Commentary: On Creative Decisions

By Simone Maxwell
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

Exploding Creativity Episode 4 - September 9, 2008: Decision Making and Creativity (click to listen to audio podcast)
You can and will use creativity in decision making, and you will make decisions in your creative pursuits, and depending how you look at it, creativity and decision making look a lot alike.

Who would believe that when you make an intuitive decision it is actually based on creativity? After the decision is made, we often exhaust our brain power, worrying about the consequences for the action we just completed. Not once did I believe that creativity and decision making were interlinked.

According to Bob Sharp on http://explodingcreativity.com/, decision making based on intuition is not irrational, it is creative. So all of us are creative, since at one point or another, a decision was made based only on that knee-jerk feeling we had. Decisions that based on the first thought that enter our brains are actually made because of our life experiences. In the moment the decision is made, we are actually being creative. "Decision" is defined by E. Frank Harrison as a “moment of choice; an ongoing process of evaluation of alternatives with a view to selecting one or some combination of them to obtain the desired end.” I love this definition. It makes me feel like a decision is an accomplishment. Did you know that not making a decision is a decision? I knew this, of course, but actually hearing someone else say it is another thing completely.

It was a complete eye opener to learn that a group decision can be more creative and somewhat easier than when a decision is made alone. I am not sure I agree with this idea. Being the master of my own destiny is easier to manage with me, my decision, and my consequences. Making a choice in a group can have its benefits, however. If all goes wrong, there is someone to share the blame with.

Decisions as a creative process have actually changed my outlook on the whole scenario. I will now take pride in the decision-making process. It is amazing to me that we do something that just comes naturally to us without thinking of the steps we actually take. So today I learned that creativity, decisions and intuition all go hand in hand. It is something that I am happy to say I learned and happy to acknowledge I do daily.

E. Frank Harrison also came up with a decision making process that I am going to place the flow chart below. You can tell me if you agree or not. I am still working my way through them.