You Need Creative Friends not a Creative Team
October 06, 2010
I have 2 jobs that I love very much. My first job pastoring a church in Louisville KY. My second job is to run a design company. Oddly enough these 2 worlds are very connected because I do most of my design work for churches, and my responsibilities at the church are very interwoven with all things creative.
I guess it was about 8-10 years ago when I first heard the idea of a creative team from Ed Young, the pastor of Fellowship Church in TX. I was blown away, inspired, and determined to create my own creative team. I've done it off and on since then in different ways, but after 10 years I'm confessing that I think they are overrated, and I'll tell you why.
Let's start with the positives and why it would be important to have a creative team:
1. 2 heads are better than 1, and so on. You will have better ideas the more ideas that are thrown out.
2. If left up to you, your ideas will probably all have the same look, feel, and style.
3. It incorporates other people in the process and gives ownership to whatever you are creating.
With some legitimate experience under my belt, let me share a couple of reasons why I think creative teams are overrated:
1. I have found that many creatives don't collaborate well. In my experiences true creatives are very introverted, and being a part of a group isn't the best setting for their creativity to spew out.
2. True creatives don't have good ideas on the spot. Many of the creative meetings I've been a part of (even the ones I've led) there was no information given out before the meeting, so you sit down cold turkey and are asked to produce something brilliant in 45-60 minutes. Doesn't happen. Honestly for the real good creative weirdoes (and I mean that in the best way) after I've brought up an idea, and sought creativity from them, about 2 weeks later after I moved on, they tell me they've got something.
3. 2 heads are better than 1 but after about 3 heads it just creates a headache. Have you ever opened up the floor for ideas, and gotten 5 ideas in completely different directions. Yep, that sounds about right. I've found that 1 on 1 brainstorming gets way more accomplished.
So what's the answer to this dilemma? Just do everything yourself and don't involve others in the creative process? Nope, not at all. You need to be surrounded by creative people in your life. You know the good, the bad, and the ugly. The weirdos, the emotional wrecks, the ones that don't bathe everyday, all of them (I'm kidding of course..kind of) The next time you have an idea and you want to add some creativity, call them up or take them out and talk to them about it. Don't set up a formal meeting, and try to produce ideas outside the lines, when you are on a schedule in a room with no windows. The best ideas come when they are not forced. I have a creative team of about 5 people, and we never get together in the same room. (maybe once or twice, but hardly ever) Some of them don't even know each other, but when ideas come to my head, depending on which direction that idea is taking me, I pick up the phone, or shoot an email, and usually focus in on 1 maybe 2 of them.
I'm actually not that creative, but my friends are!
A great example of practical efficiency…
June 01, 2010
If you've ever read some of my stuff on making videos, or worked with me on a video project, you know how much I love the term "practical efficiency". Videos don't have to be expensive, fancy, or difficult, they just have to have a great clear concept. SOOOOO much time is wasted in churches trying to make a technically impressive video, when they could've cut their production time in half and conveyed the same (if not better message)
I ran across this video recently that is the perfect example of this. Even though this video is about iPads, imagine how you could do something like this to promote small groups, or an event for your church. Simple, simple, simple...
You’re thinking to hard!
May 13, 2010
I guarantee there is a simpler way to do what you are trying to do, You are just making it to difficult. Here is something I'm learning right now.
The degree of quality you want, will determine the degree of difficulty!
In other words if you want something to be 80% quality it's probably going to require 80% difficulty. There are obviously exceptions to the rule, but I think it's a good practice to always sit down before you start a project and decide how quality do you want it to be. Sure, you may want everything to be perfect, but by doing so you are limiting who can get involved, what equipment can be used, and the amount of time you could be doing something else. There are plenty of times that a 70% quality video is good enough. There are times when a 80% print design is good enough.
It's called practical efficiency, and my current working definition is "Getting what needs to be done, done at the quality that's needed as quickly as possible"
When you decide that everything doesn't have to be perfect, you can start accomplishing more, training more volunteers, and spending less on equipment.
