Innovation and Creativity conference

This is the opinion of TomorrowToday.biz Chief Imagination Officer, Barrie Bramley who also says that while man's natural development seems to point to an increasing ability to engage in creative thought processes, there are societal forces that, from an early age, work against this development by strongly encouraging us to conform to a particular, and apparently socially acceptable 'correct' framework.

"Any frameworks that support this worldview are accepted. Any that work against it or are different, are rejected. Our lives are a sad story of being driven toward conformity," says Bramley. "But as we get older, our ability to deal with the complexity of different, but complimentary frameworks increases. This ability is directly related to creativity and innovation and it is the frameworks that we have developed that prevent us from 'thinking out of the box'."

Bramley explains that the 'box' is the particular framework or worldview that we use in that context. "An understanding of your own framework, as well as the many others that exist, increases our ability to escape the trappings of our particular worldview.

Raymond de Villiers, Head of Organisational Alchemy at TomorrowToday.biz says that: "One cannot escape the innovation invasion currently happening in business circles. Gurus are popping up everywhere. Books, magazines and newspapers are all carrying innovation advice and success stories. Business schools are advertising courses, and consultants are preparing for an innovation economic windfall."

But cautions de Villiers, innovation is not going to happen easily on its own. "It's going to take a very deliberate corporate strategy to make sure that there is no-one left out of this new drive toward creativity. Innovation requires that we move away from the sameness and embrace the different."

To enjoy a culture of innovation and creativity organisations should strive to achieve: