5 Top Tweaks For Improved Creative Thinking

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Creativity isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. The latest psychological research shows that simple tweaks to your environment and behaviour can make you a more imaginative and resourceful problem solver.

1. Keep your desk a little messy

In a study recently published in the journal Psychological Science, students met in either a messy or an organised room and had to come up with a new use for ping pong balls (a standard test of creativity). Judges rated the ideas, without knowing which rooms the groups were in. The result? Solutions from the messy room were gauged to be more interesting and innovative than those from the neat one. So if all your paper clips are lined up like soldiers and your books are in alphabetical order, throw caution to the wind and muddle things up a bit!

2. Color yourself blue

Blue is the hue for creative thinking, a series of experiments from the University of British Columbia found. More than 600 participants did cognitive tasks that demanded either creative or detail-oriented thinking. The tests were performed on computers that had either a blue, red, or white background screen. The blue screens encouraged participants to produce twice as many solutions during brainstorming tasks as other screen colours. (Conversely, red screens improved performance on tasks like proofreading and memory recall by as much as 31 percent, compared to blue.) “Through associations with the sky, the ocean, and water, most people associate blue with openness, peace and tranquillity,” study author Juliet Zhu told ScienceDaily.com. This makes people feel safe about being creative and exploratory, she said.

3. Dim the lights

Turning the lights down “elicits a feeling of freedom, self-determination, and reduced inhibition,” which is key to imaginative thinking, according to German authors of a study recently published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. The researchers assigned a group of 114 students to work on a series of problem-solving tasks that require creative thinking. Those in a dimly lit room (150 lux) solved significantly more problems than those in a brightly lit room (1,500 lux). (Typical office light is about 500 lux.)

4. Work when you’re tired

It sounds counterintuitive, but night owls may actually be more creative first thing in the morning, and early birds may do more innovative thinking late at night, according to a study by researchers at Michigan State University and Albion College. The researchers believe that you use more creative thinking when you’re less inhibited, which happens when brain fog compromises your attention span. So early-bird students, for example, may do well to save art and creative writing projects for later in the evening.

5. Change up your routine

Psychology Today reported that Dutch study participants who prepared their breakfast sandwiches in reverse order had a more productive brainstorm than those who made them their usual way. “If you want to get into a creative mindset, do your normal routine in a completely different way,” cognitive psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD, said after analysing the research for PT. “Write with your other hand. Moonwalk backwards on your way to work. Eat something new for lunch. Smile at strangers. Be weird. With your brain re-shuffled, you’ll be in a better position to be creative.”

The full article originally featured on Reader’s Digest.

To give your team the innovative advantage click HERE or contact us at info@brg.co.za for more on the innovative work we do.

 

13 of South Africa’s boldest science innovations

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By Dominic Skelton

South Africa has been no slouch when it comes to contributing to science and technology.

1. World’s first digital laser

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) announced the development of the world’s first digital laser. The innovation is expected to spur numerous applications to improve the communication and health sectors, said Professor Andrew Forbes of the CSIR National Laser Centre. The experimental work in the laser project was done by doctoral candidate and CSIR researcher Sandile Nqcobo. “This groundbreaking development is further evidence of the great potential we have in scientific innovation. That the world’s first digital laser should come from our country is testimony to the calibre of scientists that South Africa has,” said former minister of science and technology, Derek Hanekom.

2. The Full-body X-ray scanner

The South African company Lodox Systems produced the only system in the world that provides an excellent quality X-ray image up to 1.83m in length in just 13 seconds. Lodox is also safer, emitting up to 10 times less harmful dose than regular X-ray systems. The Lodox Critical Imaging Technology was initially developed for use on diamond mines to prevent the smuggling and theft of diamonds by mineworkers.

3. Cheaper solar power

An innovation in solar power which uses a micro-thin metallic film was created by Professor Vivian Alberts at the University of Johannesburg. The discovery has made solar electricity five times less expensive than solar photovoltaic cells. Alberts’ solar panels consist of a layer of a unique metal alloy, five microns thick. The photo-responsive alloy can operate on most flexible surfaces. In February 2014 a semi-commercial plant for the production of thin-film solar module technology was opened in Stellenbosch.

4. The bollard

The bollard, an implantable expanding rivet, was developed by a group of CSIR scientists in 1982, comprising Peter Mundell, Dr Michael Hunt and Dr Angus Strover. Thirty years later it is still on the market and over 60 000 of the medical devices have been used. The rivet is used in conjunction with a prosthetic ligament for repair of knee ligament injuries. The device is made from carbon fibre and reinforced polysulfone. In 1984 it received the Chairman’s award for Excellence from the SABS Design Institute. It was the first carbon fibre reinforced composite implant to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for human surgery. The company that now manufactures the product is Fibretek Developments.

5. Biomedical stem cell technology

The CSIR’s Gene Expression and Biophysics group generated the first induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in Africa. The ability to grow these stem cells has revolutionised the way researchers can investigate and understand disease. The medical possibilities of iPSCs are huge. They could be used for restoring sight by replacing defective tissue, transplanting new cells to treat heart disease or give people with anaemia new healthy blood cells. CSIR collaborated with the University of Cape Town Medical School to develop the models.

6. Dolosse

These large concrete blocks, known as dolosse, were invented by South African Eric Mowbray Merrifield in 1963. They are used around the world to protect harbour walls from the erosive force of ocean waves. Anybody who has visited harbours around the world would have seen large concrete blocks with a complex geometric shape.

7. Speed gun for sports

South African engineer Henri Johnson is credited with the invention of the speed gun and other technologies used to measure the speed and direction of sports balls. The South African-made speed gun was formally released at The Oval during the 1999 cricket World Cup.

8. CoSev

CoSev allows you to report service delivery problems from potholes in Sandton to water shortages in the Eastern Cape using a smartphone app or USSM. It then logs the report on a central server where it’s publicly viewable by all until it gets fixed. Similar ideas overseas have transformed local government services, because they force accountability and transparency onto erstwhile dark and bureaucratic corners of councils. Its creator Tshepo Thlaku won second prize for the app at the SA Innovation Summit in 2013.

9. The CAT Scan

The Computed Axial Tomography Scan, or CAT, was developed by Cape Town physicist Allan Cormack and his associate Godfrey Hounsfield.

Cormack provided the mathematical technique for the CAT scan, in which an X-ray source and electronic detectors are rotated around the subject and the resulting data is analysed by a computer to produce sharp maps of tissues within a cross-section of the body. Cormack won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Hounsfield) for his work on X-ray computed topography.

He was born in Johannesburg and attended Rondebosch Boys’ High School in Cape Town.

10. 3D Underwater imaging system

The world’s first low element-count 3D underwater imaging system was developed at the CSIR. The researchers also built a technology demonstrator that was successfully tested at the underwater test facility of the Institute of Maritime Technology.

The CSIR’s Kiri Nicolaides said: “Our team developed a range of technology building blocks… which can achieve an image using only 96 sensors. This should make the system much cheaper than 3D underwater imaging systems currently available, due to its acoustic properties, of a much higher resolution.”

11. Fingerprint identification classifier

In 2011 the CSIR developed a world-first fingerprint identification technique. The structural fingerprint classifier is able to correctly classify a fingerprint with only partial information.

CSIR Head of Information Security, Professor Fulufhelo Nelwamondo explained the need for the model. “In fingerprint recognition, fingerprint templates normally sit in a databases, so when going through an identification process, the system has to sift through thousands, if not millions of templates making the system slow in yielding results.”

“The extensible fingerprint classifier… will allow the system to be extremely fast and accurate when a database search is conducted. It will increase the overall efficiency of the entire fingerprint recognition system.”

12. Digital Drum

The digital drum is a co-creation of the CSIR and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was cited in Time magazine as one of the top 50 inventions in 2011.

The drum is a computer system that gives people access to information on issues such as health and education. The design is based on the CSIR’s digital doorway, a stand alone computer system to promote self-learning of computer literacy and information skills.

The CSIR’s Grant Cambridge said: “The Digital Drum design proved to be an innovative way for UNICEF and the CSIR to address a need through a solution developed in the absence of technology.”

13. First ever aero-optic made from flame

Professor Andrew Forbes from the CSIR led the development of the world’s first flame lens. The optic lens uses air to focus and can handle almost unlimited power.

He said: “the beauty of this project is that expertise in two distinctly different fields (aerodynamics and optics), were relied on to develop something that has never been done before.”

“Through this work, we have made a lens that uses just air- no materials- to focus. The flame lens produces a sharp focus with very little stray light. It achieves a fourfold increase in focal power per unit length over previous glass lenses.”

A flame is channeled through a pipe where it spirals along the pipe length, when a laser beam is shot through behind the flame the beam focuses on the respective point.

This article was originally posted on Times Live, 8 July 2014

 

Innovate or Die

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by Nicola Tyler 

“The entrepreneur upsets and disorganizes…his task is ‘creative disruption.” – Peter F. Drucker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The age of digital disruption and rapid agile development requires that we think differently.  It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity.  It’s not an option, it’s a mandate.  So why are organisations still teetering on the brink of innovation, failing to make the leap of faith required to think differently and take action? Fear is a debilitating emotion.    

Innovate or die is a strong statement. Innovation is an option, death is not. Many companies do everything in their power to avoid death. But great companies know that for something new to be born, something has to die. In fact, the best companies know that the right time to destroy value is on the up, never on the down.  Change when you’re winning if you want to get ahead; that’s the role that innovation can play.

Nothing New

This isn’t anything new.  Like many concepts in business, this message has been around for years. Clayton Christensen from Harvard speaks about it in his book The Innovators Dilemma.  Edward de Bono wrote about it in 1968, when he first exposed us to the concept of lateral thinking – suggesting that there was a scientific and mathematical need for creativity. Alvin Toffler, who has made a Harry Potter-esque comeback, wrote about it in Future Shock, way back in 1970. Charles Handy wrote about it in the 1980s in The Age of Unreason.  Jack Matson wrote about it in 1996, in Innovate or Die. How much more evidence do we need? How many more thinkers do we need to ask? We cannot create new value if we are not prepared to destroy some value in the process. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, something has to die to give birth to something new. It’s the same in relationships, it’s the same in business, it’s the same in life.  

The Sigmoid Curve Says It Best

In the book The Age of Unreason, Charles Handy talks about the Sigmoid Curve.  The premise is that organisations have a life-cycle, moving from Inception through Growth to Maturity and then Decline.  The theory suggests that you need to destroy value to create value, and that you have two primary opportunities to do that.  You can change at Point A (during the Growth phase) or at Point B (in the Decline phase).  Both points represent change and pain.  But it hurts more to change at point B, than it does to change at Point A.  Changing at Point B can also be catastrophic – it requires more energy to change in decline, and sometimes the momentum of the change around you is greater than the energy or the will you have in the business to execute on the change.  Changing at Point B can be too late – ask Kodak, I’m sure they will tell you.

Think Differently | Act Differently

Wherever you are in your organization’s life-cycle, take innovation seriously.  Innovation is not only about thinking but about thinking in action. Innovation is the successful exploitation of a new idea. If you haven’t made the investment yet, make it now. If you haven’t taken that leap of faith, take it now. If you are debilitated by fear, go for therapy. Innovation isn’t an option – in fact, it’s the life force of your organisation.

Nicola Tyler, is a highly respected strategic thinker. With over 20 years of experience in Strategy, Consulting, Leadership, Development and Coaching, she is an Associate of the Gordon Institute of Business, a Master Trainer in a full range of de Bono Thinking tools. Working both locally and internationally, she delivers her own “Strategic Conversation” methodology to senior teams committed to innovation and driving sustainable results.

Nicola has shared the stage with world renowned thought leaders such as Tom Peters, Robert Kaplan, Ricardo Semler, Edward de Bono, Dave Ulrich, Martin Seligman, Richard Koch and Martin Lindstrom.