Creativity is a fundamental part of every workday. Whether you are considered to be in the “creative” field or not, inspiration and ideas underpin one of the many fulfillments we find in our jobs. But in world of a million and one distractions, meetings and deadlines, it can be hard to feel inspired. Finding a way to tap into your inner artist under high stress and pressure takes a lot of patience and practice.

Have you hit a roadblock in your creative thinking? Here are 9 tips to get those juices flowing today.

1. Be Curious

Curiosity is not just for children. You will hinder your own creativity if you see curiosity as an indulgence rather than a fundamental part of learning. When you’re at work and you see a funny story or hear a word you don’t recognize and you’re curious about it, take a few minutes to see where it takes you. Who knows? Maybe it’s the key to that punchy headline you were stuck on creating or provides a new perspective on something that you couldn’t quite figure out.

2. Understand that Creativity is an End in Itself

To enjoy the process of being curious, you have to come to terms with the fact that creativity is an end in itself. Most of your creative or quirky thoughts won’t (and shouldn’t) materialize into a work-related product. But the more you enjoy the process of being curious and having creative ideas, the easier they will come when you’re tasked with solving complex problems that require “out-of-the-box” thinking. You have to understand and appreciate the innate value of creativity in order to reap the material benefits of it.

3. Make (Quiet) Time for Creativity

Spending time checking email and doing other mundane tasks takes up a huge portion of the average office workday. Faced with these distractions it’s always easier to make an excuse for why you haven’t done a creative exercise than actually investing the time to do it. If you have a day where you really need to get some creative ideas out, start by eliminating the clutter and noise that comes with it. Fast Company just wrote an article about how iphones are “snuffing” your creativity. Invest in tools that automate manual processes that are wasting your time.

4. Don’t Assume

You’ve probably heard the saying, “To assume makes an ass of you and me.” And while making assumptions will no doubt make you foolish (we’ve all been there), it also makes you a lazy thinker. Some of your best ideas will come from asking yourself, “What if this wasn’t true?” What are some of your fundamental assumptions that you haven’t challenged lately?

5. Use an Ideas Journal

Have a place to write down ideas and keep them in your back pocket. Not all ideas that come off the top of your head are your best ideas, but they are the product of in-depth thinking. You don’t need to act on your ideas right away. Let them swim around. Think about them, remold them, perfect them. Use your ideas journal as a way to turn good ideas into great ones.

6. Brainstorm (but also Clarify and Refine)

In order to effectively brainstorm, you have to suspend that judgmental, critical voice inside your head. The goal of brainstorming of is to release yourself of any inhibitions and not to worry if you write something stupid or useless. While many people focus on the brainstorming aspect of developing creative ideas, they often leave out the latter part, which is fundamental to communicating a good idea. Clarify and refine your ideas. Every inspirational endeavor started as a first draft, but you can guarantee it didn’t end as the first draft. Be disciplined about refining your ideas.

7. Be Willing to Take Risks (and Face Rejection)

Being creative takes guts. You have to willingly suspend your fear of judgment and failure (which can be very difficult to do). But taking risks helps you advance your skills. You will not succeed every time and people will say no. Ask the right questions, take feedback, and try again. Failure doesn’t define you but how you bounce back from it does.

8. Break the Routine

Routines and familiarity are crucial to survival and getting stuff done. But they also allow our minds to cruise on the “auto” setting. Defamiliarizing yourself from your surroundings allows you to see the same things in a different light. Break away from your routine so you come back with a fresh perspective. And who knows, you may even have fun trying something new!

9. Treat Obstacles like Creative Opportunities (because they are!)

We often think of problems and restrictions as hindrances to our creativity. Studies have shown that this is not the case. Boundaries and obstacles force you to think creatively in order to solve complex problems and engage in out-of-the-box thinking. Dan Pink points out in his latest book, To Sell is Human, that constraints can actually promote clarity in our thinking (pg. 181). Being faced with obstacles can result in some of the most concrete, well-executed creative ideas because the closed doors that were once thought of as restraints actually open the door to more focused, relevant ideas.

What tactics are useful in getting your creative juices flowing? Leave us a comment below!

Why You Should Watch this Video:

Career analyst and best-selling author Dan Pink explores the puzzling question of motivation. He argues that social scientists know something that most business managers don’t: that traditional monetary rewards aren’t always effective as we think.

Pink calls for business leaders to “repair the mismatch between what science knows and business does,” if we ever want to strengthen our businesses (and maybe even change the world).

Pink’s TED Talk took place a few years ago in 2009, during the aftermath of the United States’ economic collapse. His arguments about what drives high performance and leads to solving complex problems of the 21st century will certainly resonate today.

How Dan Pink Inspired the ConceptShare Book Club:

Daniel H. Pink is the author of four books, including two New York Times bestsellers, Drive and A Whole New Mind. The Financial Times reported that, “Pink is rapidly acquiring international guru status.” Maybe that’s why the entire ConceptShare team is engulfed in his latest book, To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth about Moving Others. We’ll be meeting this month to discuss some of Pink’s core ideas and give suggestions for how we can continually improve as a company. Stay tuned!

In Bernard Marr’s article, “What the Hell is…Big Data?” he attempts to demystify the latest buzzword that is pelting marketers from every direction. One of the big problems with Big Data, as Marr points out, is that it isn’t very well defined. What does that mean for marketers? They don’t have a full or complete understanding of what Big Data is, and are too afraid to ask what it actually means.

Defining Big Data

Marr begins with a simple definition of Big Data. He explains that it is “our ability to collect and analyze vast amounts of data that we are now generating in the world.” While Big Data is primarily referred to as a marketing buzzword, Marr points out that Big Data isn’t just about business, it also applies to things like scientific and medical research. It’s about how much data we are generating, and how quickly we can “harness” and act on that data.

This ability to “harness” more and more data is changing the way we think. Our ability to capture data is based on what Marr describes as the ‘datafication’ of the world. Datafication is created by things like social media, the digitalization of books, music, videos and the increasing use of the Internet.

The Datafication of the World

Marr uses a great example of datafication by comparing a traditional print book with an e-book. When you’re reading a traditional print book, there’s no information to track as you read your book. Now if you’re reading on a Kindle or Nook, they can not only track what you’re reading, but when you are reading it, how often you read it and how quickly you read it and so on and so on. That new and detailed information is gold for marketers, because it can be used to narrowly segment a customer based on their interaction with the product.

Marr makes another excellent point. It’s not just the amount of data that’s growing at a fast rate, but also all the different places that it’s coming from. We can now get information from texting, web searches, videos, sensor data and even financial transactions.

The Four Vs of Big Data

Marr describes the four Vs as making up what we know as Big Data. The first is the volume of data generated, which speaks to the enormous amount of information available. The second is the velocity of data being generated, referring to how quickly data is generated and moves around. Third, is the variety or all the different “types” of data being produced. And fourth is the veracity of data, meaning that it isn’t always easily acquired and can be quite messy.

Why is Big Data such a Big Deal?

The reason why big data is such a big deal is because we know we have the technology to harness all that data and analyze it. As Marr points out, the opportunities created by Big Data aren’t always positive, but they are massive in their scope of what it means for all of us. Big Data will change and evolve over time, because what seems “big” and complex now might not be that big tomorrow.

Marketers who have an understanding of their target market, and can leverage that data to create memorable customer experiences are the ones who will win out in the end.

What do you think about Big Data? Do you agree with Marr that Big Data will change the world?

May 29, 2013 - BP Logix, developer of BPM software just announced its partnership with ConceptShare. BP Logix will be integrating their flagship product, Process Director, with ConceptShare’s Creative Operations Management platform.

The integration will allow for marketing, production and creative teams involved in the creative operations process to quickly and easily route, review and approve hundreds of documents.

BP Logix’s Process Director contains powerful workflow management software that enables organizations to easily model their review and approval process, automate the routing and monitor results. As a result of its integration with ConceptShare, Process Director now facilitates collaborative multimedia annotation directly within its workflows. Legal and compliance teams can collaborate with their sales and marketing teams to make sure that communications are clear, accurate and address compliance requirements.

Jay O’Brien, CEO of BP Logix points out that, “Organizations can achieve a straight-through process from document creation through review, approval, distribution, and disposition, all within a single integrated solution.”

Learn more about BP Logix here.

The tension between marketing and IT is not new. As Scott Brinker pointed out in ChiefMartec, there is a “legendary” frustration at the intersection of marketing and IT, which he argues is often the result of structural differences of their jobs. Today, this relationship still remains an important topic of discussion. CXO Talk just launched an episode dedicated to exploring the tensions between Marketing and IT in enterprise companies, debating whether marketing and IT are butting heads now more than ever before.

As the world of marketing and technology continues to collide, these two “infamously uncomfortable bedfellows” are going to have to learn how to get along. Here are 3 reasons experts tell us why:

1. The Marketing Landscape is Changing- And Will Need Help from IT

Marketing is going through some radical changes. Things like mobile, social media, and Big Data (combined with an emphasis on automation to deal with it all) have contributed to the evolution of marketing. Today, marketers have to manage complex analytics, which are handled largely through sophisticated tools. The result? Marketers are relying on IT to improve communication with their target audience. In an IBM survey, 60% of marketers point to their lack of alignment with the company’s IT department as the biggest obstacle to reaching today’s consumers. What does this mean for marketers? They are going to have to cooperate with IT in order to meet their objectives.

2. Marketing’s Tectonic Shift Will Affect IT- Whether IT Likes it or Not

It’s not just marketers that will have to change their attitudes towards IT. IT will also have to change. A study done by Gartner predicted that by 2017, a CMO will spend more on IT than the CIO.  This prediction makes a lot of sense given the major shift in marketing priorities discussed above. But what does it mean for IT? Jay Henderson points out that marketers need to be agile with their tools, and if IT won’t support that then marketers will go around them by creating their own IT groups or buying on-demand software without talking to IT. John McCarthy, principal analyst at Forrester Research, writes in Forbes that many business leaders are carving out budgets for technology because they see technology as too important to their success to not be involved. To stay relevant with their company’s marketing objectives IT departments will have to evolve from their traditional methods of implementing infrastructure to accommodate marketing needs.

3. Proven Success Relies on Cross-Departmental Collaboration

If marketing is increasing their budget to incorporate their own technology, why can’t marketing and IT just have their own technology sandboxes and then everyone can be happy? Research has shown that while it’s important for marketing to have control over some of its own technology, synergy is still the key to success. Kimberly Whitler highlights some key findings in IBM’s latest 2013 study, namely, that marketers driving the best results are “more adept at tracking, technology, and analytics and use these tools to develop more sophisticated and adaptable solutions.” What do marketers need to do to become more successful at tracking analytics and using technology? A big answer that the article points to is collaboration between departments like marketing, IT and finance.

As Kimberly Whitler suggests, it’s clear that marketing needs to collaborate with other departments. What’s next is how to get there. What’s your experience as a marketer or IT professional within your organization? What has your organization done to negotiate the needs of marketing and IT? Leave us a comment below!

Streamlining your process is no small feat. It requires a combination of research, skills and tactics that aren’t always easily defined. Often, achieving the operational successes you’re looking for is relative to the unique qualities of your company and team. That being said, there are certainly some pitfalls you should avoid.

Here are 5 mistakes you don’t want to make when streamlining your creative operations process:

1) You Don’t Understand Your Team’s Workflow

Before you set out to change inefficient patterns and behaviors in your team’s workflow, you need to establish a solid understanding of what their workflow actually entails. Assess the current situation from an objective manner- don’t be blinded by what you think you know. Making an assumption about the way your team members work (rather than just asking them) takes a lot more time and effort than its worth. Encourage a dialogue with your team to identify areas of opportunity and define objectives before you execute on the “next big thing.” You’ll get less resistance from your team if you’ve shown respect for their role in the process.

2) You’re Trying to do Too Much at Once

You’ve outlined your objectives for becoming operationally efficient. But you’re working like a dog to achieve everything and you’re no closer to your goals. Take a step back. What are you doing on a day-to-day basis? Are you taking on too much and accomplishing less as a result? Starting small doesn’t mean you don’t have big ideas. Paul B. Brown, best selling author, writes in Forbes that the most successful business people take small, smart steps towards achieving their goals. Positive change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time.

3) You Think “Streamline” means “Cut out the Creative Process”

There’s a myth that becoming more operationally efficient means that the creative process is less relevant. Without good ideas and inspiration, you’re missing a key part of what’s driving your operations. Don’t sacrifice high quality work in the name of “getting it done.” Your creative operations process should enhance your team’s creative efforts, not diminish them.

4) You Haven’t Defined the Rules of the Creative Operations Game

A key part of an efficient creative operations process is structure. If you want your process to be more structured, you have to think of the rules and regulations that will guide that process. Think of your creative operations process as a sports game. There are both physical boundaries and a defined set of rules that ensure that team members are playing the game properly and fairly. So, for example, when your design team has agreed to complete project A in 7 days, what guidelines are in place to make sure this actually happens? Provide positive incentives to ensure that your team is following the rules.

5) You’re not Using Data to Continually Improve Your Process

As you probably know, a marketer’s data can be their greatest weapon, but it can also be their Achilles’ heel. If you aren’t using metrics to measure the strengths and weaknesses of your new process, then you’re not doing a good job at continually improving your creative operations process. Gather data from your team that will help you proactively identify key areas of weakness, for example, the bottlenecks that continually cause delays. Use meaningful metrics and look for data from multiple sources. Update often.

Streamlining your creative operations process is a long-term commitment, but if you stick with it, the time and budget saved will be worthwhile.

Are you streamlining your creative operations process? Tell us about your experience below!

Panel: Marketers and Work in Progress (WIP) – Challenges and Opportunities

Nicole Phillips, Global Marketing Project Leader from Whole Foods Market, discussed the importance of overcoming change to adopt a more efficient creative operations process. She was able to speak to her own experience as a marketer adopting a Creative Operations Management (COM) platform, and how her company is able to launch more campaigns and create more campaign assets with a better creative operations process.

Nicole Phillips, Global Marketing Project Leader, Whole Foods Market

Panel: Brand Workflows and DAM – The who, what, where, when and why

In this panel, thought leaders talked about how creative operations and work in progress are becoming vital processes for enterprise marketers and creative teams to address. Attendees learned how to drive creative campaigns and align efficiency gains for their brand strategy with an improved creative operations process.

Featured in this image: David Lipsey, Principal, Media & Entertainment, Optimity Christopher Ceraolo, Co-founder & CEO, Kreate Technology 
Steve Kalalian, CEO, GLOBALedit
 Nish Patel, CEO, ConceptShare.

Tech Track: Questions About Work In Progress

In this tech track, our CEO Nish Patel explored what work in progress is, why it’s a hot topic for marketers and creative teams, and how to support work in progress with a streamlined creative operations process.

Featured in this image: Nish Patel, CEO, ConceptShare

A Night Out on The Town: Dinner at Glass House Tavern

We had a dinner out with a wonderful group of people in the mezzanine of the Glass House Tavern. Some of our clients joined us for the evening like Macy’s and Whole Foods.

A Henry Stewart Souvenir: DAM Influencer Trading Cards

We handed out our entire series of DAM Influencer Trading Cards at Henry Stewart NY. The group includes David Diamond, Mary Yurkovic, Jake Athey, Mark Davey, David Lipsey, Dan McGraw, Andrew Mannone, Pieter Casneuf, David Riecks, Edward Smith, Henrik de Gyor, and Jason Bright.

Thanks to everyone who made Henry Stewart NY such a success! We are already looking forward to next year.

In collaboration with our partner ADAM Software, we will be hosting a free webinar on the topic of work in progress (WIP) for enterprise marketers and creative teams.  In this webinar titled, “Managing Work in Progress with Digital Asset Management (COM) and Creative Operations (COM) Management,” we will explore three key questions that marketing and creative team executives ask themselves as they consider their approach to WIP:

1. What is WIP?

2. Why is it crucial that I care about WIP?

3. How do I support the WIP process?

Creative operations and work in progress have become hot topics amongst marketers, creative teams and the DAM industry. Join us on June 4, 2013 to learn more about WIP and how you can address gaps in your creative operations process.

On June 4, 2013 the webinar will be offered at two times:

Click here to sign up for the 10.30 am CEST |  2 pm IST
Click here to sign up for the 8.30 pm CEST | 2.30 pm EDT | 11.30 am PDT

Additional information:

Duration: 30 minutes
Speaker: Nish Patel, CEO at Conceptshare

Getting projects from draft to completion is no easy task. As the person responsible for regulating workflows making sure all campaigns and projects run smoothly, you understand how critical it is to use your time wisely. Although, as you juggle consecutive projects and overwork yourself to get things done, you often feel that anxiety that encroaching due dates are at risk.

Are you currently managing several projects that are just waiting for your attention? Here are 8 key time saver tips to help you get back on track:

1. Don’t Multi-Task

Does this come as a surprise? It probably does to many of you. There’s a difference between multi-tasking and having multiple tasks. When you multi-task you are trying to do several things at once, vs. having multiple tasks, which basically means you have more than one thing on the go. Seven Story Learning points out that trying to do too many things once actually lowers your IQ score. So, dedicating your time and energy to one task at a time is actually much more efficient. You are more focused, produce better work, and you actually save time by not switching between different activities and getting derailed.

2. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Clear Instructions

If you think you’re too busy to give clear instructions, you’re wrong. If you want tasks to be done right, then take the proper time and care to provide clear instructions on what you need (and when). Don’t underestimate the power of communicating clear objectives and directions. While you cannot predict (or have control over) the final outcome of a project, you can define the technical and organizational components of it.

3. Trust Your Team

What does trusting your team have to do with saving time? Everything. If you cannot delegate tasks when necessary, then you are managing your time poorly. However, it can be hard to fall into the trap of thinking, “I’ll just do the job myself because I’ll do it better and I don’t have time to explain it.” But, if you learn how to effectively delegate tasks you can maximize your own productivity and trust and invest in your team’s talents. It also makes your team more accountable by giving them more responsibility. If you don’t delegate, expect to miss a lot of lunches.

4. Control the Process (not the People)

As a Traffic Manager, it’s important that you control the calendar so that projects go as scheduled. But checking up too often on what employees are up to is counterproductive and wastes time. Learn to control the process, not the people by making sure that people are aware of your expectations and the goals at hand (see tip #2).

5. Use a System where you have Visibility into Projects

Rather than running over to people’s desks to check on the status of a project, set up a system where you assign and prioritize reviews and tasks, as well as gain a high level overview into project statuses. Send reminders only when necessary. Make technology work for you by using effective tools. Don’t be enslaved to a chaotic influx of emails.

6. Effectively Manage Interruptions

It’s not how many hours you work, but what you do in those hours. Learning how to effectively manage interruptions is a key time saving strategy. While interruptions are an inevitable part of every workday, learning how to keep them to a minimum is important. Be honest and stern with people when you are busy and cannot be interrupted.

7. Productive Meetings Only!

Unproductive meetings are not surprisingly a big time waster. But how do you schedule and run meetings that are productive? Business Management Daily gives some great tips on how to run constructive meetings.

8. Take Breaks

Obvious right? Well, we thought we’d include it anyways. Be good to yourself! Even on a busy day, try and get away from the office to recharge, and then come back energized and creative. You’ll be less likely to make careless mistakes if your mind is clear and you’re not tired.

At ConceptShare we understand the pressures that Traffic Managers are working under. There are dozens of Traffic Managers working in marketing organizations, agencies and creative departments that use our Creative Operations Management (COM) platform to manage and track reviews and approvals of creative work. Traffic Managers using ConceptShare have been able to structure their process by having real-time visibility into the status of all review projects, minimizing risk to project deadlines and experiencing significant productivity benefits as a result.

Learn more about how agency Traffic Managers use ConceptShare by checking out the Hiebing case study, or Contact a Product Specialist if you’d like to discuss your current processes.

What are your time saving strategies? Leave us a comment below!

Among that list is Henrik de Gyor, who is in our second round of Top DAM Influencer Trading Cards. Henrik de Gyor has worked in the field of Digital Asset Management (DAM) for various organizations as a consultant. His blog, anotherdamblog.com is a great educational resource for anyone looking to learn more about Digital Asset Management.

Profile:

Henrik de Gyor

Director, Digital Asset Management Practice at Marlabs Inc.

Biographical Info:

Henrik de Gyor has worked in DAM since 2001 and is currently the Director of Digital Asset Management Practice at Marlabs Inc. His previous experience includes working with several DAM solutions on a daily basis inside organizations within the fields of Advertising, Education, Finance, Journalism and Media.

DAM Stats:

How many years have you worked in the DAM industry?

Over 12 years.

How many DAM systems have you worked with?

7 and still counting. Reviewed over 90 systems to date.

Who is your DAM hero?

The people I interview on my podcast series are my DAM heroes… there are a few super heroes too.

What’s the best DAM 101 resource?

www.anotherdamblog.com

What’s DAM to you? (in 10 words or less)

Search/find/use/reuse/repurpose your organization’s digital assets.

What is your favourite DAM publication?

They are all online now.

If you weren’t working with DAM, what would you be doing?

Continue thriving on different work needed by many organizations who do not yet realize it.

What are your closing thoughts on DAM?

Keep the end goals of why you are doing this in mind at all times no matter how long or complex that path might look.

Want More Info?

Find Henrik de Gyor on Linkedin

Tweet Henrik de Gyor @hgg101

Read his blog

Listen to his podcasts