Project Creativity: Using Active Imagination for Project Innovation

Abstract

Project management is essentially about solving problems and getting things done. The ability to imagine is a crucial ability when it comes to finding solutions and actualizing them. This paper looks at how creativity can, on an individual, team and organizational level, be fostered in project, program, and portfolio (PPP) management. The paper defines the human imagination as an essential component of higher order thinking—creative, critical and ethical thinking. It is essential to initiate new projects, deal with problems, enhance job satisfaction and give meaning to work life. The paper investigates a suggested use of Carl Jung´s ‘active imagination’ as a cognitive method to spark individual creativity and promote “a higher level of personal and collective self-actualization” in project work. It explores how to foster collective creativity in project teams, project management offices (PMOs), departments and organizations. The paper then argues for the centrality of creativity as a means to foster a more critical, ethical and sustainable approach to future challenges faced both in PPP management and for humankind in general.