Creativity process represents the path to success in Venue gathering

Anyone who is concerned about their career, organization or personal life can look to creativity as a means to get ahead of the status quo and make progress in a world that often seems to be at a standstill.

As part of the Skills for the Art of Fine Living series organized by The Venue Fine Arts & Gifts, Ladi Terry, a creativity trainer and consultant, addressed an intimate gathering Thursday about the different styles, cognitive approaches and tools that apply to the creative thinking and problem solving.

“Creativity is an essential life skill,” Terry said. “We’re all creative but in different ways. We must leverage our strengths to get us where we want to go.”

Gabe Colman, The Venue’s curator, said he requested Terry for the event in order to provide an educational approach to creativity that he hoped would bring new and old faces to The Venue.

As a leader herself, Terry said she recognized the need for other leaders to be creative in order to be effective. Working creatively allows her to provide her insight to others as well as working in this new field alongside its founders.

The lecture involved hands-on activities for participants such as handing out plastic construction tools labeled with “tools” for approaching creative problem solving. These tools included ideas such as “reverse brainstorming,” “targeting”  and “pictures” that can be applied to the creative process for the workplace, fine arts projects and one’s personal life.

“I came to get a new perspective on life through creativity,” Bloomington resident Angi St. Clair said. “It will be helpful in the workplace.”

Attendees outnumbered the amount of packets provided by Terry that provided information on innovation and adaptation and the two styles or attitudes of creativity – those who have never met a rule they did not break, and those who never met a rule they did not like.

By identifying which type of creative thinker a person is, they can then work to benefit their own strengths and look for tools that will help them where they are lacking Terry said.

Terry’s breakdown of the creative process revealed how simple and approachable it is. She provides further information from personal testimonials to contact information on her Success Work! Web site at www.successworkonline.com.

The Skills for the Art of Fine Living series will continue in January at The Venue, with a preference for advance reservations.

“When you come into this place you take something out of it and grow,” said The Venue’s Skills Coordinator Michelle Martin-Colman .