http://www.inventium.com.au/ Back in 2006, Inventium’s founder, Dr Amantha Imber was working as a consumer psychologist in a big advertising agency. The agency had put her through a lot of creative thinking training which she loved. However, when she started getting deeper into researching the field, she realised that all these training companies had done was rip off Edward de Bono techniques from the 70s and re-package them as their own. She thought that, ironically, this was pretty uncreative.

1. p. +61 3 9018 7455
f. +61 3 9528 4787
m. +61 (0) 412 6565 38
e. info@inventium .com .au
PO Box 1251, Brighton Rd LPO, Elwood,
VIC, Australia 3184
Inventium
http://www.inventium.com.au/
Back in 2006, Inventium’s founder, Dr Amantha Imber was working as a
consumer psychologist in a big advertising agency. The agency had put
her through a lot of creative thinking training which she loved.
However, when she started getting deeper into researching the field,
she realised that all these training companies had done was rip off
Edward de Bono techniques from the 70s and re-package them as their
own. She thought that, ironically, this was pretty uncreative.

2. p. +61 3 9018 7455
f. +61 3 9528 4787
m. +61 (0) 412 6565 38
e. info@inventium .com .au
PO Box 1251, Brighton Rd LPO, Elwood,
VIC, Australia 3184
Amantha had always been a bit of a science geek and kept reading the
jargon-filled academic journals long after leaving university. She noticed
that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of studies being conducted
around the world that looked at what variables increased a person’s
ability to think more creatively and a company’s ability to innovate.
However, she realised that there was a great divide between this great
research that was being done in the world of academia, and what was
actually getting used in the ‘real world’.
So in 2007, she had the idea of starting a company that applied the
science of psychology and neurology to boosting creativity and
innovation - something that had never been done before. Since
Inventium opened its doors, Amantha and her team, have helped
literally thousands of people across Australia, the United States, the UK,
Europe, Africa and New Zealand improve their ability to generate great
ideas.

3. p. +61 3 9018 7455
f. +61 3 9528 4787
m. +61 (0) 412 6565 38
e. info@inventium .com .au
PO Box 1251, Brighton Rd LPO, Elwood,
VIC, Australia 3184
5 Ways To Better Your
Business Enterprise
Being in a business, any business, is hard.
What you need are some valuable insights
on how to better your business techniques
and how little changes here and there can
provide a great deal. You have to be
insightful and creative in order to succeed,
to become a stable and respected company,
sacrifices and downfalls are normal. Below
are some techniques you can utilize to set
your business feet firmly on the ground and
towards the right path.
1. Attack from different angles, there is
always another way. If you feel like
you are doing something deficient,
like there is this thing lacking and
you know you could do better, and
then do better. There is no limit to
what techniques you can come up
with; the only limit is the
effectiveness of the new techniques
you make. For example, how can
you make a 5 days’ worth of work
compress into 3 days? Find ways,
exhaust all options and you will
arrive to a solution that may or may
not be something worth pursuing
and applying.
2. Go deeper, attack from the core and
not just from the rim. All business
ideas have its core fundamentals to
stick to and if you make positive
changes to it, it can change the
whole system. Sudden changes
aren’t going to be effective but a
deeper analysis of the whole, and a
constructive upgrade can make a big
impact. This is an extensive of the
above approach.
3. Know when to back off and know
when to strike. There is the dilemma
of not being able to provide to all
your clients. The need of one most
definitely does not supersede that of
the other. Each client is important,
but there will come a time when you
will have to choose. If you can’t
handle the demands of two, better
let go of one of them in order for
you to provide the best of what you
can do to the remainder client.
Losing one isn’t as hard as losing two
at the same time.
4. Walk in your client’s shoes, what do
they want really? Sometimes what
they ask isn’t what they need. If you
can provide more than what they
want, if you can solve their demands

4. p. +61 3 9018 7455
f. +61 3 9528 4787
m. +61 (0) 412 6565 38
e. info@inventium .com .au
PO Box 1251, Brighton Rd LPO, Elwood,
VIC, Australia 3184
in a simpler form than what they
require, suggest it to them. In a
business, those with better ideas,
better innovation techniques, those
are the guys that get respected.
Providing what is needed and not
only what is asked for is the key to
prolonging your clients trust and
loyalty.
5. Follow other peoples lead. Ripping
off other peoples work isn’t that
bad. Look at what other people have
accomplished, look over what other
businesses did and follow their path.
If you see a business enterprise that
you want to be someday, take the
steps they took and make it your
own. It’s being wise that going to
lead your forward,
How to overcome
“Team-think”
Most of us have been a victim of groupthink
at some stage in our working lives. If you
have been sitting with the same team for
the past year, you’ve probably also become
a victim of ‘team-think’.
This happens a lot in companies that deal
with similar problems for their various
clients. I work with several advertising and
media agencies and often the key issue for
many of their clients is generating
awareness for their products. When the
agency tries to generate ideas on how to do
this, the strategies tend to revolve around
the same few media channels, such as TV,
print and outdoor campaigns, or creating a
viral video and posting it on YouTube.
Research suggests that teams which have
been together for a while develop a set of
entrenched assumptions, ways of doing
things and set patterns of behaviour. The
good news is there is a cure: introducing a
new member to the team. Studies show
that when a new member joins a team,
existing assumptions, attitudes and
behaviours are far less likely to be
activated. The new person triggers new
thoughts and behaviours.
While it can be tempting to leave
harmonious teams alone, rotating
employees around to different teams
regularly, say every 6–8 months, can
considerably enhance creativity.

5. p. +61 3 9018 7455
f. +61 3 9528 4787
m. +61 (0) 412 6565 38
e. info@inventium .com .au
PO Box 1251, Brighton Rd LPO, Elwood,
VIC, Australia 3184
When I run idea-generation sessions for
clients, I almost always insist they invite
people who do not work for their company.
I encourage them to include as diverse a
mix of people as possible. For example, in
one workshop for a national postal services
organisation, we had the artistic director of
a circus troupe, a creative director from an
advertising agency, an 18-year-old
university student and a TV host. Needless
to say, the ideas generated in the workshop
were wonderfully varied.
So, rather than try to think creatively on
your own, try to partner up with someone
you don’t normally work with. Use them as
a springboard for fleshing out your ideas
and let them go in directions you wouldn’t
if you were working on your own. Most
importantly, listen to their input and be
open to going in directions you would not
normally.
Creativity loves
boundaries
Letting your mind wander wherever it
needs to, starting with a blank canvas and
being free of rules are all considered
conducive to creativity? However, the latest
psychological research has shown the
complete opposite.
In one study, a group of adults was asked to
make a construction using Lego. One group
was given no constraints; they were told
that they could build whatever they liked.
The other group had several constraints
placed upon them; they were told that their
construction must contain no right-angled
joints and they could only use one kind of
brick.
The constructions built by the ‘constraints’
group were judged to be significantly more
creative and lateral than those in the ‘free
expression’ group.
So why does this happen? When completing
tasks, we typically draw on what we know
rather than seeking new ideas and opinions.
Often, information retrieval becomes
automated in our brains because it is useful
and saves us having to come up with new
solutions every time we face a problem. In

6. p. +61 3 9018 7455
f. +61 3 9528 4787
m. +61 (0) 412 6565 38
e. info@inventium .com .au
PO Box 1251, Brighton Rd LPO, Elwood,
VIC, Australia 3184
other words, when we are assigned a task
to complete, our brains switch into
autopilot if it is a familiar problem.
However, this autopilot mode dramatically
impairs performance when we have to think
of completely novel ideas. Constraining the
way we think forces us to search for new
and creative ways of completing the task or
solving the problem. In a paradoxical way,
putting constraints on our tasks lifts the
constraints on our thought processing.
Here are a couple of tips to help apply these
findings:
- Try to avoid taking on tasks that are
open-ended and overly broad. If you find
yourself in this situation, challenge yourself
to apply a constraint to the task to make
yourself perform more creatively.
- Whenever you feel yourself going into
autopilot, ask your boss to apply a
constraint to the task (or do it yourself).