Busting out of your creative rut

As a child, our learning environment was saturated with bright colours, sand, toys, and loud noises. Every day our senses responded to new stimulus. In retrospect, childhood development was a 40hr work week.

But by the time we became adults the bright colours were replaced with neutrals, sand was swapped out with carpet, toys evolved into keyboards and laptops–and our sensory intuition was surrounded by the white noise of office chatter. And now as adults, we are challenged to innovate.

Last week I was presented with a rare opportunity ‘to bust out of my creative rut’. In celebration of World Creativity and Innovation Week, Sasktel hosted a Creative Micro-Session workshop for Management and Senior Executives in efforts to bring creativity back into the workplace. I was one of the few creative professionals who were invited outside of their organization.

Working in teams, the purpose of this event was to explore many different aspects of creativity; we played games, wrote limericks, banged on drums, and collaborated on art projects–all within a precisely-run 3hr time frame. During the opening discussions, we watched Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk on creativity and I really loved what he had to say. Most notably; we don’t grow into creativity–we grow out of it.

Imagine if you will–a room full of 50 suits, engrossed with gluing macaroni collages to cardboard. We were one trust-fall away from being very cliché. As I worked away on my projects in this summer camp-like atmosphere, I reflected on my own job and realized what I often take for granted.

In my career, I often feel pressure to be creative. But after hanging around with my awesome team, I am soon reminded that given the right conditions–we all have the potential to be creative. If anything, I would say that the Sasktel suits really brought a good mix of creativity to our session; which ironically, made my blazer and loud t-shirt seem almost desperate.

Big shout out to Krystal K and the ID Noodle Team at Sasktel for the invite and great appies!