Thinking outside the box seems to be a hallmark of creativity. At least, we like to think it is.
John G. Miller, in his book QBQ!: The Question Behind the Question wrote that true creativity is actually succeeding within the box.
People for whom art is a profession find that, rather than stifling creativity, the constraints of a project are often what cultivate their creativity.
In the business world, you may feel constrained by the size of your staff, the age or quality of your tools, the inefficiencies of your environment, or dependencies on other departments. The temptation can be strong to delay a project, or at least minimize your effort on it, until some of those external factors can be changed.
“I’ll do a better job,” you say to yourself, “after I break out of this box that’s restraining my creativity.”
Bet let me echo John G. Miller’s encouragement to exercise the kind of creativity that finds success inside that box.
If you recently lost a team member, how can you succeed with your real goals without backfilling your open position?
If a report isn’t available, how can you decide enough to move forward with incomplete information?
If your system is dragged down by technical debt, how can you make improvements without requiring a complete rewrite or wholesale replacement of a core technology?
Sure, sometimes creativity means recognizing that some of your restrictions were only imagined. But often, creativity means finding a path forward, informed and even guided by those very constraints.
If you’d like a thinking partner to help you process constraints you’re seeing, visit https://stevedwire.com/talk for a complimentary conversation.
Leave a Reply