An Emergenetics Approach to Boost Creativity

I once chanced upon a comment by a friend to another, “Oh you’re a right brainer, you must be a creative person!” Well, that is a myth.

Creativity does not rest on one side of the brain. Creativity is about being open to chances and synthesizing ideas. It requires lots of cognitive processes.

So how exactly does our brain work during the creative process?

We trigger various areas of our brain that are used for creative thinking due to the different thinking processes. It is dependent on what we are creating and what stage of the creative process we are in. These areas work together to create and innovate.

With Emergenetics, we take all opinions into account – we consider all thinking pathways and cognitive processes. We look at how different perspectives can be applied to the goal we are working towards.

• Analytical thinking pathway: asking “why” gets us one step closer, furthers and deepens ideas, aids in development through data research
• Structural thinking pathway: getting the task done, covering all areas of the tasks, implementing work to be done
• Social thinking pathway: seeking collaboration, wants to involve others, build on ideas based on how they affect others
• Conceptual thinking pathway: looking at the big picture and brain-storming, conceptualising, being comfortable with thinking out of the box

Here are some tips to give you a holistic approach, taking the WEapproach, to boost your creativity. You can start with the following sequence:

1. Conceptual brain sparks brain storming
2. Analytical brain gets into the details
3. Structural brain implements tasks to be done
4. Social brain considers how others feel

Bear in mind that how creativity comes across and the impact it has depends also on our behaviour preferences as well – how we tend to communicate and respond via our expressiveness, assertiveness and flexibility throughout the creative process.

As such, creativity isn’t boxed into one discipline or approach. This is precisely why it is so valuable to cultivate. It can be a “Eureka!” moment or takes years of trial and error to come up with creative products. Therefore, we should use creativity to nurture successful generations.

Let’s start tapping on other thinking attributes that do not come naturally to us, to stimulate creativity with all perspectives.

“Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas” ~ Donatella Versace

Written by Geraldine Quek
Emergenetics International- Asia

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