Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills are the skills that a person uses to interact with other people. Interpersonal skills are sometimes also referred to as people skills or communication skills.[1] Interpersonal skills involve using skills such as active listening[2] and tone of voice, they include delegation and leadership. It is how well you communicate with someone and how well you behave or carry yourself. Also they help people further their careers. Interpersonal skills refers to mental and communicative algorithms applied during social communications and interaction to reach certain effects or results.[clarification needed] The term "interpersonal skills" is used often in business contexts to refer to the measure of a person's ability to operate within business organizations through social communication and interactions. Interpersonal skills are how people relate to one another. As an illustration, it is generally understood that communicating respect for other people or professionals within will enable one to reduce conflict and increase participation or assistance in obtaining information or completing tasks. For instance, to interrupt someone who is currently preoccupied with the task of obtaining information needed immediately, it is recommended that a professional use a deferential approach with language such as, "Excuse me, are you busy? I have an urgent matter to discuss with you if you have the time at the moment." This allows the receiving professional to make their own judgement regarding the importance of their current task versus entering into a discussion with their colleague. While it is generally understood that interrupting someone with an "urgent" request will often take priority, allowing the receiver of the message to judge independently the request and agree to further interaction will likely result in a higher quality interaction. Following these kinds of heuristics to achieve better professional results generally results in a professional being ranked as one with 'good interpersonal skills.' Often these evaluations occur in formal and informal settings. Having positive interpersonal skills increases the productivity in the organization since the number of conflicts is reduced. In informal situations, it allows communication to be easy and comfortable. People with good interpersonal skills can generally control the feelings that emerge in difficult situations and respond appropriately, instead of being overwhelmed by emotion. Some ways to improve interpersonal skills are to; Think positively, and enter the mindset to work well with others and maintain good relationships. Do not criticise others or yourself. Be patient. Learn to listen, experts recommend listening 80% of the time and only talking 20%. Be sensitive to others, this includes not gossiping.

 Have a sense of humor appropriate to your situation. Many people benefit from a good joke. Treat others and their experience with respect. Praise and compliment people when they deserve it. When someone is telling a story, dont interrupt or try to upstage them with a story of your own. Smile even when you dont feel like smiling. Be cheerful and try to make others smile. Look for solutions. When someone compliments you, dont disagree or boast about it simply say thank-you with a smile and move on. Dont complain. When youre unhappy, try your best to act happy anyway. You will end up feeling better and so will the people around you, your mood is contagious. Fake it till you make it. If youre not naturally confident or happy, fake it until you generally possess the desired characteristics. Learn to appreciate, be helpful and not demotivate your team members. Work as a team, not as an individual. This will achieve better results. Treat your team members and colleagues as friends and not as strangers or subordinates. Beatrice Vincent once said, The people with whom you work reflect your own attitude. If you are suspicious, unfriendly and condescending, you will find these unlovely traits echoed all about you. But if you are on your best behaviour, you will bring out the best in the persons with whom you are going to spend most of your working hours.

Body language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Body language (disambiguation).

This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. See the talk page for details. WikiProject Sociology or the Sociology Portal may be able to help recruit an expert. (November
2008)

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. (February 2009) This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (April 2010)

A study in body language.

Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals subconsciously. John Borg attests that human communication consists of 93 percent body language and paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of words themselves[1]; however, Albert Mehrabian, the researcher whose 1960s work is the source of these statistics, has stated that this is a misunderstanding of the findings[2] (see Misinterpretation of Mehrabian's rule). Others assert that "Research has suggested that between 60 and 70 percent of all meaning is derived from nonverbal behavior."[3] Body language may provide clues as to the attitude or state of mind of a person. For example, it may indicate aggression, attentiveness, boredom, relaxed state, pleasure, amusement, and intoxication, among many other cues.

Contents
[hide]

1 Understanding body language o 1.1 Physical expression 2 How prevalent is non-verbal communication in humans? 3 Body language and space 4 Unintentional gestures 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Understanding body language

The technique of "reading" people is used frequently. For example, the idea of mirroring body language to put people at ease is commonly used in interviews. Mirroring the body language of someone else indicates that they are understood.[citation needed] Body language signals may have a goal other than communication. Both people would keep this in mind. Observers limit the weight they place on non-verbal cues. Signalers clarify their signals to indicate the biological origin of their actions. Examples would include yawning (sleepyness), showing lack of interest (sexual interest/survival interest), attempts to change the topic (fight or flight drivers).
[edit] Physical expression

Physical expressions like waving, pointing, touching and slouching are all forms of nonverbal communication. The study of body movement and expression is known as kinesics. Humans move their bodies when communicating because, as research has shown[citation needed], it helps "ease the mental effort when communication is difficult." Physical expressions reveal many things about the person using them. For example, gestures can emphasize a point or relay a message, posture can reveal boredom or great interest, and touch can convey encouragement or caution.[4]
o

One of the most basic and powerful body-language signals is when a person crosses his or her arms across the chest.[citation needed] This can indicate that a person is putting up an unconscious barrier between themselves and others. It can also indicate that the person's arms are cold, which would be clarified by rubbing the arms or huddling. When the overall situation is amicable, it can mean that a person is thinking deeply about what is being discussed. But in a serious or confrontational situation, it can mean that a person is expressing opposition. This is especially so if the person is leaning away from the speaker. A harsh or blank facial expression often indicates outright hostility. Consistent eye contact can indicate that a person is thinking positively of what the speaker is saying. It can also mean that the other person doesn't trust the speaker enough to "take his eyes

off" the speaker. Lack of eye contact can indicate negativity. On the other hand, individuals with anxiety disorders are often unable to make eye contact without discomfort. Eye contact can also be a secondary and misleading gesture because cultural norms about it vary widely. If a person is looking at you, but is making the arms-across-chest signal, the eye contact could be indicative that something is bothering the person, and that he wants to talk about it. Or if while making direct eye contact, a person is fiddling with something, even while directly looking at you, it could indicate the attention is elsewhere. Also, there are three standard areas that a person will look which represent different states of being. If the person looks from one eye to the other then to the forehead, it is a sign that they are taking an authoritative position. If they move from one eye to the other then to the nose, that signals that they are engaging in what they consider to be a "level conversation" with neither party holding superiority. The last case is from one eye to the other and then down to the lips. This is a strong indication of romantic feelings.[citation
needed]

Disbelief is often indicated by averted gaze, or by touching the ear or scratching the chin. When a person is not being convinced by what someone is saying, the attention invariably wanders, and the eyes will stare away for an extended period.[citation needed] Boredom is indicated by the head tilting to one side, or by the eyes looking straight at the speaker but becoming slightly unfocused. A head tilt may also indicate a sore neck or Amblyopia, and unfocused eyes may indicate ocular problems in the listener.[citation needed] Interest can be indicated through posture or extended eye contact, such as standing and listening properly.[citation needed] Deceit or the act of withholding information can sometimes be indicated by touching the face during conversation. Excessive blinking is a well-known indicator of someone who is lying. Recently, evidence has surfaced that the absence of blinking can also represent lying as a more reliable factor than excessive blinking. [1]

Some people use and understand body language differently, or not at all.[citation needed] Interpreting their gestures and facial expressions (or lack thereof) in the context of normal body language usually leads to misunderstandings and misinterpretations (especially if body language is given priority over spoken language). It should also be stated that people from different cultures can interpret body language in different ways.

[edit] How prevalent is non-verbal communication in humans?

Some researchers[who?] put the level of nonverbal communication as high as 80 percent of all communication when it could be at around 50-65 percent. Different studies have found differing amounts, with some studies showing that facial communication is believed 4.3 times more often than verbal meaning, and another finding that verbal communication in a flat tone is 4 times more likely to be understood than a pure facial expression.[citation needed] Albert Mehrabian is noted for finding a 7%-38%-55% rule, supposedly denoting how much communication was conferred by words, tone, and body language. However he was only referring to cases of expressing feelings or attitudes.

[edit] Body language and space

Interpersonal space refers to the psychological "bubble" that we can imagine exists when someone is standing too close to us. Research has revealed that there are four different zones of interpersonal space.

The first zone is called intimate distance and ranges from touching to about eighteen inches (46 cm) apart. Intimate distance is the space around us that we reserve for lovers, children, as well as close family members and friends. The second zone is called personal distance and begins about an arm's length away; starting around eighteen inches (46 cm) from our person and ending about four feet (122 cm) away. We use personal distance in conversations with friends, to chat with associates, and in group discussions. The third zone of interpersonal space is called social distance and is the area that ranges from four to eight feet (1.2 m - 2.4 m) away from you. Social distance is reserved for strangers, newly formed groups, and new acquaintances. The fourth identified zone of space is public distance and includes anything more than eight feet (2.4 m) away from you. This zone is used for speeches, lectures, and theater; essentially, public distance is that range reserved for larger audiences.[5]

[edit] Unintentional gestures

Recently, there has been huge interest in studying human behavioral clues that could be useful for developing an interactive and adaptive human-machine system. Unintentional human gestures such as making an eye rub, a chin rest, a lip touch, a nose itch, a head scratch, an ear scratch, crossing arms, and a finger lock have been found conveying some useful information in specific context. Some researchers[who?] have tried to extract such gestures in a specific context of educational applications.[citation needed] In poker games, such gestures are referred to as "tells" and are useful to players for detecting deception or behavioral patterns in an opponent.

Communication skill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search Communication skill or communication skills Communication skills simply do not refer to the way in which we communicate with another person. It includes many other things - the way in which we respond to the person we are speaking, body gestures including the facial ones, pitch and tone of our voice and a lot of other things. And the importance of communication skills is not just limited to the management world, since effective communication skills are now required in each and every aspect of our life.

First, let us concentrate on the importance of communication in business. We can measure the importance of communication skills in the business sector when we take a look at job

advertisements. There is little chance that you will come across an advertisement which does not mention that candidates should have good communication skills. Perhaps this is the only criteria which creates a positive impact when a person goes for a job interview. This is because technical qualifications are likely to be more or less the same for the candidates.

Without effective communication skills, a person may find it impossible to climb up the corporate ladder. Promotions come to those who can communicate effectively at all levels, from senior management level to the lowest employee.

As for communication within relationships, it should be remembered that maintaining good relationships is a way to a healthy lifestyle, and a good relationship can only be maintained by maintaining healthy communication with our near and dear ones. They are the ones we stay with on a regular basis. They are also the ones who see us at our best as well as our worst. Good communication skills help the relationships to develop along good lines, and ensure that arguments and disagreements are kept to a minimum. Good communication will avoid arguments and insults.

Another important part of communication in relationships is taking the initiative yourself. Do not wait for your best friend to call you after a long break. Instead take the phone and also take initiative to start the conversation. Often people have this problem while communicating, which comes from fear. They always think a thousand times whether to approach a person or not. But a person with good communication skills is always the first to start a conversation. Given the importance of communication skills in both the personal and the corporate world, any individual who want to make progress with their life should develop this important skill.

Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new (a product, a solution, a work of art etc.) which has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs. What counts as "valuable" is similarly defined in a variety of ways. Scholarly interest in creativity ranges widely: the relationship between creativity and general intelligence; the mental and neurological processes associated with creative activity; personality type and creative ability; creativity and mental health; creativity in education; and ways of fostering creativity through training and technology.

Definition
In a summary of scientific research into creativity Michael Mumford suggested: "Over the course of the last decade, however, we seem to have reached a general agreement that creativity involves the production of novel, useful products (Mumford, 2003, p. 110).[3] Beyond this general commonality, authors have diverged dramatically in their precise definitions, with Peter Meusburger claiming that over a hundred different versions can be found in the literature.[4]
[edit] Aspects of creativity

Theories of creativity (in particular investigating why some people are more creative than others) have focused on a variety of aspects. The most dominant are usually identified as the four "Ps" process, product, person and place.[5] A focus on process is shown in cognitive approaches that try to describe thought mechanisms and techniques for creative thinking. Theories invoking divergent rather than convergent thinking (such as Guilford), or those describing the staging of the creative process (such as Wallas) are primarily theories of creative process. A focus on creative product usually appears in attempts to measure creativity in people (psychometrics, see below), or in creative ideas framed as successful memes.[6] A focus on the nature of the creative person considers more general intellectual habits, such as openness, levels of ideation, autonomy, expertise, exploratory behaviour and so on. A focus on place considers the best circumstances in which creativity flourishes, including degrees of autonomy, access to resources and the nature of gatekeepers.
[edit] Historical and personal creativity

Creativity can be defined either as producing something historically new, such as scientific discoveries or great works of art, or as producing something new in a personal sense - an apparent innovation for the creator, regardless of whether others have made similar innovations, or whether others value the particular act of creation. For example, some writers, such as Mihly Cskszentmihlyi,[7] have defined creativity in terms of rare individuals who have been judged by others to have made significant creative, often domain-changing contributions (and as such, the level of creativity of an individual can vary over historical time as perceptions change). Others, such as Ken Robinson,[8] while focussing on creativity in a general population, include "originality" as part of the definition. However, others still have made a distinction between originality in historic terms, and novelty with regard to the creator. Margaret Boden distinguishes between h-creativity (historical) and p-creativity (personal),[9] and Anna Craft makes a similar distinction between "high" and "little c" creativity.[10] Kozbelt, Beghetto and Runco, in adopting what they call a little-c/Big-C model, divide little-c into mini-c (purely subjective) and Pro-c (professional, non-eminent creative works).[5]

Creativity and creative acts are therefore studied across several discplines - psychology, cognitive science, education, philosophy (particularly philosophy of science), theology, sociology, linguistics, business studies and economics. As a result there is a multitude of definitions and approaches.

Creativity and affect

Some theories suggest that creativity may be particularly susceptible to affective influence.
[edit] Creativity and positive affect relations

According to Isen, positive affect has three primary effects on cognitive activity:
1. Positive affect makes additional cognitive material available for processing, increasing the number of cognitive elements available for association; 2. Positive affect leads to defocused attention and a more complex cognitive context, increasing the breadth of those elements that are treated as relevant to the problem; 3. Positive affect increases cognitive flexibility, increasing the probability that diverse cognitive elements will in fact become associated. Together, these processes lead positive affect to have a positive influence on creativity.

Fredrickson in her Broaden and Build Model suggests that positive emotions such as joy and love broaden a person's available repertoire of cognitions and actions, thus enhancing creativity. According to these researchers, positive emotions increase the number of cognitive elements available for association (attention scope) and the number of elements that are relevant to the problem (cognitive scope).
[edit] Creativity and negative affect relations

On the other hand, some theorists have suggested that negative affect leads to greater creativity. A cornerstone of this perspective is empirical evidence of a relationship between affective illness and creativity. In a study of 1,005 prominent 20th century individuals from over 45 different professions, the University of Kentucky's Arnold Ludwig found a slight but significant correlation between depression and level of creative achievement. In addition, several systematic studies of highly creative individuals and their relatives have uncovered a higher incidence of affective disorders (primarily bipolar disorder and depression) than that found in the general population.
[edit] Creativity and affect at work

Three patterns may exist between affect and creativity at work: positive (or negative) mood, or change in mood, predictably precedes creativity; creativity predictably precedes mood; and whether affect and creativity occur simultaneously. It was found that not only might affect precede creativity, but creative outcomes might provoke affect as well. At its simplest level, the experience of creativity is itself a work event, and like other events in the organizational context, it could evoke emotion. Qualitative research and anecdotal accounts of creative achievement in the arts and sciences suggest that creative insight is often followed by feelings of elation. For example, Albert Einstein called his 1907 general

theory of relativity "the happiest thought of my life." Empirical evidence on this matter is still very tentative. In contrast to the possible incubation effects of affective state on subsequent creativity, the affective consequences of creativity are likely to be more direct and immediate. In general, affective events provoke immediate and relatively-fleeting emotional reactions. Thus, if creative performance at work is an affective event for the individual doing the creative work, such an effect would likely be evident only in same-day data. Another longitudinal research found several insights regarding the relations between creativity and emotion at work. First, a positive relationship between positive affect and creativity, and no evidence of a negative relationship. The more positive a person's affect on a given day, the more creative thinking they evidenced that day and the next dayeven controlling for that next day's mood. There was even some evidence of an effect two days later. In addition, the researchers found no evidence that people were more creative when they experienced both positive and negative affect on the same day. The weight of evidence supports a purely linear form of the affect-creativity relationship, at least over the range of affect and creativity covered in our study: the more positive a person's affect, the higher their creativity in a work setting. Finally, they found four patterns of affect and creativity affect can operate as an antecedent to creativity; as a direct consequence of creativity; as an indirect consequence of creativity; and affect can occur simultaneously with creative activity. Thus, it appears that people's feelings and creative cognitions are interwoven in several distinct ways within the complex fabric of their daily work lives.

[edit] Creativity and intelligence

Cerebral Cortex

Frontal lobe Temporal lobe Parietal lobe Occipital lobe The frontal lobe (shown in blue) is

thought to play an important role in creativity

There has been debate in the psychological literature about whether intelligence and creativity are part of the same process (the conjoint hypothesis) or represent distinct mental processes (the disjoint hypothesis). Evidence from attempts to look at correlations between intelligence and creativity from the 1950s onwards, by authors such as Barron, Guilford or Wallach and Kogan, regularly suggested that correlations between these concepts were low enough to justify treating them as distinct concepts.[37] Some researchers believe that creativity is the outcome of the same cognitive processes as intelligence, and is only judged as creativity in terms of its consequences, i.e. when the outcome of cognitive processes happens to produce something novel, a view which Perkins has termed the "nothing special" hypothesis.[38] A very popular model is what has come to be known as "the threshold hypothesis," proposed by Ellis Paul Torrance, which holds that a high degree of intelligence appears to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for high creativity.[21] This implies that, in a general sample, there will be a positive correlation between creativity and intelligence, but this correlation will not be found if only a sample of the most highly intelligent people are assessed. Research into the threshold hypothesis, however, has produced mixed results ranging from enthusiastic support to refutation and rejection.[39] An alternative perspective, Renzulli's three-rings hypothesis, sees giftedness as based on both intelligence and creativity. More on both the threshold hypothesis and Renzulli's work can be found in O'Hara and Sternberg.[38]

Fostering creativity
Main article: creativity techniques

Daniel Pink, in his 2005 book A Whole New Mind, repeating arguments posed throughout the 20th century, argues that we are entering a new age where creativity is becoming increasingly important. In this conceptual age, we will need to foster and encourage right-directed thinking (representing creativity and emotion) over left-directed thinking (representing logical, analytical thought). However, this simplification of 'right' versus 'left' brain thinking is not supported by the research data.[77] Nickerson[78] provides a summary of the various creativity techniques that have been proposed. These include approaches that have been developed by both academia and industry:
1. 2. 3. 4. Establishing purpose and intention Building basic skills Encouraging acquisitions of domain-specific knowledge Stimulating and rewarding curiosity and exploration

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Building motivation, especially internal motivation Encouraging confidence and a willingness to take risks Focusing on mastery and self-competition Promoting supportable beliefs about creativity Providing opportunities for choice and discovery Developing self-management (metacognitive skills) Teaching techniques and strategies for facilitating creative performance Providing balance

Understanding and enhancing the creative process with new technologies

A simple but accurate review on this new Human-Computer Interactions (HCI) angle for promoting creativity has been written by Todd Lubart, an invitation full of creative ideas to develop further this new field. Groupware and other Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) platforms are now the stage of Network Creativity on the web or on other private networks. These tools have made more obvious the existence of a more connective, cooperative and collective nature of creativity rather than the prevailing individual one. Creativity Research on Global Virtual Teams is showing that the creative process is affected by the national identities, cognitive and conative profiles, anonymous interactions at times and many other factors affecting the teams members, depending on the early or later stages of the cooperative creative process. They are also showing how NGO's cross-cultural virtual team's innovation in Africa would also benefit from the pooling of best global practices online. Such tools enhancing cooperative creativity may have a great impact on society and as such should be tested while they are built following the Motto: "Build the Camera while shooting the film". Some European FP7 scientific programs like Paradiso are answering a need for advanced experimentally-driven research including large scale experimentation test-beds to discover the technical, societal and economic implications of such groupware and collaborative tools to the Internet. On the other hand, creativity research may one day be pooled with a computable metalanguage like IEML from the University of Ottawa Collective Intelligence Chair, Pierre Levy. It might be a good tool to provide an interdisciplinary definition and a rather unified theory of creativity. The creative processes being highly fuzzy, the programming of cooperative tools for creativity and innovation should be adaptive and flexible. Empirical Modelling seems to be a good choice for Humanities Computing. If all the activity of the universe could be traced with appropriate captors, it is likely that one could see the creative nature of the universe to which humans are active contributors. After the web of documents, the Web of Things might shed some light on such a universal creative phenomenon which should not be restricted to humans. In order to trace and enhance cooperative and collective creativity, Metis Reflexive Global Virtual Team has worked for the last few years on the development of a Trace Composer at the intersection of personal experience and social knowledge.

Metis Reflexive Team has also identified a paradigm for the study of creativity to bridge European theory of "useless" and non-instrumentalized creativity, North American more pragmatic creativity and Chinese culture stressing more creativity as a holistic process of continuity rather than radical change and originality. This paradigm is mostly based on the work of the German philosopher Hans Joas, one that emphasizes the creative character of human action. This model allows also for a more comprehensive theory of action. Joas elaborates some implications of his model for theories of social movements and social change. The connection between concepts like creation, innovation, production and expression is facilitated by the creativity of action as a metaphore but also as a scientific concept. The Creativity and Cognition conference series, sponsored by the ACM and running since 1993, has been an important venue for publishing research on the intersection between technology and creativity. The conference now runs biennially, next taking place in 2011.

The Development of Creativity

This essay is an abstract of John Kao's book 'Jamming' about the 'art and discipline of business creativity'. John Kao is Academic Director of the Managing Innovation program at Stanford University. I translated the idea of business creativity into music and wrote some exercises with each chapter. I want to thank John Muyselaar who put me on this trail. Creativity is a natural function of the mind, as breathing is for the body. It's not something of talent. Everybody is creative or at least capable of developing creativity. What are the conditions? 1. Create the best circumstances to be creative. Weekend musicians can belt out some sweet tunes, but the greats practice every day. Study to be creative. Creativity is about the balance of art and discipline. Mastery is about moving from an abstract intellectual understanding to one that is 'in the bones', meaning integrated into one's worldview. Mastery understands the multifaceted nature of competence required. Elements of mastery: a. Fundamentals. Free your mind from the burden of fundamentals such as breathing technique, embouchure, tone quality, keys and chords. Fundamentals should be practiced and maintained to a level where it comes naturally. When your mind is less occupied with fundamentals it is free to be creative, based on the confidence fundamentals give. a. Intervals b. Circle of Fifths c. Major Scales and in Bass Clef d. Scales - Chords e. Thirds f. Major - Minor g. Minor h. Minor Scales and Harmonic & Melodic Minor Scales i. Bluesscale k. Major & Minor Chords

l. Technique and Left Hand Technique

b. Finding and developing a variety of spaces where critically supportive listening can take place. A creative culture can't flourish in an autocratic environment. No hierarchic structure. Everything can be said. Don't judge, listen. Keep possibilities open. a. Learn to recognize the different chord progressions of the Basic Blues b. Play II-V-I progressions in 12 keys, Major and Minor

c. Give the melody the right amount of space and the right sized space in time. Sometimes it's better not to play. d. Go from zero to one, but also from one to zero, the beginners mind. Great musicians are humble. They are not attached to the process or products of creation. The creative process never ends. Creativity is a continuous revolution. 2. Return to the beginning. "In the beginners mind there are many possibilities. In the expert mind there are only a few" Shunryu Suzuki, Zen-master). Play what you hear and listen to yourself. Play what's simple and true. Play fewer notes. Don't play if you don't know why. You have to have a good reason to disturb silence. You know what you know and what you don't know. Do what feels comfortable. Don't force yourself to do things you can't. Help other musicians to overcome their limitations. a. Play a children's melody b. Compose a melodic cell to use in your solo c. Compose a rhythmic cell to use in your solo d. Play a solo with only one note

3. Clear the mind. a. Focus on fresh input. Do something you don't expect. Read a different magazine, go for a walk and take some fresh air. Name things differently: say dog to a chair. It's useful to break the connection between the thing and our words for it to put your thinking into the imagistic language of the creative mind. Creativity needs crazy things. Think the unthinkable. Be free to have bad ideas and discover the gold nuggets in the muddy stream of ideas. Learn to recognize good ideas. Listen to yourself and try to remember those ideas. Play them again. b. Generate ideas through association. All ideas are welcome. The most creative inspirations come not in words but in visual images. Try to be positive: 'Yes, and....' improves the openness and participation of the people you brainstorm with, instead of 'Yes, but....' Play 4 by 4 in the 'Universal Blues' a. Listen to the idea of the band and play with it: rhythmically (short notes, long notes), melodic (upwards, downwards, jump, play the same melody) or the 'sense' of the statement. b. Play your own idea to give other band members opportunity to react.

4. Believe in the power of creativity. Take risks, don't play 'safe'. 'Wrong notes' don't exist. Creation is always a struggle. Struggle is part of the process and the struggle strengthens the end result. Positive speak inspires confidence. Allow competition, but throw away jealousies and fears. If you are confident with yourself and confident in the capabilities of your fellow musicians the whole will be better than the sum of its parts. Study the Guide Notes paper

5. Throw away sheet music. Try to memorize the tunes you play. It will make you more free and open to communicate with your band members. It helps you to develop to hear in advance what you play. Take a simple tune and learn it be heart, including the chords of your solo.

6. Creative leaps of thought transform knowledge to insight, insight to idea, idea to value: all through conversation. Conversation is the organizational medium through which creativity is both expressed and managed. Communicate individually on stage. Some musicians need a gesture, others one note or a rhythmic phrase. Do what the other musician needs. A nod, a twinkle of the eye etc. If you don't understand what someone means: ask! It shows your respect and openness to what someone's trying to say musically. Play free. a. Without listening to each other. b. Try to do something with the idea of the other band members.

7. There is no freedom without being in reference to something. Study the a. Half Diminished Scales and Diminished Scales b. Octotonic Scales in V7 - VII c. Diminished Whole Tone Scales in V7 - I minor d. Whole Tone Scale e. Tritone Substitution 8. No routines. Play as fast as possible: recognize your routine in your motoric capability. Try to change. 9. The Tao of management: "All behaviors lead to their opposites". Learn to see things backwards, inside out and upside down". In other words, it's about the right issue at the right time. Sometimes we need more structure, sometimes less. Sometimes we need more professionalism, sometimes more playfulness. Sometimes we need to get back to what we know best, sometimes we need to clear ourselves entirely of preconceptions. Raising the right question at the right time is the skill of the creativity facilitator. Dualism:

Point

counterpoint

a. Play chords and Play changes b. Third to Seventh

Liberty open endedness individual expressiveness Safety beginners mind Playing

discipline purposefulness group integrity

risk professionalism calculating Play melodic lines with a chromatic ascending (or descending) top note a. Improvise in free form b. Improvise in AABA Rhythm Changes

free form

structure

back to basics Tension

forward to the unknown release Study V - I tension and release progression and cadences a. Practice swing timing exercise b. Play 8 measures latin, 8 measures swing in A-B form Study the High Register Exercise

latin

swing

High Loud Legato timing forward

low soft staccato timing layback

Study Articulation and the Articulation Exercise Study the Timing paper

10. You need a lack of sentimentality for the present order. There is only one question you can ever ask which has value: What would you do now if you were starting again? Life is what you do next. It's always next. And the greatest of human emotions is anticipation of next. Don't think of the (wrong) notes you played. The next note is more important. Creativity is how you deal with the problems that come across while playing. The way you solve the musical questions that are being asked, makes a solo

worthwhile listening to. 11. Ask yourself (and others) why (five times). You will understand the essence of a situation. The goal is genuine dialogue, dialogue that leads to an explosion of ideas. 12. Seven aspects of well-crafted challenge: a. Language: 'capture' an audience. Put everything in your solo. People want you to do something special. Make a statement rather than do the expected. Effects a. Bugle Calls b. Bugle Calls Exercise c. Chromatic Bugle Calls d. Chromatic Buggle Calls Up and Down e. Harmonics

b. Context: Find a good context in which you perform. Know your goal. c. Mouth and money: Make sure your idea is possible to perform. d. Preparation: circumstances (reed, mouthpiece, materials) must be well shaped. Think before you act. Take a good rest. Don't use alcohol before and on stage. e. Discipline: Make it happen till the end of the piece. Stay concentrated. Listen to the solos of the other musicians. Study Licks V and II-V-I Licks

f. Complicity: we are all responsible for the outcome of the song. g. Empathy: to your colleague musicians. Make them feel good. 13. Creative individuals: a. Define the problem. What is your message in music? b. Clear the mind. c. Activate the imagination (hear your solo, sing). d. Wish (perseverance). e. Get a fresh perspective (ask fellow musicians, listen). f. Shake up your routine, loose your habits. g. Find your woodshed, a place that stimulates your imagination. h. Expect to be creative. i. Keep track of the process. 14. With the band: a. Know your role. Pick the tune, its key, and its tempo. Know when to start and when to end. b. Be protective. Your team is your baby. Guard it fiercely. Premature or abrasive judgment is a threat to your baby's health. Passionately defend free, open, even off the wall interaction. c. Use theatrical gestures. Think of the audience. d. Create micro cultures. An extra section rehearsal might be useful.

e. Master the art of conversation. Think and talk about music. Find the right words to describe feelings. Always be respectful. f. Make time an alley. Decide when to do what. g. Set boundaries. Limit freedom. h. Practice the art of sitting out. Go to have a drink together. i. Trumpet your creativity. Everybody needs to know you are creative. j. Be concrete.

Innovation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Innovation (disambiguation). This article is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (May 2009)

A confusing personification of the innovator as represented by a statue in The American Adventure in the World Showcase pavilion of Walt Disney World's Epcot. Effectively an inventor is displayed.

Innovation comes from the Latin innovtus which means to renew. Innovation can therefore be seen as the process that renews something that exists and not, as is commonly assumed, the introduction of something new. For the renewal to take place it is necessary for people to change the way they make decisions, they must choose to do things differently, make choices outside of their norm. Schumpeter c.s. (~1930) seems to have stated that innovation changes the values onto which the system is based. So when people change their value (system) the old (economic) system will tumble over to make room for the new one. When that happens innovation has occurred. So innovation must be seen as something that does not something that is On a lower level, innovation can be seen as a change in the thought process for doing something, or the useful application of new inventions or discoveries.[1] It may refer to incremental, emergent, or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. Following Schumpeter (1934), contributors to the scholarly literature on innovation typically distinguish between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully in practice. In many fields, such as the arts, economics and government policy, something new must be substantially different to be innovative. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. The goal of invention is positive change, to make someone or something better. Invention and introduction of it that leads to increased productivity is the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy.[citation needed] Innovation is an important topic in the study of economics, business, entrepreneurship, design, technology, sociology, and engineering. Colloquially, the word "innovation" is often synonymous with the output of the process. However, economists tend to focus on the process itself, from the origination of an idea to its transformation into something useful, to its implementation; and on the system within which the process of innovation unfolds. Since innovation is also considered a major driver of the economy, especially when it leads to new product categories or increasing productivity, the factors that lead to innovation are also considered to be critical to policy makers. In particular, followers of innovation economics stress using public policy to spur innovation and growth. Those who are directly responsible for application of inventions are often called pioneers in their field, whether they are individuals or organizations. When pioneers are followed by many other the dominant value system may be replaced by the new one. When this happens innovation has occurred a posteriori