**, “Creative Confidence” focuses on igniting the creative potential within individuals and institutions.
The Kelley brothers, who believe that everyone is inherently creative and that creativity can be strengthened like a muscle with effort and experience, define creative self-confidence as “believing in your ability to create change in the world around you”.
In the book, what can be done to reveal, nurture and grow creative self-confidence is shared with striking examples from different fields.
So what drives creativity at both the individual and organizational level, according to Tom and David Kelley?
- Having a growth-oriented mindset, that is, believing that one can develop, is the most basic element that creates creative self-confidence.
- It is a must to try without giving up. It is necessary to embrace and accept failures and turn them into a learning opportunity.
- Taking small steps and celebrating small success increase self-confidence.
- Making many field observations, creating prototypes and getting customer feedback often triggers insight and therefore creative spark.
- The whole is greater than the sum of the parts, so acting in teams and creating together create more and more innovative solutions. The more team members come from different areas of experience, the greater the creativity will be.
- In some cases, restrictions accelerate action. Do you need an example? We can say sharing results frequently with stakeholders (time constraints) or creating business with limited budgets.
- Perfectionism shouldn't keep you off track. Start, do, try… Making quick and continuous improvements instead of waiting for the perfect solution brings more successful results.
- Creative workspaces and the right physical environments reveal hidden creative capacity.
- The words used shape the thought patterns. Changing the language before the attitude change can create unexpected benefits.
- And we must not forget: Newton's principle of inertia also applies to creativity. “A stationary object remains at rest, until you apply a force to it and a moving object continues to move.” That's why getting started is so valuable. Talking and analyzing is nice, but it shouldn't get in the way of action...
Does the list sound familiar? Trial and error, seeing mistakes as learning opportunities, customer focus, minimum viable product perspective, giving and receiving regular feedback, teams consisting of cross competencies, iterative approach...
All of the shared methods match exactly with our working model that we want to achieve with an agile perspective. You see, working agile in its natural environment also feeds creative self-confidence.
Happy reading!
* International design firm. For detailed information www.ideo.com
** Design school within Stanford University. For detailed information https://dschool.stanford.edu/about
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