Reflection and Action Plan
Reflection and Action Plan
Introduction
Each individual in the world is creative in one or more aspects. Due to creativity, people tend to discover and innovate new things that impact their daily life. Therefore, developing creativity is a vital move in a person’s life, and people should work towards improving their creativity. This paper includes a personal reflection and an action plan regarding the progressive development in my creativity, starting from childhood to description of my next steps in improving my creativity. Besides, it is arranged systematically starting with the analysis of my creativity and ends with an action plan for my future plan in innovation.
Analysis
- What I grew up thinking about creativity
Creativity has been referred to as the ability to apply original imaginations to create new things (Cropley, 2016). In this case, each individual, both young and grown-ups, have the ability to come up with new things and ideas through meaningful imaginations. I spent my childhood life in Texas where I lived with my parents and two siblings in a homestead surrounded with open onion and cotton fields. In short, we were somehow poor. Such a low life impacted highly on my understanding of creativity. As usual, young children tend to involve themselves in creative activities including inventing new games and modifying the existing ones. However, a difference exists between children from rich backgrounds and those from poor one such that children belong to rich parents play with toys that have been bought by their parents. On the other hand, children from poor backgrounds tend to create toys from available materials so that they can play with them.
In that case, I grew up thinking that creativity is about applying the available resources to come up with more useful things. “Both creativity and technological inventions can solve the human beings’ problems in life” (Shen, & Lai, 2018). Therefore, through my imaginations and creativity, I was able to design self-assembled toys and rifles so that I could play around with them. In short, I believed that creativity entails designing original things from the available resources.
- What I learned about creativity that surprised me
Hashmi, Ishak, & Hassan (2018) writes: “Individuals construct their reality through their preferences of thinking during their interactions with others in social context.” This quote is derived from the theory of reality construction which claims that people develop their creativity in relation to their social and environmental constructs. Furthermore, a survey carried out by Dabić, Lažnjak, Smallbone, & Švarc (2018) showed that creativity depicted in an organization is related to intellectual capital and innovative culture. Thus, the level and nature of creativity depicted by individuals correspond to the culture they were born in and the resources they use to implement their creative ideas. At first, I was not aware of this fact until I gave it a second thought. I had grown up in a household which was somehow poor. Since I could not access products manufactured in industries, I had to design my own products such as toys that resembled the actual ones. However, I used local materials such as wood and plastic to design them. Following this, it is possible for different organizations to apply their creativity to design similar products, but using different resources (Jafari, & Zarghami, 2017). Thus, I discovered that I could design any item I wanted using the available resources as long as I apply creativity.
- What I learned from creativity and how it becomes an innovation
Apart from applying creativity to design toys and rifles using available materials. I realized that I could as well develop my career by applying creativity. Employees and organizational leaders also need creativity to make wise choices and come up with reliable solutions (Paul, Dutta, & Saha, 2016). In this case, I applied creativity as an adult employee in an engineering company which enabled me to develop unique products and machinery. For example, the theory of reality construction helped me to use resources in the surroundings to design new products. This can be done by recycling discarded metals and plastics. The idea of recycling used production impressed the organization to the extent of promoting me to a leader in the organization.
Although leadership is another field of tricks and challenges, applying creativity can make a person to become a good leader. As such, I applied new innovations like engaging with employees directly so as to understand their problems. Besides, I ensured that all resources required to improve the company’s activities are purchased and availed to the organization in time. More so, I was ready to share new ideas with other employees, and also gave them chances to present their ideas. According to Shen (2018), creativity can be improved through learning. Therefore, I secured time for training new employees in the organization so that they can turn out to be more creative and innovative than before. In short, I learned that creativity does not depreciate as long as the mind is working in the right way (Kudesia, 2015). My creativity had turned into progressive innovations that can benefit others.
The Action Plan
Based on the analysis above, my creativity journey began when I started designing my own toys and rifles. After that, I discovered that I could develop my creativity into a career so as to continue coming up with new innovations. I then got employed and started displaying my creative arts until I was made the leader of the organization, a chance which has enabled me to develop creativity in organizational leadership. Following this, I would like to continue developing my creativity so that I can establish my own engineering company that will be able to produce new and unique products. Below is the action plan for my desire project:
Action Plan
| Action Steps | Responsibilities | Timeline | Resources | Potential Barriers | Communication Plan |
| Step 1: Save enough income to establish the organization | I will save the income | One year | Adequate income | Inadequate savings | Communicate with my employer to make timely payments |
| Step 1: Start constructing buildings for the organization | A contractor and other construction personnel | One year | Enough personnel to construct buildings | Inadequate income to pay the contractor | Communicate with the contractor to confirm the progress |
| Step 3: Finish construction and install machines and other equipment required in an engineering company | The contractor and other construction personnel | Three months | Adequate income to pay workers | The absence of the required machinery | Communicate with business partners to negotiate for prices of machinery |
| Step 4: Employ adequate and skilled employees | Appointed leaders in the organization | Two months | Skilled applicants | Applicants that fail to meet requirements for employment | Communicate with the applicants |
| Start carrying out organizational functions. | The organizational team | From the start onwards | Adequate space, time, and finances to carry out the intended activities | Uncooperative employees | Open communication channel among employees. |
Reference
Cropley, D. H. (2016). Creativity in engineering. In Multidisciplinary contributions to the science of creative thinking (pp. 155-173). Springer, Singapore.
Dabić, M., Lažnjak, J., Smallbone, D., & Švarc, J. (2018). Intellectual capital, organizational climate, innovation culture, and SME performance: Evidence from Croatia. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development.
Hashmi, A., Ishak, S., & Hassan, H. B. (2018). A Role of Thinking Styles for Innovation, A Conceptual Framework with a Critical review of Literature. Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 6, 5.
Jafari, M., & Zarghami, H. R. (2017). Effect of TRIZ on enhancing employees’ creativity and innovation. Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, 89(6), 853-861.
Kudesia, R. S. (2015). Mindfulness and creativity in the workplace. Mindfulness in organizations: Foundations, research, and applications, 190-212.
Paul, M., Dutta, A., & Saha, P. (2016, April). Improving Organizational Effectiveness through Workplace Spirituality a41144nd Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: A Conceptual Review. In Globsyn management conference 2015 (Vol. 1, p. 79). Allied Publishers.
Shen, T. L., & Lai, J. C. (2018). Instructional Design of Creating Creative and Imaginative Works. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(4), 1509-1517.