Rob, Sonja and Claire from Fjord presented a three hour workshop for 24 students on the last day of their second semester.
The workshop was introduced by course tutor Dr. Kieron Flanagan, who started the afternoon off by giving a fascinating insight into the relationship between creativity and innovation.
Fjord presented a number of core psychology topics, including empirical research on creativity, motivation, and organisational psychology, which were then augmented with materials on the role of storytelling in developing ideas.
The psychology work was interspersed with group activities in which students were asked to use what they had learned to develop ideas for a company that designed way-finding systems in shopping centres. Amongst other things, we asked the students to develop concepts, consider how to hire the right people for the business and how to pitch it to investors.
For each task, groups were given 13 different exercises based on psychological research to help them be more creative.
For example, it has been proven that the hormone noradrenaline inhibits creative thought, so we asked one group of students to lie down before solving creative problems, thus reducing the release of this hormone. In another exercise, the students were also asked to read a surreal passage from James Joyce’s ‘Finnegans’ Wake’. This was based on research which claims surrealism creates a ‘meaning threat’ which enhances our ability to think about problems in unconventional ways.
The combination of short lectures and interactive activities was a real hit, and lead to some interesting results and lateral thought. So lateral, in fact, that at one point, a student was used as a shopping trolley!
Fjord was commended by Manchester Business School for its professional approach and a level of service, and we look forward to visiting again soon.
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