How Will Social Media Reshape the Way We Do Church?

by: Phil Petty

0

Tweet

With the increasing use of GPS enabled smart phones and apps like foursquare, social media is attempting to mimic omniscience.  We find ourselves in a world where our technology has enabled more meaningful interactions with someone on the other side of the world rather than our next door neighbour.

Whether we like it or not social media will influence the way we do Church both positively and negatively and it is important that as a church, we anticipate and adapt to these changes appropriately.

Now that social media is here to stay, those that see church as primarily their social network may now find that they don’t need church quite so much.  Alternatively social media may have little effect on those who experience Church as both spiritual and social.

In the consumer generation, commitment is being eroded and content is fast becoming king.  People increasingly are being guided by customer reviews and have the ability to make more choices about the way they live their lives.  Is this same consumer mentality being applied to the way we do Church?

Is Church becoming more fluid, with people doing church when it suits them rather than fitting in with existing structure?  Could this fluidity cause churches to experience more churn, as people pick and choose when and which meetings they attend?  I already know people who are using social media to decide which church meeting to attend?  If their favourite speaker or worship leader is not part of the service that day, they may decide to go elsewhere.

In the consumer generation Hebrews 10:24 is interpreted more loosely and in response, the church needs to endorse the concept of being called to a particular church family (James 4:15) rather than allowing people to treat church as a consumer experience.

There was a time when the local Church was able to guard our minds from false doctrine and filter the information that we were subjected to; however that is increasingly no longer the case.  We have never before had so much information at our fingertips through social sites, blogs, and on-line magazines.  These days due to the web’s low barrier to entry, regardless of their credentials, anyone can publish their ideas.

On a more positive note, is the rise of the ‘social Influencer’ good news for the Church?

It will become increasingly important for Church leadership teams to encourage and mentor their social network entrepreneurs, their influencers and bloggers, and content aggregators.  If one of your church members writes a popular blog they are already influencing people on a global scale.

The boundaries between ‘virtual ‘and ‘real in the flesh’ communication will become increasingly blurred as mobile technology and social applications like facebook, twitter and foursquare draw people into more face to face meetings. Will this mean that micro church will happen more spontaneously in the park or culminate as prayers in the coffee house, as technology draws people together through their network of friends?

Social networking will aid in church growth as our influencers use technology in creative ways to convey the gospel message and connect people into family groups.

Good content will become increasingly important.

As the consumer is overloaded with information it is becoming increasingly important for their favourite content to be aggregated into one place.  We can already see this happening more and more with sites like Mashable, Pinterest and Delicious becoming more popular.  Google no longer just use page rankings to bring you the most relevant content but they now also take into account social influence and relevance.  This means that Christian influencers who are able to gather good quality content into their sites will become increasingly popular and influential.

These days it seems like internet gorillas like Google, Facebook and Twitter know you more than you know yourself.  Chad Hurley, CEO of Delicious and co-founder of YouTube recently said “As people’s networks and interactions expand, massive data sets will generate predictive models that will know what you want before you look for it.”

Could the prophetic in us, intuitively predict what is about to capture the public’s attention and help inspire good quality content which will re-direct people towards the Gospel?

For the more philosophical, social media could mean more cross-pollination and unity between church groups aspeople attend events organised by other Christians that they discover and connect with on-line. Church leaders could increasingly find themselves communicating and coordinating with their counterparts in other denominations.

Great news for the Christian artist as digital art will become more important. Due to short cybertized attention spans, good quality imagery is needed to capture the attention of the cyber channel clickers.

As one of my friends put it, ‘Social media means church beyond Sunday, and church beyond four walls.  Churches should be encouraging a continuing sense of purpose and mission through the embracing of social media.’

In evangelical circles during the last couple of years I have noticed an impetus to empower and mobilize grass roots leaders and influencers. In my denomination they have called this initiative ‘Radical Disciples’.

Combined with the power of social media, never before has the ‘Radical Disciple’ had so much opportunity to influence so many.

Tags: Attention, Phil Petty, Social Media

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Communication >

3 Ways to Create a Successful Blog for Your Church

by: Tim Peters

0

Tweet

When it comes to reaching people on the Web, few online tools are more advantageous than a blog. A church communications blog can help you better disseminate your message, create stronger connections with church members, and drive more people to your church website. Yet many churches continue to shy away from setting up blogs either for general fear of the unknown or because they just don’t know where to begin.

Here’s the good news: Setting up a blog for your church doesn’t have to be intimidating or complex. In fact, setting up a blog for your church is quite easy. The hard part is getting – and keeping – your content rolling so you can enjoy all the benefits a blog has to offer. Here are a few practical tips for launching and maintaining a successful church communications blog.

Three Steps to Make Your Church Blog a Success

#1 Get Senior Leadership Buy-In

In order for your blog to be successful, church leaders must be on board. How do you get them on board? Use the facts. Explain the benefits of having a blog in a clear manner. Tell them a blog is no different than standing on stage on Sunday and speaking your message – it just happens to be online. Let them know a blog is another forum for making your church’s voice heard and getting your message across to more people.

Once they understand the benefits, they’ll want to know how the blog will function – and what role they will play. The key here is to let them know they will be involved without placing significant burden on their already-heavy workload. Set aside a chunk of time for the staff to brainstorm blog content ideas and create a blog-posting calendar. Let senior leaders know they will not be required to write blog posts (unless they want to), but they can still contribute ideas and direct the content of the blog.

#2 Encourage Contribution

While you don’t want to place the blogging burden on senior leaders, you will need help. You don’t want to go it alone. The more people who contribute to your church blog, the more successful it will be. More contributors increases the likelihood your church blog will keep chugging along and not fall by the wayside in the months to come. The key to getting people to contribute is making it as easy as possible.

Install a simple way for staff members to submit blog content ideas or even posts they’ve written. Create an easy-to-remember email address (for example: blogideas@abcchurch.com) where staff members can submit their suggestions or drafted blog content. You can even share that email address with your congregation members and let them know they can submit content (personal stories, upcoming events, etc.) to be considered for posting on the church blog. The more people you have involved, the more content youwill have to post. The more content you have to post, the more effective your blog will be at enriching your church marketing and helping you reach more people.

#3 Select a Content Curator 

To keep your content rolling, you need a Content Curator. Having a Content Curator is essential to ensure your church blog is posting regularly and your messaging is consistent. This is a very important role. The individual who takes on this role must have strong writing, editing and organizational skills. They will receive and review all the content submitted from contributors, edit and revise it as needed, and post it on the blog.

The Content Curator will also be the person who spearheads the church blog. Your Content Curator will work to recruit volunteers and contributors, and generate ideas for future blog posts. They will monitor the blog, respond to comments and keep track of traffic. They will also be responsible for communicating to church leaders and church members the existence of the blog. They need to let people know the blog is a platform for highlights, devotionals, stories and more. They will work to help spread the word.

Setting up a church blog is advantageous for any church that wants to continue to grow and expand. It’s a great way to reach more people with your message, and draw in new church members. But you have to do more than just create a blog – you have to nurture your blog. By getting senior leadership buy-in, encouraging contribution from staff members and making sure you have a reliable content curator, your blog will give your church a powerful and resounding voice in the online space.

How does your church staff generate and maintain blog content?

Read more from Tim here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Communication, Tim Peters

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Communication >

Organizations Lose $1.3 Trillion by Not Engaging in Social Media

by: Thom Rainer

0

Tweet

I was shocked. Two presidents of organizations began using Twitter in the past two months. These are presidents I know well, leaders who for years saw no value in Twitter or other social media. As one told me, he had moved over to the dark side.

These leaders are not alone. Only 20 of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies engage in Twitter. But my guess is that many of them will be moving to “the dark side” as well. The evidence is building rapidly. Your organization is at a distinct disadvantage if it does not embrace social media with enthusiasm.

A new study by the highly regarded McKinsey and Company should move even some of the deepest skeptics. Their research found that, while 72 percent of organizations use some form of social media, very few embrace it strategically. As a consequence, the productivity lost in these companies could be as high as $1.3 trillion. That’s a lot of zeros. In fact, if those dollars were the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country, its economy would be the 14^thlargest in the world.

The McKinsey study notes that organizations lose both interaction within the company and connection outside the company if they do not engage social media with enthusiasm. Collaboration opportunities are lost and intimate customer connections are forfeited.

While I’m sure the organization I lead could improve greatly, we strategically embraced social media several years ago. Allow me to share four principles I have learned to this point.

1. Embracing social media begins at the top. While social media is a great equalizer, an organization will not embrace it corporately unless the leader of the organization gives his or her tacit permission. My enthusiastic involvement in social media sent a clear message that it was important for the entire organization.

2. An open attitude for the organization is worth the risk. When a large number of employees are active in social media speaking on behalf of the organization, the risks are obvious. We still encourage blogs, tweets, Facebook posts, and other social media interaction. The rewards are greater than the risks.

3. Guidelines are good, but they must not be too restrictive. We do have social medial guidelines, but we understand that too many rules go counter to the openness of social media. We feel that our balance is pretty good. We have many employees engaged in social media; and we have spoken to unwise engagement only four or five times in the past five years.

4. We often make heroes of those who engage in social media well. On many occasions, an employee has engaged in social media in such a way that we think it’s worth telling the story about what he or she did. Those stories eventually become part of the organization’s culture and, consequently, encourage others to do so as well.

Leaders and organizations will ignore social media to their own peril. Ryan Holmes, author of the article about McKinsey’s research, notes: “It seems noteworthy that the report’s conclusions have been echoed of late from the most authoritative of places: Wall Street. In the last year, the world’s largest enterprise software companies–Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, and even Ellison’s own Oracle–have spent upward of $2.5 billion snatching up social media tools to add to their enterprise suites. Even Twitter-phobic CEOs may have a hard time ignoring that business case.”

Large corporations, small businesses, nonprofits, churches, and a plethora of other organizations are increasingly realizing the critical need for social media. Ultimately, it gets those in the organization closer to each other, as well as connecting to those whom the organization wants to reach.

The case for organizations embracing social media has been anecdotally powerful for years. But now McKinsey presents overwhelming objective data that cannot be ignored. I can only presume that many will still ignore this clear and powerful evidence. And their organizations will likely suffer as a result.

Read more from Thom here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Communication, Social Media, Thom Rainer

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Communication >

6 Ways to Maximize Stage Announcements

by: Tim Peters

0

Tweet

Inside the church (internally), stage announcements are a constant battle. The people programming services, who are in charge of the flow of services, are constantly asking:

• Do we really have to do announcements?
• When can we do announcements so it doesn’t mess up the flow of worship?
• Is it worth it since people aren’t even listening to the announcements?

Then you have every single ministry leader fighting for stage time. They want their ministry, event or serving opportunity presented from the stage. So now you have the conflict of everybody wanting stage time, and the people who are directing the flow of the service forced to decide what will be communicated and when it will be communicated.

With all the chaos and discord, I’ve often heard the frustrated refrain behind the scenes at churches: We’re not going to do announcements anymore. Yet they all continue to do announcements because it is a great opportunity to speak to your congregation as they are sitting in a seat right before you and you have their attention.

Make no mistake, announcements are extremely hard.

As a communications professional and former communications pastor, I know firsthand the challenges posed by announcements. Yet when I sit in church as a member and somebody says the word announcements (“I have a couple announcements for you this morning…”), my mind automatically checks out. It always leads me to wonder:

• How can we better maximize this stage time when we’re announcing what is going on inside our church?
• What can we possibly do to take full advantage of having the attention of all these people?

In answer to those questions, here are six ways you can capture people’s attention and maximize stage announcements on a Sunday morning.

#1. Follow the 80% rule.

When you’re deciding what you’re going to communicate from stage, unless it’s an abnormal situation, you want to ask yourself: Does this impact 80% of the audience sitting inside our worship center? If the event, ministry, serving opportunity or message does not impact 80% of your audience, then you do not want to dedicate stage time to it.

Remember you only have an hour or so of people’s attention a week. You don’t want to waste a single minute. If a message doesn’t impact 80%, as a communication leader you have to politely say “no” and give them other ways to communicate that message – through the e-newsletter, social media, or the website events page. You have to protect the stage with only messages pertinent to 80% or more of the entire audience.

#2. Lead with “the why”.

I see this all the time with church leaders. They stand on the stage and start rambling about the what, when and how of an event, ministry or message. They throw out words, dates and times, and people turn their ears off because it doesn’t capture them. I say this over and over on this blog because it is so important – you have to lead with why. Capture their heart about the event, serving opportunity or ministry, and then subtly and quickly give them the what, when and how.

You can even give them the what, when and how on a media slide projected behind the stage presenter. That way you don’t even have to state the information and people can still absorb it. Then you can really zone in on the why. The why is also the perfect opportunity for you to tie a life-change story to an event, ministry or serving opportunity. If it’s a teen event you’re promoting and you’re telling them the why, throw in a story of a young person who was changed by this event. That will propel and lift up the message to make it much more effective.

#3. Keep clear and concise.

As the person responsible for picking who will do the announcements, it’s important that you provide the announcer with a script. You are the communication leader. Your team needs to write the script with the why, when, where and how. And you need to help the announcer rehearse and practice – not to be perfect – but to move on and be clear and concise. Youprovide them the script and you encourage them to rehearse, so they can be clear and concise on Sunday (not perfect).

#4. Revitalize your presenters.

Don’t use the same rotation over and over again. Eventually, people will hear that person and begin to tune out. You want to keep things fresh. I recommend that you get really creative in this area. For example, use children and students that you have trained, taught and practiced to do the announcements alongside an adult.

You can even video the child or student doing the announcements. That way you can edit and add music. Another idea is to use Skype and pipe in missionaries from around the world to give the announcements. Do whatever you can to revitalize the presenters, mix it up and catch people’s attention.

#5. Play background music.

I’ve seen music used in church announcements very effectively. It helps keep the flow and energy of the room up – especially if you’re coming out of a song or you’re moving into a song. It keeps things smooth and natural. People are used to listening to individuals speak in movies, shows and YouTube with music in the background. It makes the message more engaging and exciting. The key is not to overwhelm people with the music so they can’t hear the message.

#6. Rotate the way you communicate.

You have this announcement time and you can use it however you choose. It’s not restricted to the normal person standing up there for 5-10 minutes rambling on without anyone actually hearing then. You can use this time and space in countless different ways.

You can use a live person on stage. You can use a prerecorded video to communicate your announcements. You can do it in print, where one Sunday you simply print out the announcements and place them in every seat. The person doing the announcements simply says, “We’re moving on in the service, you can read today’s announcements from your seat.” The options are endless.

While announcements may not seem like a big deal (the common thinking is, “it’s only 5-10 minutes inside a service”), you have to recognize you only have an hour of people’s attention. Even then, you really don’t have their full attention every minute. You want use these 5-10 minutes when you’re communicating ways for people to engage with your church in a very clear, concise and compelling way. Lead with the why, be fresh and creative, and make sure you maximize this time using the tips above.

How do you maximize your church stage announcement time? 

Read more from Tim here.

Tags: Attention, Communication, Tim Peters

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Communication >

If You Build It, They Won’t Come

by: Rich Birch

0

Tweet

Dear Church Leader,

I’ve wanted to write this letter to you for a while now but I never knew exactly how to say this.  However, we’re heading into an incredibly critical season as a church and want to be as clear with you as possible.  Just because you passionately build some new ministry initiative doesn’t mean that anyone will actually show up to be impacted by it.

I’ve made this mistake so many times in my own leadership.  I remember early on staying up so late working on a new project at the office that we actually set the alarm off and the cops showed up to find out what was going on.  This became a sort of proof that we were working hard enough on this new deal to reach people in our community.  But in the end the turn out to this new project was incredibly low from our community.  Or there was the time I thought that this new “newcomers” class would actually be the thing to help people get connected to our church.  We gave it a new name . . . changed the format . . . worked to ensure that the leaders were ready to lead it.  But our first time guests didn’t want the “new” newcomers class anymore than the “old” new comers class. Just because you build it . . . doesn’t mean they will actually come.

It’s our responsibility as leaders to not only build the ministry initiative but also the communication plan and system to ensure that people will actually want to be a part of it.  Rather than do this I’ve seen us respond to this reality in a handful of ways . . .

• Deny It – We will deny that there is a need for us communicate well and simply hope (or maybe pray) that people will somehow find out about this thing and want to become a part of it.
• It’s “Their” Fault – I’ve seen this time and again with various ministry over the years . . . we blame parents for not getting involved with the student stuff . . . we look down on the people for not taking time to come to our event designed to help them grow . . . sometimes we even get self righteous and look down on people from a pious perch.
• Silver Bullet Thinking – When it’s all said and done and we’re ready to roll out this “shiny new thing” we think if we can just get the Senior Pastor to mention it from the stage . . . or if we send a direct mail piece to the right group . . . or if you invite people to a Facebook group . . . we think there is one magical communication form that is going to “do the job” and get people connected.
• Despair – You didn’t get into ministry leadership to “sell stuff” . . . you just want to be with the people . . . this communications stuff isn’t your deal . . . the cycle of despair is powerful and when things don’t go quite as we planned we can find ourselves spinning around and around.

So why am I writing you today?

In the coming weeks you are planning on rolling out some new stuff around here.  You want to see more people connected to the good things happening in your ministry. Fantastic – we all want to see that. But I want to be straight with you . . . you haven’t spent enough time working on the communications plan.  We need you to spend more time working on how people are going to find out about your new initiative and to make it as simple as possible for them to get connected with it.  Here are some starting points to be thinking about . . .

• Think Drips not Explosions // Stop looking for that one massive communication piece that is going to convince people . . . you’re going to need to reach people at least 4-5 ways in the weeks leading up to the big event.  [Check this out.]
• Timing is Critical // When you communicate is almost as big of deal as what you communicate.  Are you reaching people at a time that they are open to thinking about your initiative?
• Make it Easy // You know that form that you ask people to fill out to register . . . it’s not simple enough.  I know it makes it easier for you to get all that stuff up front.  But it needs to be easy for the people we are trying to reach . . . even if that makes it a little harder on us.
• Think Visually // It’s not that people can’t read . . . they just don’t. How is this new thing going to look to people? (I know the irony that when this letter is already over 600 words!) [More on this.]
• People Make Decisions with Emotions // I know you have a bunch of logical reasons why what you are doing makes a lot of sense for their spiritual growth.  People don’t make decisions with logic . . . they use emotions when making decisions.  How can we find that hook that will communicate to them? [Interesting study on this.]

I’ve probably written enough on this already.  I’m cheering for you!  I’ve seen all the hard work you’ve put into this new deal.  I want it to succeed and make the sort of impact that you desire but I’m concerned that all of you and your team’s work will go to waste if we don’t address this communications stuff.

Can we sit down and work it through together?  

In your corner,

Your Leader

Read more from Rich here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Rich Birch

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Communication >

Choices and Your Announcements

by: Eric Geiger

0

Tweet

Tags: Attention, Communication, Eric Geiger, Less is More, Next Steps

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Communication >

The 22 Rules of Storytelling According to Pixar

by: Emma Coats

0

Tweet

On Twitter, Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats has compiled nuggets of narrative wisdom she’s received working for the animation studio over the years. It’s some sage stuff, although there’s nothing here about defending yourself from your childhood toys when they inevitably come to life with murder in their hearts. A truly glaring omission.

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.

#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.

#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.

#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How do you rearrange them into what you DO like?

#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?

#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

Read more from Emma here.

Tags: Attention, Emma Coats, Folklore, Pixar, Story, Storytelling

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Culture >

7 Biggest Creativity Killers

by: Andrew Grant

0

Tweet

A crime scene investigation is underway to investigate a death. This is not an average death, this is the death of creative thinking. You see while IQ levels have been rising owing to enriched environments (the Flynn effect), creativity scores have actually been falling over time. After analyzing up to 300,000 Torrance scores from children and adults (the gold standard in creativity measurement), it has been discovered that although creativity scores rose along with IQ scores until 1990, creativity scores have since dropped significantly.

This decline is also evident across an individual’s lifespan. Research into the decline of creativity has led to some startling conclusions. In a sample of 1500 children aged 3–5, 98 percent ranked as “geniuses” in divergent thinking; in children aged 8–10 the figure fell to just 32 percent; and by age 13–15 it had declined further to a mere 10 percent. In other words, children become less creative as they grow older. Moreover, in a control test of 2000 adults (aged 25+), only 2 percent ranked as geniuses.

When, more than 50 years ago, American psychologist E. Paul Torrance began identifying the key elements in creative thinking and assessing individuals according to these criteria, he had no idea what these assessments would eventually reveal. Torrance and his colleague Garnet Millar, who followed individuals over time, found that the qualities they identified in young children were major predictors for creative professional success. By looking at the lifetime data Torrance and his associates collected, and reanalyzing it, it was found that the correlation to lifetime creative accomplishments is nearly three times stronger for childhood creativity than it is for childhood IQ.

It’s time to identify and deal with the creativity killers. Through our surveys of thousands of workshop participants from a range of backgrounds and experiences over more than 20 years, we have narrowed down the list of suspects to 7 key profiles. By recognizing and managing these effectively, we believe it will be possible to revive and nurture creative thinking. Allow us to take a creative approach to interrogating these murder suspects:

Creativity killer profile 1: the Control Crew
Also known as bully oppressors, the control killer profile tends to stifle creative thinking through suppressing the ability to think freely and independently. When systems are set up that restrict freedom of thought, and when individuals perpetuate those systems through controlling approaches and actions, creativity has no room to flourish. Like the real mafia, the control killers can operate through a coercion which instills fear, which can then itself become a killer.

To deal with this killer:

• Recognize areas in your life that may have become suppressed, and identify why this has happened and how this can be dealt with.
• Develop a mindset that is open to exploration.
• Ask open-ended questions to challenge established beliefs and assumptions without expecting specific outcomes or solutions.

Creativity killer profile 2: the Fear Family
An often unsuspected killer that can intimidate the most intrepid, this highly prolific villain thrives on anxieties about trialling new ideas and the possibility of failure. A childlike ability to take risks and risk failure without fear is critical to creative thinking, but when anxiety intervenes the fear can be crippling. It’s not surprising that one of Apple’s guiding innovation principles is to “fail wisely.”

To deal with this killer:

• Have the courage to face fears of possible failure and uncertainty. Learn to see them as an important part of the creative process.
• Learn to accept and embrace apparently opposing ideas (ambiguity) to open up new possibilities.

Creativity killer profile 3: the Pressure Pack
This seductive assassin dispatches its victims by exercising a stranglehold of real or perceived expectations. The faster pace of life, a greater reliance on technology, and significantly increased communication speeds, have all contributed to its prevalence. Under pressure, the body’s instinctive response is “fight, flight or freeze.” The constant adrenaline need for the “fight” response can lead to dangerous physical and psychological symptoms and ultimately literally shut down the brain, and the “flight” and “freeze” responses can lead to an inability to face up to the pressure and deal with it effectively. By using up precious mental energy at the primitive brain stem simply for survival, thus limiting access to the pre-frontal cortex where real creative thinking can occur, this killer restricts the ability to be creative.

To deal with this killer:

• Identify your own typical responses to pressure.
• Stand up to pressure – recognize that you have the power to stay in control of the impact of external circumstances, and find specific ways to balance your time and energy more effectively.
• Be proactive in designing your life to control pressure: e.g., try drawing up a fresh schedule for yourself that gives you the time and space to do the things you would like to do as well as fitting in the things you need to do.
• Prepare a platform to unleash your imagination – trial “brain teaser” exercises designed to stretch your mind into exploring a range of possibilities.

Creativity killer profile 4: the Insulation Clique
Also known as isolating killers, those fitting the insulation profile employ a lethal combination of segregation and homogeneity that can lead to biased conformity. They quarantine their victims from different ideas and information, denying them exposure to a diversity of opinions and therefore access to potentially life-saving devices. In the same way that placing prisoners in solitary confinement limits their experiences and restricts their brain capability, insulation confines the victims’ experiences and limits their capabilities over the long term. When information sources are limited in content but overwhelming in quantity, the brain simply can’t cope, and will stick with the safe secure options rather than trialling creative new ideas. A lack of diversity in teams and organizations at all levels can also limit creativity.

To deal with this killer:

• Deliberately expose yourself to different people, different sources of information and different ideas. Be open and receptive to opinions and ideas that don’t match your own– ensure there is receptivity to apparently opposing perspectives.
• Learn how to master conscious awareness, so that you can access difference parts of your own mental capacity and not just that parts that you usually access (try brain training exercises that utilize different capabilities, eg to access both ‘left’ and ‘right’ brain functions.)

Creativity killer profile 5: the Apathy Clan
Murderers fitting the apathy profile lack motivation and drive. These villains are often themselves victims of systems that have deadened their will to succeed, and the profile can often be detected in those with cutting sarcasm and acerbic cynicism. An apparent lack of motivation, concern or passion can be twisted into a deliberate ‘stab in the back’ or a ‘cutting remark’. A major finding Malcolm Gladwell reached through his research was that, rather than simply a genetic inheritance, successful genius is cultivated through a potent mix of lucky circumstance and sheer hard work, so apathy has no place in the process of creative development.

To deal with this killer:

• Assess your own levels of engagement in what you do, and detect where there might be a lack of engagement. Recognize sarcasm or cynicism, and identify what the root cause of these might be.
• Challenge your old, conservative habits and behaviors with new approaches–even if they are initially uncomfortable. Draw up a chart to list in columns: “The way I usually approach what I do,” and “A new approach”
• Find ways to connect with your passions and use these as a base for action.

Creativity killer profile 6: the Narrow-minded Mob
With a stubborn and often headstrong approach, killers fitting the narrow-minded profile ensure their dupes remain trapped in their standard, familiar patterns of behavior. Victims are unwitting casualties of their own habitual ways of thinking and behaving. Narrow-mindedness leads to convergent thinking, and the full creative process requires divergent thinking before a specific focus is chosen. Human thought patterns tend to slip into these standard channels, or set ways of thinking, if they are not regularly challenged. The brain seeks to organize its thoughts–often in response to incoming information–into temporarily stable states that succeed each other to give a sequence. When a sequence or pattern is repeated, it becomes a thought-pattern or mindset that channels future thoughts more easily along the same path. It thus becomes a habitual standard way of looking at a situation or problem. Blinkered expertise, prejudice and groupthink are all examples of the way narrow-mindedness can manifest itself.

To deal with this killer:

• Embrace “creative innocence”–try putting aside any notions of expertise, recognize any biases or prejudices you may have developed, and approach a situation as a child would instead.
• Practice divergent thinking through exercises that encourage this.Put yourself in others’ shoes to open up different ways of thinking. E.g., think of a problem that has to be solved, identify your usual action, then think about the different paths others in your situation might take. See if you can come up with several different possible ways the problem could have been solved.

Creativity killer profile 7: the Pessimism Posse
Another stealthy killer which operates like a chemical weapon, this profile type subtly perpetrates destruction through a toxic mindset. Sufferers of the disease initially communicate in negative ways, and eventually undermine their own and others’ attempts at creative thinking. Pessimists tend to blame themselves when things go wrong, becoming more reluctant to try again with each negative experience. Most people would most likely be unaware that as humans we have developed a natural bias against creative thinking, which interferes with our ability to recognize a creative ideas when we come across them, so it is important to recognize the profound influence of this creativity killer profile and deal with it.

To deal with this killer:

• Take up a new hobby or sport, and don’t give up until you have mastered it.
• Learn the art of positive self-talk and optimistic thinking and language.
• Reword or rework limiting language and experiences into positive outcomes.
• Try keeping a diary of the things that happen each day – then track how many of these were framed in a positive way and how many in a negative way.
• Practice reframing the negative experiences.

Read more here.

Tags: Attention

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Communication >