Below are five lessons in creativity we can all take from the Taskmaster playbook. <\/p>\n
1. Thinking inside the box<\/h2>\n
One of the biggest myths of creativity is that constraints limit our imagination. But decades of research <\/a> have shown this is not true \u2013 constraints actually spur creativity, often through associational thinking where the constraint triggers other related thoughts or ideas. <\/p>\n In the last series of Taskmaster, one task was to bring \u201ca very soft thing that would be most beneficial for Greg [the Taskmaster]\u201d. The constraint of \u201csoft\u201d led to very different mental associations for each contestant, resulting in a hilarious assortment of solutions \u2013 a cushion made of cat hair, a bonnet with a manly design, a bird that tells fortunes, a blanket that can be worn and \u201cthe hands and voices of the elderly\u201d.<\/p>\n Constraints have also served as inspiration for Horne when developing the tasks. In the Lead out Loud podcast, he described the COVID constraint of keeping contestants two metres apart. \u201cIt was a really fun constraint to work with,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt gave us something to play with. The whole show is about constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n When we face a problem, most of us jump immediately into idea generation. However, there is great power in pausing to fully explore the problem and consider how it can be framed and reframed<\/a>.<\/p>\n This may involve asking the question differently, exploring alternative perspectives, or considering all of the factors associated with the problem. Even more challenging is rethinking assumptions about the problem itself. The most creative contestants often turn the challenge on its head, breaking assumptions about the task\u2019s rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a series two task where contestants were instructed to place three exercise balls on a yoga mat on top of a hill, four contestants assumed this meant the balls must be moved up the hill and placed on the mat. Richard Osman, however, brought the mat down to the balls instead and won the round. Unlike the others, he paused to reread the instructions and reframed how they could be interpreted, capitalising on the ambiguity. <\/p>\n The joy and humour of Taskmaster is primarily in the meandering, hilarious journey the contestants take to their final solution. We have a window into how five very different people think through a problem from their unique perspectives. <\/p>\n It also highlights that there is no one right way to solve most problems, whether they are an absurd task on a game show, developing a new sales strategy, or figuring out how to entertain your toddler<\/a>.<\/p>\n In embracing uncertainty and improvisation, the show also implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) makes failure okay. The key to this is the psychological safety we see on the show \u2013 a key component of innovative teams<\/a> and an intentional part of the show\u2019s design. Psychological safety<\/a> means, among other things, that you feel it is safe to take risks and make mistakes, you can ask for help and those around you won\u2019t ridicule or reject you. <\/p>\n When asked how contestants respond to moments of failure, Horne said: \u201cThe comedians have to feel safe. Because I\u2019m a comedian and a producer on it as well \u2026 they feel a bit more in safe hands that they can take risks and if it doesn\u2019t work, it doesn\u2019t matter. So from the beginning we\u2019ve tried to create this place where you can muck about, and we\u2019re not going to show you in a bad light.\u201d<\/p>\n Allowing for experimentation and tolerance of what professor of leadership Amy Edmondson calls \u201cintelligent failure\u201d<\/a> is essential to innovation.<\/p>\n After coming up with so many tasks, Horne was asked on the Winging It podcast<\/a> if he feels his well of ideas is drying up. He responded that he often thinks of new tasks when he\u2019s creating other tasks. \u201cThat\u2019s when you\u2019re most fertile. Wells don\u2019t dry up. Wells are built near natural springs.\u201d <\/p>\n When generating ideas, it can often feel like we are \u201crunning out\u201d of ideas because the pace of idea generation slows down. This is an artefact of the rapid production of the more obvious solutions at the start. However, as the pace of idea generation slows down, the originality of ideas goes up<\/a>. When the pace slows, we must shift into strategies that require more effort, but ultimately result in more creative solutions. <\/p>\n Generating ideas in teams can help this because it enables cross-fertilisation, where one team member\u2019s ideas spark ideas in someone else, causing the well to fill up again. Team challenges<\/a> on the show provide many examples of this. <\/p>\n At the end of the day, Taskmaster is a game show. Our lives of crafting AI prompts, inbox management and Teams meetings may seem a far cry from the hijinks in the Taskmaster house. You may therefore think that our real work lives are not a fair comparison for lessons on creativity from Taskmaster. But the research on playfulness and creativity in organisations would say otherwise. <\/p>\n Creating a sense of playfulness in teams and organisations can foster creativity<\/a>, as can humour<\/a>. Perhaps the key to facilitating your own team or organisation\u2019s creativity could be hosting your own round of Taskmaster<\/a>!<\/p>\n Tamara Friedrich works for Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Bafta-winning comedy game show, Taskmaster, has returned to Channel 4 for its 21st series. Part of the show\u2019s long-running appeal is its lighthearted exhibition of human creativity. Recently, I was part of the Warwick Business School Lead out Loud podcast with Alex Horne, the show\u2019s creative mastermind and star, to talk about Taskmaster\u2019s lessons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. Reframing the problem<\/h2>\n
3. Embracing experimentation and failure<\/h2>\n
4. Creativity breeds creativity<\/h2>\n
5. It\u2019s all fun and games<\/h2>\n
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