Posted by Todd Rhoades in Leadership on Apr 30th, 2013
Interesting article by Gregory Ciotti over at 99u.com today…
Ciotti names five ‘creativity killers’. These will kill your church and ministry creativity. And in some cases, if you slosh around in these too long, they may cost you your job. Here they are:
1. Role Mismatch
Are you in the wrong role? Ciotti quotes Einstein: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
Do you find the work your doing to be outside of your area of expertise? Of course, there are all parts of our job that we don’t really enjoy or aren’t as good at as others… but is your primary role one that excites you and causes the creative juices to flow? If not… it may be time for a change.
2. External End-Goal Restriction
Huh? What Ciotti is saying here is that many times bosses or organizations kill creativity.
Ever heard “we’ve never done it that way before” or “that’s not how it’s done here.” Those are creative killers. They scream “No new ideas please.”
3. Strict Ration Of Resources
What’s the most important resource when it comes to creativity? It’s not money or physical resources. Rather, it’s mental resources and time.
Sure… we’d all like an unlimited budget to fuel our creativity. But truth is… you need time and mental capacity to fuel creativity. Don’t let lack of money or physical resources hold you back.
And try to create time to be creative.
4. Lake Of Social Diversity
If everyone is the same as you on your staff, there will probably be little creativity.
You’ve heard it said that iron sharpens iron. I’ve always taken that to mean that we should openly challenge each other… spurring each other on to new ideas and forms of creativity.
According to Ciotti, if you surround yourself with people only like yourself, you’ll quickly find yourself in the ‘creative echo-chamber’.
5. Discouragement/No Positive Feedback
I’ve known many a church staff member who is discouraged in their current role. In fact, we mostly do a poor job of encouraging one another.
But creative people receive positive feedback.
Ciotti: ”Creative people thrive on having others impacted by their ideas. Without feedback, their motivation begins to wither and die.”
So… there you have it. Five things that will likely kill your creativity as a church leader.
How are YOU doing?
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