My Professional Development Journey: The Practice of Creativity

I’ve never really thought of myself as a creative person but I’ve had a few recent experiences that are making me change my perspective. When I think of the word create, I often think of the definition “bring (something) into existence.” This does not feel like something I do. With this definition in mind, I never felt comfortable calling myself creative.

Feeling less than confident about my writing (bringing something into existence), I’m participating in a creative writing class focused on storytelling as part of my professional development. I often write reports relaying information to clients and wondered how storytelling could be used to “send” that message. I’ve only had one class so far but I’m already noticing a difference in how I engage with clients. I’m noticing the story they’re telling me about their organization and listening to the messages that build their story. I’m thinking about clients/organizations as characters, so I’ve been listening for adjectives that shape and describe them. I’m recognizing that clients are not only the storytellers but also the audience. These are all elements of writing a story.

Recently had the pleasure of being in a meeting engaged by consultant Noah Scalin, who said “creativity is a practice.” With this perspective, I was introduced to another definition of create-- “cause (something) to happen as a result of one’s actions.” This is a definition I can get behind as a person of action. I’d never thought the act of “doing” as a creative practice or source of creativity. The creative writing class is giving me something to do. I’m excited to create more ease and less anxiety (and procrastination) when I write for clients now that I’m using a creative practice that helps me build a story long before I sit to write.