SPORTS MARKETING: CREATIVITY SEMINAR

Sports Marketing: Creativity SeminarThe brain is designed to be ‘non-creative’ otherwise we wouldn’t ever get things done. Removing inhibition through brainstorming is of value but only a weak way of developing creativity. Here we explore ways of improving lateral thinking and use tools to improve creative problem solving in groups, teams and in meetings.

Classic problem-solving1. Problem Identification: Define and agree the problem by "brainstorming"2. Problem Selection: Agree on the problem to be addressed.3. Problem Analysis: Gather data associated with the problem.4. Come up with potential Solutions.5. Agree best solution.6. Create Implementation plan.7. Present findings.8. Implement solutions.

Creativity is a skillEveryone can learn to be creative and improve through practice. Not the same as artistic creativity - you could not create a Beethoven but you can teach ‘idea creativity’.

Definition‘Create’ means bringing something into being. So you can ‘create a mess’. Is that being creative? Other qualities are needed. ‘Value’, the idea needs to have value and needs to be ‘new’.

Types of creative thinkingPerceptual creativity involves looking at things in different ways. It involves extracting values, opening up connections and associations.Constructive creativity to put things together to deliver value. This is ‘design thinking’.

‘Lateral thinking is serious and systematic creativity. It is not being different for the sake of being different… It is not a matter of messing around in a brainstorming session. There are formal tools and processes that can be used deliberately and with discipline… For the first time in history we can treat creativity as a mental skill, not just a matter of talent or inspiration.’Edward de Bono

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SPORTS MARKETING: CREATIVITY SEMINAR

Brain waves

Left and Right Brain ThinkingLeft RightPositive IntuitiveAnalytical FacesLogical HolisticLinear SynthesisSequential SpontaneousReason EmotionLists RecognitionExplicit ArtisticRational PatternsMathematics ColoursGoal-oriented RhythmReading MusicConcrete Parallel-processingLanguage VisualNumbers ImaginationWriting CreativityVerbal DaydreamingActive Playful

Convergent thinking. In which the person is good at bringing material from a variety of sources to bear on a problem, in such a way as to produce the "correct" answer. This kind of thinking is particularly appropriate in science, maths and technology. Syllabus-bound – Sylb.

Divergent thinking. Here the student's skill is in broadly creative elaboration of ideas prompted by a stimulus, and is more suited to artistic pursuits and study in the humanities. Syllabus-free – Sylf.

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SPORTS MARKETING: CREATIVITY SEMINAR

The 4-Diamond Model

4P+T ModelPerson – Belbin*, Myers-Briggs**, de Bono***Process – divergent and convergentProduct – deliverablePress – cultureTool – checklist, metaphor/analogy, scenarios, brainstorming, force field analysis, lateral thinking, storyboard, synechtics, SCAMMPERR****, TRANSFORM*****

*Implementer | Co-ordinator | Shaper Plant | Resource Investigator | Monitor-evaluator | Team worker | Completer** Creativity = 3(SN)* + JP - EI - 0,5(TF)*** Six Hats – see below**** Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Magnify/Minify, Modify, Put together, Eliminate, Rearrange, Reverse***** Twist, Turn, Reverse/Rotate, Adapt, Novelise, Substitute, Fuse, Omit, Rearrange, Magnify

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SPORTS MARKETING: CREATIVITY SEMINAR

Exercise

Six Thinking Hats

Early in the 1980s Edward de Bono invented the Six Thinking Hats method. The method is a framework for lateral thinking. Valuable judgmental thinking has its place in the system but is not allowed to dominate as in normal thinking. Dr. de Bono organized a network of authorized trainers to introduce the Six Thinking Hats.

Organizations such as Prudential Insurance, IBM, Federal Express, British Airways, Polaroid, Pepsico, DuPont, and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph, possibly the world's largest company, use Six Thinking Hats.

The six hats represent six modes of thinking and are directions to think rather than labels for thinking. That is, the hats are used proactively rather than reactively.

The method promotes fuller input from more people. In de Bono's words it "separates ego from performance". Everyone is able to contribute to the exploration without denting egos as they are just using the yellow hat or whatever hat. The six hats system encourages performance rather than ego defence. People can contribute under any hat even though they initially support the opposite view.

 White Hat:With this thinking hat you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them.This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data.

Red Hat:'Wearing' the red hat, you look at problems using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.

Black Hat:Using black hat thinking, look at all the bad points of the decision. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to counter them.Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans 'tougher' and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they

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SPORTS MARKETING: CREATIVITY SEMINAR

cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.

Yellow Hat:The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.

Green Hat:The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. A whole range of creativity tools can help you here.

Blue Hat:The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, etc.

Materials designed by the Leeds Met Ideas Factory

SPORTS MARKETING: CREATIVITY SEMINAR

Materials designed by the Leeds Met Ideas Factory