The “Wow” Experience
Our society is strongly biased toward conformity and conservatism. Everyone is expected to stay within certain boundaries, and those who cross them are considered different and usually penalized in some way. That’s what standards like ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are all about. But thinking differently requires moving and thinking beyond these boundaries. Being willing and able to take risks is an essential step toward improving one’s creativity. However, we must learn to do this without losing control of our key processes.
I’m frequently asked the question, “What’s the difference between creative and commonplace ideas?”
A simple answer is that you’re not being creative when you’re doing something the same way it’s always been done and getting the same results. You’ll know you’re acting creatively by the way you feel about the results of the activity.
A frequent result from acting creatively is sometimes called the “Wow” experience because it’s accompanied by a very positive emotion often expressed as, “Wow, that’s great,” or “Wow, look at what I’ve done.” The “Wow” experience is a high more satisfying than the strongest drug or narcotic. Typical “Wow” emotions are embodied in the expressions “Aha!” “Hey, that’s great!” and “ Eureka!”
In our daily lives, we address three different types of issues: setting a direction, planning how to move that way and accomplishing the tasks that will take us there. In dealing with direction issues, we’re trying to answer questions such as, “Where am I going?” and “Why am I going there?”
Planning is so essential that we often do it without even realizing it. Most of the time we do a poor job of planning because we don’t think enough about it. If we want to succeed, we must learn to set aside adequate planning time. At the personal level, when we’re planning, we’re trying to answer the questions, “How will I get where I’m going?” and “What are all of the steps I must take to reach my goal?”
Setting directions and making plans are preliminary to completing tasks. Most of us find that completing tasks takes at least 80 percent of our time. With regard to task issues, you’re trying to answer the questions, “What must I do to follow my plan?” and “What can I do differently to make my life easier?” Each of us spends about 3 percent of our time setting directions, 17 percent of our time making plans and 80 percent of our time completing tasks, which include reacting to problems that wouldn’t have occurred if we’d planned well.
Creativity can and should be applied in all three of these areas. However, creativity’s greatest rewards are usually gained when we focus it on the tasks we must accomplish.
Let’s say you’ve just had what you think is a really creative idea. What do you do with it? Do you share it right away so everyone will know you’re creative, or do you wait and check it out? Either choice can be right, depending on the idea and your environment. If the idea is very important and will affect other people, you might want to sit on it for a day or so and maybe even discuss it with some friends to see if they can spot a weakness that you haven’t detected.
In some circumstances, you’ll get only one chance to sell a concept, so you must present it right the first time. At other times, spontaneous sharing is the best approach. You should develop a systematic way to evaluate your ideas before deciding how to act on them.
The following questions will help you evaluate an idea:
 Do you really understand the situation? A creative idea often fails because it doesn’t address the situation at hand.
Will your idea address the situation in a way that solves a problem or makes an improvement?
What are the advantages of your idea over the present situation?
What are the advantages of the present situation over your idea?
What will it take to implement your idea?
Who will need to approve your idea before it can be implemented?
Who will need to implement your idea?
Is your idea in line with your organi-zation’s current culture?
Is this the right time to discuss your idea?
How long will it take to implement your idea?
Don’t just think outside the box; break down the walls of the box. You are your only limitation.
This column is based on the book, The Creativity Toolkit, written by H. James Harrington, Glen D. Hoffherr and Robert Reid (McGraw-Hill, 1998).
H. James Harrington is CEO of the Harrington Institute Inc. and chairman of the board of Harrington Group. He has more than 45 years of experience as a quality professional and is the author of 22 books. Visit his Web site at www.harrington-institute.com.
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