Remember when you were a child and your imagination knew no limits? When the floor could turn into lava , when a few sheets were enough to create the most magical cabin ✨, when inventing stories was as natural as making funny faces in the back of the car ? Since then, limiting beliefs and fear of judgement have restrained that spark of inspiration, making us think the adult world is divided into two categories: the Creatives… and the others!
To debunk this myth, we organised an unprecedented bootcamp at the end of November as part of our ICI* (Instants of Curiosity and Inspiration) events: a collective and participative session to (re)learn how to unleash your creative potential through simple routines and fun activities.
Were you absent? Here’s a little catch-up session with some shared content ⤵️
WARMING UP CREATIVITY
To get started and set the pace for the session, we began the morning with a series of practical exercises to keep our creative minds awake . Here are three of them:
- Free Writing : One sheet of paper, one pen, one timer. Ready? Go! 5 minutes of free writing.). Une technique anti page blanche où la consigne est simple : This technique fights against the writer’s block by simply putting thoughts on paper without ever lifting the pen. It allows continuous creativity without censorship, following our intuition. Regular practice of free writing actively nurtures creativity and helps new ideas grow.. Pour laisser parler sa créativité en continu, à l’abri de toute censure et en suivant naturellement notre intuition (on parle aussi d’écriture boussole 🧭). Pratiquée régulièrement, l’écriture libre nourrit activement la créativité et contribue à faire germer les idées neuves…
- Torrance Test or Incomplete Drawing : Developed in the 60s by psychologist Ellis Paul Torrance, this creative technique is inspired by the exquisite corpse game.
Given an incomplete shape, you are asked to complete the drawing and create any story you want. It’s an original way to enhance your elaboration skills with a few strokes !. On vous donne une forme comme ci-dessous et on vous demande de compléter le dessin, en créant l’histoire que vous voulez. Une manière originale de travailler votre aptitude d’élaboration, à coups de crayons 🖍 !
- Alternative Uses : Developed by another psychologist (J.P. Guilford), this test challenges your creativity by giving you 2 minutes to think of as many uses as possible for an everyday object like a coffee cup, a fork, or a pen. This simple routine trains divergent thinking, helping you think outside the box .
ALL HATS LEAD TO BONO
After warming up, we moved on to new thinking methods applicable in our daily professional lives.
Among all the workshops, we want to highlight the Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono . This method encourages team members to step out of their usual thought patterns.
How does it work? Faced with a problem, Edward de Bono (psychologist and cognitive science specialist) suggests dividing the search for solutions into six distinct phases, each represented by a coloured hat, symbolising a way of thinking.
The process is simple: each group member wears an imaginary hat one at a time and reflects on the given problem, adopting the mindset corresponding to the hat they are wearing. This technique, based on lateral thinking invites us to explore a topic from different perspectives, helping us break free from classic thought patterns. By changing hats, we step into another person’s shoes and gain a broader view of the situation.
Widely used in group creativity sessions, this method can also be effective for solo reflections on personal decisions (moving, professional choices…).
TAKE A LOOK AT A CAMPAIGN WE FELL IN LOVE WITH
To conclude this creative session, Léo presented an advertising benchmark to spotlight memorable campaigns from past and present.
And if we had to choose just one, it would undoubtedly be Fisher Price’s. Just before the holidays, inspired by the soft Christmas mood that takes us back to childhood, this nostalgic employer branding campaign is the team’s favourite .
The pitch? If there’s one place where children become overly serious adults… It’s LinkedIn! To draw attention to its page with humour, and being able to seek new talents, the baby toy manufacturer decided to do it in its own way .
