Creativity isn’t just an ability used in fields like art, writing, or drama. Fields as technical as computer science, math, and business also need creative thinkers that can come up with new ideas and new ways to look at problems and situations that they come across. Taking courses that teach creative skills can help your career no matter what your field.
There are almost as many courses that teach creativity as there are people who want to learn. Even learning a creative skill that’s totally unrelated to your career could benefit you at work because of the positive brain changes such learning brings. Recent research by Adobe and Forrester showed that companies that encouraged creativity increased their profits more than triple the amount of companies that were not so intentional about creating a creative culture.
Here are some examples of creative courses and the skills they might teach.
Creative writing can teach you to infuse your thinking with problem-solving skills. You will also understand people better when you need to figure out the motivations of the characters about which you write. When the pieces don’t seem to fit together the way you’d like in your job, you can look at them from a fresh perspective and try to assemble them in a different way to solve the problem.
Drawing and painting can teach you how to visualize something before you do it. Having a vision for a new concept or program at work will be valuable to your team and superiors, and can give you a leg up in team collaborations. Besides the strokes themselves, art takes both ideas and planning. You really can’t have one without the other.
Acting and drama can teach you to communicate better, improve your body language and express yourself in a more effective way. You become aware of what particular gestures and mannerisms mean, and you sometimes get to analyze your own acting performance to see how you come across to others and how you can improve. Creativity comes into play when you apply your newfound knowledge to your team’s dynamics, your supervisor’s wants or needs, or your own efforts to communicate effectively.
Creative, artistic pursuits can develop creative skills and thinking that can benefit you at work.
Choosing whatever interests you will benefit your brain by increasing your ability to think in different ways and see a new perspective of your work. Just having a break from your usual way of thinking at work can help you return with new ideas and solutions to problems, and the creativity you experience in your continuing education course will translate over to your work life.
Creativity and critical thinking are more closely linked than many people think, but often, people give up learning new creative skills once they establish a career. Not only can learning something creative (art, music, cooking, needlework) help improve critical thinking, you never know what skill listed on the “Other Skills” section of a resume may pique an employer’s interest.
CCSU offers continuing education courses that allow you to engage in creative pursuits that will also benefit your career. View open courses to see all your options.