Creative Rhythms

There are 3 distinct phases in the creative process. Each phase has it’s

own life and class of actions.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi- Creativity

The well-balanced leader is continually learning how to bring their God-given visions into reality. We tend to see that ability for the super-gifted due it it’s near mystic basis. The honest fact is creative visionaries understand and use a process that helps the creation in their sprit come to fruition in reality.

Step #1 Germination: Idea generation and rumination, most leaders know when and where this happens best for them. There is lots of excitement in this phase and the newness of he idea creates lots of energy and drive. Truth is most visionaries of this sort have learned to be in the world in very present ways. They have learned to extract from intuition and how to be sensitive to the emergent. Germination usually happens in these moments of sensing what is trying to find air. Germination requires shifting the location of our listening from within the organism we serve to the future which is embedded at the junction of our presence, our imagination and God’s best possible future.

Step #2 assimilation: this is where things typically breakdown, this is the least obvious phase. Initial thrill is gone and work starts. Here there is a spinning out of the details of the “germ” or idea. More than anything though, this stage moves you from a focus on internal action to a focus on external particulars to put wings on the creation. This has recently been referred to as crystallizing and prototyping.

Step #3 Completion: Energy ramps up again because tangibility is just around the corner. Specifics are now acted upon and the creation is birthed. And from here we can begin to operate within the sphere of the new creation and begins adjusting it on the fly.

These three steps are all risky, exhilarating and intimidating. But that is precisely why not all people are Creators.