One of the best ways to increase your CQ (creativity quotient), and hence be more productive in your career, is to regress a little and be more like you were as a kid.

Did you know, for instance, that on psychological tests of creativity, only 5 per cent of people 18 and older registered in the “creative” range? Among 17-year-olds, 10 per cent scored “creative.”

But among 5-year-olds, more than 90 per cent demonstrated the creativity to suggest innovative ways of looking at situations and the ability to dream up new ideas.

The best news here is that creativity can be taught. In fact, you can boost your own creative capability just by practising various forms of lateral thinking. Thankfully, even if you don’t have the gift of the creative juices, you can still learn.

Here are 10 “creativity boosters” that corporate creativity trainers teach their clients to help both individuals and teams to stretch their imaginative powers and reap the benefits:

Ask “what if” questions. (What if teachers got paid based on how well their students performed? What if executives got paid based on how well they understood the people who work for them? What if supervisors were elected and not imposed by the management?)

Daydream wherever you are and whenever you can. Just see what wild ideas you can come up with and jot them down on separate note cards. (And keep these cards carefully in a file of your wild and zany ideas.)

Try your hand at cooking a meal creatively, without any recipes. You will realise how much it helps your thinking process.

Do jigsaw and crossword puzzles. This helps you look at problems and solve them in new and innovative ways.

Watch three-quarters of a movie on the video, then turn off the VCR and visualise your own ending for that movie. It could be much better than the one you watched.

Interview people in your work group about some of the inventions they’d like to see happen in the near future.

Imagine changing places with someone in your office for a day ? what would you get to do differently? How would you tackle the challenge and what different measures would you take to solve the same problems?

Imagine that you’ve just won a month-long trip anywhere with the person of your dreams. But you have to choose the place in the next five minutes and leave tomorrow. Where will you go and why? Formulate your answers carefully and also question if that’s the best option to take.

Go for or rent out a foreign language film with a friend, and make sure that neither of you knows the language. Ensure that the film doesn’t have any subtitles. As you watch the film, share your thoughts about what you think of the main characters, what they are probably saying, feeling and thinking, based on their expressions and body language.

Eat a food that you’ve never tasted for lunch or dinner today. Let the new taste sensations roll around on your tongue and try to imagine a “story” to go with those sensations.

So what’s the point of this exercise? The point is to get you out of your accepted, expected and brain-dulling ways of seeing and experiencing the world.

In order to succeed as grown-up leaders where we work, we must find ways to take ourselves back in time, to a long-gone way of seeing and experiencing things afresh.

Here’s to being five years old again, at least once or twice a day! And see how it boosts your productivity and helps you overcome your mundane and tedious routine.

For further information log on to www.monster.com