Mixing it Up: The Art of Creativity in Bartending and Career Development

It’s taken me a while to write this post, but I really want to share with you some thoughts I had about what bartenders can teach us about creativity in career development.

A few weeks ago, I went out with a couple of my friends on an Urban Cocktail self-discovery trail around Geelong, Victoria. This is not where I normally go out, in fact previously I had only been there for work. I’ll be the first one to admit, my preconceived notions of what the area was like were wrong.

All of the places we visited were interesting and the cocktails and mocktails tasty. We didn’t get to all the places on the trail, because the last one we stopped out blew all the others out of the water. From the moment we stepped into the ’18th Amendment Bar’ I knew we had stepped into a place that was special. From the ambience of the decor, and the mood, through to presentation of the cocktails you could tell that the staff had real passion for what they do.

From cocktails served in pirates chests, which when you opened the lid ‘smoke’ floated out and around you, to cocktails tasting like turkish delight, served in miniature bathtubs and everything in between, every customer was made to feel special. They even had a cocktail that tasted like Apfel Strudel – yumm!!

I couldn’t help but put my Career Development Practitioner hat on (yes, by that stage it might have been sitting metaphorically a little bit wonky) and ask our bartender about what drove their passion for their craft, and how did they come up with the amazing menu. What they told me, had me reflecting on those tips and how creativity is equally important to lifelong career development.

Have you ever felt: stuck / fed up / bored / afraid to take risks / failing, ready to walk away from a job or project?

Before throwing in the towel and walking away from a job or project, why not try this career creativity cocktail recipe? Tweak the ingredients for your own specific ‘taste’

So, without further ado, here are the ingredients they told me, with a few garnishes of my own thrown in for embedding creativity into lifelong career development.

Generating New Ideas

• Brainstorming techniques
• Finding inspiration in different sources
• Encouraging diverse perspectives

Thinking Outside the Box

• Challenging assumptions and biases
• Exploring unconventional solutions
• Trying new approaches to problems

Experimenting with Different Approaches

• Trying new tools and techniques
• Testing different strategies
• Adapting to different work environments

Innovation in Your Work

• Finding new and improved ways to do things
• Identifying areas for improvement and growth
• Taking calculated risks

Embracing Failure as a Learning Opportunity

• Reframing failure as a chance to learn and grow
• Identifying the root cause of failures
• Using failures as a catalyst for change

I hope this career creativity recipe helps when you feel like you are stuck in a rut. Sometimes trying a different approach or strategy can make a difference in transforming a situation . . .