What is Nextcreativity ?

Most companies are looking for a similar way to get a competitive edge : INNOVATION, whether in products, in services, in design,...

 

Quite often, a huge amount of energy is spent for disappointing outcomes. Strangely enough, a large number of top-class "idea-production tools" have been developed during the past years. Isn'it so that they should produce "freshly-squeezed-brain-juice" from the heads of the so-called "creative ones" ? So what happens ?

 

 

Nextcreativity fosters a radically different approach…

We think that "Creativity" is another way to name our ability to imagine, develop, welcome and accept novelty.Then the following points are essential for us:

  • the individual before the toolbox

Let's focus on the individual rather than on the tools : getting an ice axe will not transform you into a mountaineer, using a publishing software will not make you an artistic Director… In both cases, there is a "before", a phase of preparation for the individual.

  • perceptions as much as brain juice

Ideas do not get out of the brain ... only, be it the right-brain !

Innovating or just creating anything uses all dimensions of the individual : senses and perceptions, psychological and emotional factors.

  • teams in relation to the "creative ones"

If research for innovation is confined to a special area for  individuals labelled "the-creative-ones", then this is a denial of what has been widely known for the past 50 years : every individual has a creative potential. Above all, this restrictive vision deprives the organization from a fertilizing irrigation "at all levels". Which by the way is the best way to improve the effectiveness of the teams dedicated to highly innovative projects.

 

The three points above are the basics for nextcreativity : fundamental creativity of individuals is the ground on which applied creativity can develop at all levels within an organization. Working creatively in daily operations as well as on specific issues and projects produces in turn a genuine innivation culture.

 

There are other reasons to urgently foster nextcreativity …

  • The Society is more and more structured around the web 2.0 : individuals get used to express themselves on the web, by widely sharing ideas and information, by conveying their opinions, in a nutrshell by exposing themselves "to the world". Doing so within a company is also the moment when a plain employee becomes a genuine actor and creator within the organization. Hence there is a strong interest in developing everyones creative abilities.
  • Markets live in a "permanent beta version" : everything changes at a fast pace, and stability as we knew it is now history. The nextcreative approach gives to everyone a way to welcome something new , and use it as building material instead of "undergo" it.
  • The industrial universe is no longer a reference : the mechanical vision (procedures, norms, production-lines, tools,…) is less and less valid. Now is again the time for more organic approaches. Don't we read and hear more and more verbs such as ... digging, harvesting, breathing, digesting, flowing, germinating … ? Crafts are back too with expressions such as "weaving a network" or "kniting a project". In a way, nextcreativity is life-in-motion that deeply respects individuals.