This deck includes links to research on why we find creativity hard, how to work through that difficulty, and some practical applications for creativity at work. Slides are from my talk and workshop at Learning Skills Group - June 2014.

1. Creativity
The Art of Learning Leadership
Doug Shaw
What Goes Around
Learning Skills Group 2014

2. This is an annotated version of the slides I used
to accompany my talk and workshop at Learning
Skills Group 2014

3. about.me/doug.shaw
©reativity
©ommunity
©ollaboration
@dougshaw1

4. We Are All Born Artists

5. We Make Creativity Hard
1,500 kindergarten age kids surveyed for ‘genius’ levels of divergent
thinking – the ability to come up with many solutions to a problem. At
this young age, 98% have this ability.
By the time these kids are aged 8-10, the level drops to 32%.
By the time these kids are aged 13-15, the level drops to 10%
A similar study of people aged 25 and over returned a level of only 2%
We are routinely driving creativity and collaboration out of people.
Source: Breakpoint and Beyond

6. Vulnerability
‘Vulnerability is the path to
belonging, to innovation, trust
and creativity.’
85% of interviewees for Brene
Brown’s research can recall a
time in school that was so
shaming it forever changed how
they thought of themselves as
learners – 50% of those
recollections related to art and
creativity.

7. Are You Creative?
I ask people:
‘Can you draw/paint/sketch?’
They say:
‘I am not an artist’
Our work is our art
We are all artists -
Never be ashamed to admit it

8. Drawing For The Bin
We get hung up on believing
our work is not good enough.
We are not here to create
Masterpieces – we are here to
stretch our creative muscles.
Draw for the bin – not the
Royal Academy
Relax – and sketch yourself
Into existence.

9. Ebb and Flow – Tuning up the
Environment for Creativity

10. A Beginning
I’d been using basic artistic methods in client work
for several years, but without practicing them
myself.
In August 2011 I encouraged my daughter to make a
birthday card for her Grandpa, by making one too.
This picture is the card I made.
I decided to keep the artistic practice going and set
up the artsensorium website so I could publish what
I drew, painted and learnt.
The artsensorium has become a great way to show
my work, in all its untrained clunkiness. An essential
part of adopting creative ways to work needs to be
about working out loud – showing emerging ideas
so that others can give you feedback.www.artsensorium.com

11. What Are We Learning
The next few slides are examples of how this
creative practice is being applied to work.

12. Memory Trigger
These sketches are powerful links
to experiences and trigger
important memories for me.
A picture paints a thousand
words.

13. Doodling
Hand sketching is an aid to many
essential skills including:
Concentration
Idea Regeneration
Problem Solving
Memory Enhancement
Sketching and doodling often takes
a different path than words on a
page, opening up more
possibilities.

14. Iteration
Creative work is iterative. Once this landscape idea had formed in my head,
it developed over a period of time. Each attempt, each mistake I made informed my learning
until I realised the final tweaks I needed to make, to get somewhere close to what I was
seeing in my mind’s eye.

16. Sketch Notes
Going social
Devolved power = more agility
Going social – what’s the
hardest part?
Going social – what does it
mean to you?

17. Mark Making
Using symbols and shapes to help
represent your business is an
interesting way of helping get
clarity around your brand and
strategy.

18. Coaching Questions
http://stopdoingdumbthingstocustomers.com/inspiring/leap-day-learning/
In the workshop we experimented with using sketching and non judgmental questioning
to help create a coaching culture and improve your work.

19. Sketching the Future of Work
Everyone in the workshop was invited to cocreate a ‘big picture’ future for
learning and development. In a short space of time we cocreated 13 pieces of
work. Here’s one, follow the link to see more. Had we more time, we would
have refined and developed our work further – the point was simply to get
people familiar with the concept on the day.
http://stopdoingdumbthingstocustomers.com/learning/visualising-your-work/

20. Further Reading
Photo Credits
Photos © Doug Shaw – except:
Vulnerable http://www.flickr.com/photos/home_of_dreams/3581920427/
Sunflowers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflowers_(painting)