Nigel Collin - Author of Weekly bits the Early Years.

Famil Club are pleased to bring you the Weekly Bits the early years one item in every edition.  

The idea for this came one sunny day when having a latte at a cafe with my marketing team we stumbled on the fact that ‘Weekly BITS’ was in fact 21 issues old and had finally come of age. Somehow we thought it should be celebrated. So we decided to put together this compilation.

When I first started writing ‘Weekly BITS’ I had no idea if it would be any good or actually make a difference or even if anyone would read it. But now people all over the planet read ‘Weekly BITS’ and I get comments about how it helps and inspires people to see the world more creatively and be more creative themselves, to understand that creativity in business and life is not just important but also accessible and doable, to help people tap into their creative spirit and potential. I’m a big believer that everyone is creative but that we are just very good and banging it out of ourselves and at times need a bit of guidance.

Stories of creative endeavours and great failures that came good have always fascinated me. The creative mind has always captivated me. I love hearing of how things came about and of different perspectives and points of view. The fact that creative thinking can be both a process and a free flowing affair has fascinated me as well.

‘Weekly BITS’ was never meant to be a ‘how to’ of creativity or
a ‘10 steps to a better creative self’ because to me creativity is in fact a state of mind, as well as a process.

The mission of this ‘Weekly BITS’ compilation then, (now that it’s mature and has responsibility), is to look at the world through the creative eyes of others, at what’s gone before us, is hidden amongst us, and to capture the many colours creativity has.

This is a collection of stories, observations, ideas, devices and provocations.

We’ve done a tad of editing, reworked and rearranged some things and added a few new pieces to help give the originals a better flow.

Nigel Collin Creative
ITEM TWO

Ideas Board

Okay this isn’t mine - it's been a round for a long time - but it’s an extremely useful creativity tool. (I first came across via Michael Michalko work - ‘Thinker Toys’).

In a main thoroughfare at your workplace, or your home, put up a pin board, a white board or designate a section of wall to stick things up on.

When you’re working on a project or need some creative input write or pin up your problem onto the board. Make sure you give it a heading and then write any ideas you currently have beneath that heading. You can use cards, post it notes or just write them up - who cares - just get them up there. If you’re totally stuck and have no ideas at all, great - just write the heading.

Here comes the good bit. Invite people to contribute to the board. Let them know it exists, where it exits and why it exists.  The purpose being that as they wander past they can view the topics and ideas and add comments, thoughts, extend existing ideas or add their own ideas and thoughts, even their own projects.

In this way the ‘ideas board’ becomes a dynamic tool. You’ll get different perspectives and different points of view, you’ll also see how ideas from one project may cross over to another.

Remember it’s important that your ideas board is in a visible area that gets lots of traffic. Your ‘ideas board’ can hold a number of ideas at the same time – in fact the more the better because it will then encourage collaboration.

It’s also a great tool not just for capturing and leveraging ideas but also for inspiring and nurturing the creative strength of your workplace community.

Why not put it up online I hear you cry.  Well you can of course, but the physical nature of the board is what makes it inviting in its own right (we all spend most of our day online) and so this actually a tad novel and will stand out.

 

Enjoy and please feel free to pass it on, print it out and share it with others.

http://www.nigelcollin.com.ai/early-years.html (for the book directly) Email think@nigelcollin.com.au