ABSTRACT
There are lots of ways of developing creativity and books on how to do it from authors like Buzan (1995) and de Bono (1990) flood the bookshop shelves. In a sense this is odd, because having ideas is such a minuscule part of making change happen. Having the idea can get you on a path but there is still an awful-long way to go before the new idea is learned and internalized as a habit, before other people are persuaded, and aspects of the organization changed so as to let the new idea live. However, in the context of coaching and mentoring, thinking creatively is important, because our habitual responses lock us into patterns of behaviour that are often self-defeating and do not deliver what it is that we are intending. Chapters 2-5 have a number of techniques for being creative around clarifying what the problem is. Chapter 6 – Dealing with Roadblocks – was about the demolition of some of these barriers and this chapter is about finding what to put in the place of the block. Chapters 8 and 9 include some approaches to creative solutions. This chapter focuses upon creativity – how to do things rather than what to do.
