🔒How to incorporate creativity, innovation in your daily work routines

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“The Dance of the Possible: The Mostly Honest, Completely Irreverent Guide to Creativity” by Scott Berkun (Melete Press, $11.99).

What's stopping people from becoming creative? Berkun believes it's our quest for efficiency. In trying to get more done in the least time, we develop start-to-finish routines for various tasks. These routines put “think time” in neutral. Creativity, on the other hand, isn't routine or efficient because it takes time to deal with “new.” It expands to consider ideas, evaluate alternatives and narrow choices; when it comes to execution, methods must be tweaked to establish routines.

To take your thinking out of neutral every day, write down “your ideas, thoughts, questions, observations or inspirations” before they fade away. Keeping a journal gives ideas “a place to live.” Reviewing journal entries on a timely basis helps you connect what appeared to be random-at-the-time entries into patterns. By journalizing, you're continually engaging the creative part of your brain.

It doesn't have to be a paper journal; I use the Evernote app, which not only allows me to categorize my input, but also allows me to share notes with others. Even when web surfing, I can save info to my categorized notes.

Berkun sees pattern identification as a key to creative ideas. Why? Because new ideas are very rarely really new. Rather, they're the result of combining at least two other ideas. Example: Apple's iPod utilized, combined and refined existing products — Sony's Walkman, the jukebox and headphones. Each of those products can trace their development to other products. Steve Jobs, and others like him, are viewed as “creative geniuses.” Yet all they did was connect what appeared to be ideas into identified patterns, which evolved into “new” products and services.

Key takeaway: As you introduce ideas, possibilities grow as others think about them. When you add their collaborative input, possibilities expand further. The collaborators then help winnow the what-if possibilities into make-it-happen projects.

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“How to Say It to Sell It: Key Words, Phrases, and Strategies to Build Relationships, Boost Revenue, and Beat the Competition” by Sue Hershkowitz-Coore (Prentiss Hall Press, $13).

Whether you're selling products and services to a customer, or pitching an idea to your boss, knowing when to listen, when to talk and what to say are the keys to hearing “Yes.”

The best advice I got when I was in sales was: “You have two ears and one mouth. That means you should listen twice as much as you talk.” With that in mind, the author lists five steps to effective, active listening: 1. “Look for points of agreement.” You have to find common ground and weave them in when the time is right.

2. “If your customer disagrees with you, don't be quick to prove him wrong.” Ask questions about the real reason behind the objection. Once you know it, 3. “Respond by talking about how much you agree.” Starting with “You're right” or “Yes, and … ” establishes common ground.

4. “If you can't agree, think about what the prospect wants to know.” Their negative responses may mean that they don't know what they don't know. Focus your response on solving their problems by asking: “What does your successful project look like?” The answer will provide clues that should take you back to No. 3's common ground.

5. “Determine the next step.” Once you have a prospect thinking you can provide solutions, you need to ask about their next step in the process. Do it from the standpoint of an ally with a question like, “What information do you need from me to help others in your decision-making process understand how my product completes your 'successful project' picture?”

Hershkowitz-Cooreputs the five in context with the various prospect personalities you'll encounter.

Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer.