Lynda.com review: The Importance of Clear Goals

“Did you put your lunch box away, is a common question I ask my 15-year-old son Michael. Nope, I didn’t have time, is most often the reply.

This conversation seems to be a daily déjà vu moment for me. Didn’t I ask this yesterday? And didn’t he answer exactly the same? Yes, and yes.

While I am getting upset with my teenaged son, I realize that I often find myself in this very spot – I have lots of tasks, commitments, and promises I made. However, when asked whether they are done (yet!), my answer replicates the one of my son’s… That is, “Nope, I didn’t have time!”

So, where did all this time go?

In a search of the answer to the question, I watched a very good Lynda.com video titled “The Importance of Clear Goals” by Chris Croft.

In this video, Chris reveals that the key in time management is to spend more time on what is important and, respectively, spend less time on what is not important.

Wait a minute! – I thought. Everything I do IS important.

As if he heard me saying this, Chris offered his view on how we determine which things are important and which are not.

He simply states that if an activity moves us towards our goal, it is an important one. If it doesn’t, it is not.

How much simpler could it be? As soon as I heard it, I started measuring my own daily tasks against this criterion.

I asked myself, “What is the goal of our work at Enrolment Services?”

My own answer was, “The end goal is to make sure our students are successful! Not only do we need to make sure they are in to RRC, but we also need to make sure they are out successfully, with certificates, diplomas, and degrees earned”.

“So”, I thought. Which ones of my tasks are serving the goal above?

“All of them”, – I immediately replied to myself. But is it really so? I am sure all of us at RRC would like to think that all tasks we perform have the end goal of serving our students. While I am sure most have that end goal, I also think that some tasks are more directly related to serving students than others.

How do we deal with it? Chris suggests two approaches to dealing with tasks that are of a lesser priority:

1. Saying “no” to customers
2. Negotiating the time allotted to complete the task

Both options relate to explaining to your customers (students in our case) that we would like to provide an excellent service/product and that we may not be able to complete the task in the short time period. The key here is, we don’t want to make promises we cannot keep. Either to our customers or to our bosses. As someone who was raised in such a way that a person should always keep the promises s/he made, I related to this statement. My take away from this is that it is better to under promise and over deliver, rather than the other way around.

So, let us find the tasks that really matter and spend more of our time on them!

Overall, Chris’ video is a good one to watch for those who are looking for efficiencies in their daily life (both in and outside of work) and for those who are interested in practical solutions for reducing unimportant activities in daily operations.

I recommend watching the video!

Do you have a tip or idea that has helped you set clear goals? I welcome your suggestions, email me directly at anhughes@rrc.ca

When I arrived at RRC about six months ago, I was excited to learn that Lynda.com would soon be rolled out to students, staff, faculty and leaders at the college. I’d used Lynda before, at a previous workplace and through the Winnipeg Public Library, so I was aware that there were tons of high quality videos and courses on a variety of topics. Finding content is never the issue for me, but finding time to watch it can be a bit challenging. A new job in a new workplace as big and complex as RRC comes with a learning curve, and the pace doesn’t really slow down when I walk through the door at home. I’m usually greeted enthusiastically by my two energetic sons, six year old Milo and two year old Marcus, and quickly involved in a Lego project, dance party or (hopefully soon), a bike ride.

So I’ve found some creative ways to incorporate Lynda into my routines so that I don’t have to miss out on any of the fun stuff at work or at home, because “Let’s play office!” with a toddler didn’t end up being the solution I was hoping for.

In What’s Watson Watching you read about some great ideas on WHAT to watch on Lynda, now I’m here to share HOW I’m watching it.

• Lynda mobile app – did you know there’s a Lynda app? You can download it from the app store, enter your RRC credentials and it’s ready to go on your mobile device. I watch Lynda almost exclusively on my phone. The home page opens up to display courses you are currently watching so it’s easy to jump back in. It also displays your playlists and has an easy search function.
• Download courses and videos – did you know you can download courses and videos when you’re connected to wifi so you can watch later? I found this out on a recent trip. I downloaded some courses and watched them on a flight.
• Speed it up – by clicking on the settings gear in a video, you can increase the playback speed. I find that depending on voice of the narrator, 1.25 or 1.5x the normal playback speed allows me to take in the content a bit quicker without sacrificing quality. I’ve found any quicker than that is distracting but try the different speeds and see what works for you.
• Embracing micro learning – while I’ve found a number of full courses very valuable, my favourite Lynda videos are the weekly tips series. My favourites are Communication Tips Weekly, Leadership Stories Weekly and Teacher Tech Tips Weekly. Most videos are 5 minutes or less, and offer a quick and effective tip to improve your practice. I also find that these videos are great to download and listen to in the car. Not all Lynda content lends itself to car listening because they have visual elements that complete the learning experience, but Communication Tips and Leadership Stories are mainly auditory and make me feel especially productive during my commute.

I would love to hear about HOW you’re using Lynda – any tips, tricks or settings that have helped you make Lynda a regular part of your routine? Email me at nogborn@rrc.ca

Lynda.com Review: Applied Curiosity

“What did your childhood smell like?” According to the instructor of this Applied Curiosity course on Lynda.com, this is one of the Most Valuable Questions (MVQ) she uses to get to know someone new. In case you are wondering, my childhood smelled like motor oil (from my Dad’s car dealership), hardwood floors and sweaty toe shoes (from my Mom’s ballet studio), and the sweet baby powder smell of my Cabbage Patch Doll named Saranella (yes, really, that’s what I named her and even sent in the birth certificate to prove it).

Now, I did not expect this question in this course. Then again, perhaps I should not have been surprised. After all, having reviewed seven Lynda.com courses before this (and having watched at least twice that many to identify appropriate courses to write about), I’m keenly aware of a repeated theme: Know Thyself.  Many of the courses I’ve reviewed for this series reinforce the importance of self-awareness as the first stage of learning. I started “What’s Watson Watching” to add new professional skills and gain more knowledge. What I did not expect was the significant personal reflection (and hopefully growth) that has resulted from watching these courses.

This course on Applied Curiosity continues the theme of Know Thyself, with its clear insistence on understanding our own motivations, biases, and work styles first as the critical foundation for fostering good practices of curiosity. The instructor, Becki Saltzman, suggests that when a new situation arises, natural curiosity quickly can be drowned by feelings of inadequacy or by passing judgement on others. If we can develop an awareness of when this descent into fear or judgement occurs, she offers a technique to bring us back to a place of curiosity. This technique utilizes as a visual metaphor to “trigger” an elevation into a place of curiosity. Saltzman uses a pogo stick as her “trigger” image. The next time I am aware of these tendencies in a conversation, I will utilize this technique to visualize outward moving concentric circles flowing from the centre of a pond to open up space and possibility (I am a Pisces, so I tend to like water metaphors).  What would be your “trigger” image to elevate your curiosity?

Another opportunity for self-awareness in this course is through Saltzman’s introduction of four Curiosity Archetypes: adventurer (Amelia Earhart), philosopher (Aristotle), observer (da Vinci) and problem-solver (Einstein). She suggests that each of us follows one of these archetypes and notes that having each of these on a team can increase the effectiveness of a project (fortunately, she also notes that we can move between archetypes depending on context and audience). While I’d like to see myself as the adventurer, I’m probably more comfortable as observer. Which of these archetypes resonates with you?

While some of the course content seems to be a bit extraneous (such as the sections on data analysis – no offense to our RRC institutional research team), the idea that curiosity must be well timed to be effective was one of the most valuable take-aways from the course. Saltzman challenges the notion that asking good questions is helpful all the time; instead, she reminds us that one must be politically savvy and socially aware when being curious.  In other words, knowing when to be curious (being mindful of audience and context) can be just as important as knowing how to be curious (my Dad’s favourite Kenny Rogers’ song comes to mind here: “You gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, know when to run…” I guess that would be the answer to the next question: “What did my childhood sound like?”).

As a final reflection, I understand now that the two types of curiosity that Saltzman identifies have framed my journey through these eight Lynda.com courses. I have chosen courses because I simply want to know more about the topic (which she defines as “free-range curiosity”), or for immediate application to help solve problems or manage specific issues (which she terms “applied curiosity”). No matter the motivation for choosing them, all of the courses I have reviewed have enriched my self-awareness and enhanced my professional capacity in some way.

Thank you to everyone who has joined me on this journey by reading the reviews or watching their own choice of Lynda.com courses. Thanks especially to my Lynda.com cheerleaders, Carrie Schaepe and Jacqueline Wood, who have supported this series in so many valuable ways. May we all continue to play, to grow, to learn and to be curious about how we can individually and collectively make a difference for our students, our colleagues, our College and our communities.  Please let me know at cewatson@rrc.ca if you have a favourite Lynda.com video that you have used for personal or professional reasons. And look for upcoming guest reviews of Lynda.com videos in the next few weeks!

Lynda.com review: Breaking Out of a Rut

I love my work at Red River College because I work with inspirational people who are passionate about education and the success of our students. I also enjoy my work because no two days are ever the same, with constantly emerging opportunities and issues keeping me in constant problem-solving mode.

But that doesn’t mean that I also don’t end up approaching those situations in the same way, using the same meeting agendas, and applying the same assumptions to solving problems. By doing so, I end up being less effective, less creative and sometimes even losing my own energy for the work. In other words, even in an extremely busy work environment, ruts happen.

As some of you will know (from earlier “What’s Watson Watching” reviews), I’m curious about creative practices in leadership, and ruts can prevent me from being my most creative. According to Stefan Mumaw, the instructor for this course, ruts are simply mental patterns that are so repetitious that they become unconscious. These routines can inhibit our ability to see anew and may dampen our interest in trying something new. These apply as much to work ruts as they do to personal situations, including ruts in parenting and personal relationships.
In my case, I notice that ruts often happen when I’m feeling overwhelmed or too tired to approach a situation in a new or novel way. Whether at work, trying to engage my kids, or in my marriage, it becomes easier to stay in the routine than to make the effort and expend the energy to try something new. Not surprisingly, then, it resonated with me when Stefan explained that ruts often develop because we are so focused on output and productivity that we forget to fill our creative tanks.

To spark the matchstick that fuels the fire of creativity, Stefan offers a number of suggestions to break out of a rut, including:

• Be a pattern hunter – track your routines and track your time (I’ve recently started a new journal technique called Bullet Journaling, which has led to a fascinating review of my habits).
• Become a game maker – create a game to create engagement (a friend started geocaching with his kids on family trips and they love it!)
• Say yes — embrace opportunities that take you out of your comfort zone (I recently read Shonda Rhimes’ “Year of Yes” – fascinating).
• Take on a difficult project – seek perseverance and focus (one of my favorite TED Talks is Matt Cutts’ talk on the power of 30 day challenges. I just completed a 30 day yoga challenge and loved it, even if I still look like a wounded partridge on a mat).
• Embrace your inner student – sign up for a class and immerse yourself in learning (or, hey, watch some Lynda videos on topics outside your area of expertise!)

Another of Stefan’s suggestions is to draw or doodle to solve a problem. To practice this last weekend after I watched the course, I asked my youngest son if he would give me a problem to solve and I would draw it. He told me he wanted me to draw myself as a superhero. It made me uncomfortable to have to articulate my super-powers, but my son seemed pleased with the outcome and I was surprised with how much fun it was! So, here’s my rut-busting attempt at creative drawing (be kind, gentle readers) with an editorial comment in the corner by my wife:

Overall, I found this Lynda.com course to be a good combination of theory (the biology and psychology behind ruts) and practical advice (the practices that can help us to break ruts). I would have appreciated more real-life examples of people who were in ruts and what they did to address them. What practices did they use? How did they overcome ruts? I always appreciate illustrations of what has worked for others (and even what hasn’t). Other Lynda courses have included these kinds of examples, so I think this course could benefit from the same.

That said, perhaps you can provide your own examples. What are your ruts? Are they personal and/or professional? What techniques offered in this course might be useful to help you seek new ways of seeing, thinking, or problem-solving? What are you feeding your creativity? E-mail me at cewatson@rrc.ca and let me know. Good luck with your rut-busting!

Lynda.com Review: Coaching and Developing Employees with Lisa Gates

There is a popular meme on Linked In where a senior leader asks, “What happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave?” to which the CEO responds, “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”

One of the most rewarding and important roles I have as Vice-President Academic is to support the development of the colleagues with whom I work. It is wonderful to witness someone start a new role, embrace a new challenge or take a risk because they feel supported to do so. My role in the coaching relationship is to walk alongside, to listen, to draw out ideas, and to encourage stretch opportunities.

Coaching takes practice, time and commitment – and I don’t always get it right. However, coaching is a critical investment in our own people. In fact, research shows that a culture of coaching can directly benefit an organization through building stronger talent, preparing for succession, and supporting effective employee engagement.

I chose to review this Lynda.com course because I want to continue to practice my skills to better support my team. Similar to the conflict resolution course that I reviewed a few weeks ago (led by the same instructor, Lisa Gates), this course uses a series of vignettes that present coaching conversations between a manager and a new leader on her team. The exchanges accurately (in my experience at least) reflect the sometimes difficult terrain that managers need to travel when supporting team members. I also found it helpful when a “what not to do” scene was presented alongside a “do this instead” option (and, honestly, recognized myself in both scenarios!).

One of the key messages in this course is that coaching should always be future focused (“what’s possible?”) and, therefore, it is not just for colleagues who may be struggling or need additional support. It can also serve to support new hires to the organization, staff leading new projects, and high achievers with career aspirations. When we spend time really listening, approaching the situation with curiosity, and asking questions to gain different perspectives, we can help our colleagues gain clarity and move forward with renewed commitment. Perhaps you’ve been in a conversation with someone where you’ve asked a question that changed their perspective on the situation and helped them identify next steps – that’s a coaching moment!

Although the course is focused primarily on the manager-employee relationship, the techniques presented in this course – especially the Power Talk questions and process – are widely applicable and can be immensely helpful in peer support conversations and even in personal conversations with partners, family and children. Ultimately, coaching is about listening, asking powerful questions, and providing a safe place for others to explore ideas, take risks, practice new skills and celebrate success … and we can all use that kind of support!

Have you ever been in a coaching role? Have you ever been coached? What made those experiences meaningful and valuable? What did you learn?

Please e-mail me directly at cewatson@rrc.ca

Lynda.com Review: Leading with Applied Improv

What do Saturday Night Live and Red River College have in common? More than you might think! Like Saturday Night Live actors, many of us improvise on the spot almost every day. Whether in the classroom or in meetings, unexpected situations arise constantly that require us to pivot quickly and work with others to identify the new direction.

Initially as an instructor and now as an administrator, I am fascinated by the relevance of improv principles to my own work. I am inspired by the speed at which the actors adapt and how they support each other. I believe there are many improv techniques that can directly apply to how we teach, how we work and how we lead.

My fascination originally led me to explore to improv techniques for adult learning at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. At the time, I discovered the value of building “play” into a teaching environment and of creating scenarios where everyone wins and it is safe to make mistakes.

I chose to watch this Lynda.com course because of its link between improv principles and key leadership practices. Through the use of entertaining workshop games, facilitator Izzy Gesell reveals that improv (like good leadership) relies on several key practices: the participants’ ability to be present in the moment; active listening skills; and the group’s commitment to co-creation.

This act of co-creation is built on the “Yes, and…” improvisation technique.  We have all heard “Yes, but…” when someone introduces a new idea. In improv, however, the substitution of “yes, and” instead of “yes, but” creates a space for creativity and possibility. I invite you to see how it feels to use “yes, and” instead of “yes, but” in a conversation (trust me, it really does feel different!).

Gesell illustrates another principle of improv through the activity of “one word at a time” storytelling. In this game, two people co-create a story, each contributing one word at a time. After watching the Lynda.com course, I played it with my wife and sons (who are 10 and 12), with hilarious results. As we played, I realized I could not control the direction of the story and, in fact, needed the other person’s contributions to know where we were going. It was a great leadership lesson to (re)learn.

Overall, this highly entertaining and illuminating Lynda.com course reminded me not only that I already use improvisation skills daily, but that I can apply the practices of improv to enhance my leadership and my life. As Amy Poehler, a famous improv actor, wisely explains:

“Listen. Say yes. Live in the moment. Make sure you play with people who have your back. Make big choices early and often. Don’t start a scene where two people are talking about jumping out of a plane.
Start the scene having already jumped. If you’re scared, look into your partner’s eyes — you will feel better.” (Harvard Commencement Address, 2011)

I would love to hear from you – in what ways do you find improv techniques to help with your teaching or professional practice?

Please e-mail me directly at cewatson@rrc.ca 

Lynda.com Review: Conflict Resolution Foundations with Lisa Gates

I grew up in a family that expressed great love and equally great conflict. I remember laying in bed listening to my parents argue late into the night (usually in hushed tones, but not always). Similarly, my younger brother has turned every conversation into a jousting match. Perhaps then, it is not surprising that I learned early on to avoid conflict, to stay quiet, to be the good girl. I never felt physically unsafe, but the verbal sparring was often a source of anxiety.

As I got older and moved through my career (and a divorce), I learned that conflict is a natural and necessary part of the human condition. I also learned to lean into conflict and developed healthy tools to navigate differences of opinion, values, agendas and perspectives.

Because of my own history, this Lynda.com course was an unexpectedly profound learning experience. The instructor, Lisa Gates (one of the best instructors I’ve seen on Lynda, by the way), starts the course by suggesting that the way we respond to conflict is based on our upbringing. Her main theme is: “Work on yourself first” along with the mantra: “It is never about the other person. Never. Even when it is.”

It is so easy to blame others for conflict. However, in order to find resolution, we need to understand our default responses to conflict and recognize the stories we create in our minds about the situation. Then, we need to test our own assumptions and ask questions to open the space for other perspectives. Winnie the Pooh (one of my favourite modern philosophers) nicely sums up the importance of this practice:

“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” (A.A. Milne, The House At Pooh Corner, 1928).

This course illustrates the importance of seeking different perspectives through a simulated conversation between a senior engineer (Gina) and her manager (William). The scenario introduces several conflict resolution strategies, including opening the conversation (often the hardest part), reframing with tactical empathy, and engaging the other person in finding the solution. The conversation between Gina and William is very realistic (it even made me uncomfortable at times) and illustrated the use of these strategies towards a successful outcome.

This course was a surprise for me. I was not expecting its insistence on self-awareness as a core theme, and I did not expect to learn techniques that were immediately applicable. Instead, I found the learning both humbling and impactful. In fact, the techniques introduced in the course changed the way I approached recent conversations, including one with my Dad last week that went remarkably well.  I was also reminded yet again that my responses to conflict can be different from the ones I learned as a child and, for that, I am deeply grateful.

I encourage you to watch this course and would love to hear what you thought of it too – email me directly at cewatson@rrc.ca.

Lynda.com review: Flight Club: Drones and the Dawn of Personal Aerial Imaging

Drones (or UAV – unmanned aerial vehicles) fascinate me. While most well known for their military and surveillance uses, drones increasingly are being adopted for commercial purposes. Amazon has been testing drones for autonomous delivery service. Farmers use drones to map fields and spray crops. Construction firms deploy UAVs to inspect buildings and bridges. With the acceleration of related technologies (batteries, sensors, cameras etc.), the increased commercial possibilities for drones are seemingly endless.
Right now, drones are disruptors – both in the positive and negative sense. Not only are they positively impacting industries in the examples above, but they are also impacting peoples’ lives, and not always for the good. Shortly before this past Christmas, drones flying in the airspace of Gatwick airport in England disrupted travel plans for over 110,000 people and shut down the airport for 32 hours.

Drones are one of the technologies that we, as a College, have a hard time figuring out where to teach. They do not “fit” into our usual program fields, as they have aspects in manufacturing, engineering, software development, transportation, aviation, etc. However, I was both surprised and delighted that one of the first RRC program areas to embrace drones in their curriculum has been Teacher Education, led by Dr. Eva Brown (Teacher Education) and Jonathan Ferber (eTV Learning Technologies).
This video wasn’t so much a “course” as it was a genuine documentary short film. This documentary (23 minutes long) features the activities of a group of drone enthusiasts. Called “Flight Club”, the film tells the story of community coming together around a common technology. The members of Flight Club come from very diverse fields and contribute through the open sharing of knowledge. Several times throughout the film, interviewees mention how quickly both the drone technology and their own learning has accelerated in only two and a half years as a direct result of their collaboration.

The members’ work together leads to images that are visually stunning. The photographs and videography shared in the documentary are breathtaking, from aerial tours of national parks and a ghost town to night filming. My favorite shot is one of a kayaker beside a massive whale. These images remind me that technology can introduce not only greater efficiency for our world but also opportunities to experience beauty and wonder in new ways.
For someone new to drones, this documentary serves as a wonderful general introduction to drone photography on its own and as applied in various industries, including forensic visualization (re-creation of accidents) and the creation of 3D models. For my continued learning, I have explored other Lynda.com videos that discuss the use of drones, including Construction Technology and the Internet of Things.

As a result of watching this documentary, I bought my 12-year old son a small quadcopter that responds to the heat in his hand (for inside use only). It has been fascinating to watch him learn how to use it.

I would love to hear from you – what emerging technology fascinates you or has impacted your life in ways you didn’t expect?

Please e-mail me directly at cewatson@rrc.ca 

Review of “How Questions Shape Your Life: Using Questions to Foster Critical Thinking and Curiosity”

I’m a fan of good questions. Perhaps like you, I’ve experienced those magical moments in meetings where a question someone asks completely changes the direction of the discussion, opens up new channels of inquiry, and helps get us to a decision faster. I’ve also been in situations where I’ve given a presentation and no one had a question afterwards – which is a very disconcerting experience!

I chose to watch this Lynda.com course as a way of refreshing my skills on asking questions to stimulate creative thinking (my own and others’). The course provides a good overview of the reasons why good questions matter. My own experience confirms that thoughtful questions can help strengthen relationships, create trust, and express empathy. The course also talks about the negative impacts of either asking ineffective questions or no questions at all – which can be significant lost opportunities.

As a former instructor, I can certainly attest to experiences where asking well-timed and well-phrased questions generated great classroom discussion. Did you know that kids ask, on average, 125 questions per day while adults only ask six questions per day? With that statistic alone, the course reminded me of the importance of questions to help engage our natural sense of curiosity, which in turn leads to better retention of information. It also underscores how powerful questions can be for learning when students have the opportunity to explore topics or solve problems based on personal interest.

For my own skill development, I was hoping that the course would offer more concrete examples questions that work well to provoke divergent thinking or creative ideas. I would have liked to watch a few conversations that illustrated the impact of using “bad questions” versus “good questions.” While I did not find these illustrations in the videos themselves, the exercise files do offer some specific examples to reframe questions to make them more engaging. A very good follow up Lynda.com course called Asking Great Questions does provide an overview of specific types of questions.

At the completion of the course, I came away with a renewed commitment to using questions more often. So, when confronted with a problem, rather than simply say “I/We can’t because…” I might ask instead: “How could we….?” or “What if we….?” As the course reminded me, reframing the statement into a question creates space for opportunity, for possibility and for inclusion of ideas – which makes problem-solving more effective and fun! What is the best question you have asked (or been asked) lately that made a difference in your conversations?

Lynda.com Review: Creativity Bootcamp

Do you consider yourself creative? Do you believe creativity is an innate talent or a learned skill? Do you have to be artistic to be creative? And, since creativity is considered a “soft skill,” can it somehow be objectively measured?

These are all questions I have been asking myself over the past year. In fact, I made a New Year’s resolution last year to seek out opportunities to be more creative. Now I wish I had watched this Lynda.com course to launch that resolution – it would have been a great start to my journey.

I am interested in creativity from both personal and professional perspectives. On a personal level, I have often questioned my own creative abilities. Taking creative risks can be scary. However, my two sons – Michael (12) and Matthew (10) – remind my wife and I every day that invitations to be creative do not need to be approached with fear or judgement. On New Year’s Eve, we created a “Nailed It” challenge for our family (based on the Netflix cooking show) and they enthusiastically participated! Their lack of self-censoring gave me hope that I can find non-judgmental ways and create safe spaces for me (and others) to enjoy creativity again.

Meanwhile, in my professional role, I have the responsibility to ensure that RRC anticipates and responds to the ever-changing demands of students, industries and communities. The ability to find creative solutions will be our competitive advantage, so it is key that we cultivate and support creative thinking across the organization. This Lynda review is just one way that I hope to ignite a spark of interest on this fascinating topic with you.

This Lynda course really does feel like a ‘Creativity Bootcamp’; it is fast-paced, completely engaging and very hands-on. The instructor claims that participants will be more creative by the end of the course and, in fact, that such an improvement can be measured. He also provides three Bootcamp “commands”, which serve as interesting provocations that turn assumptions about creativity on their heads.

The exercises are silly and fun (for instance, one centers on breakfast cereal toys) and are no longer than 5 mins each. The learning came in the de-brief, during which the science of creativity was explained. Of particular interest was a fascinating explanation of the “graph” of creative thinking, which maps out creativity within a group across time – a theory that I can’t wait to test with one of our academic teams.

As a starting point, this one-hour Creativity Bootcamp course served as an energizing and illuminating launching point for me to explore other courses and videos on this topic. Thanks to this course, I can confidently say that when I completed the exercises to measure the improvement of my creative ideas, I nailed it!