Managing creativity.

[check] This checklist distinguishes the overlap between creativity and innovation and sets out steps for managing creativity in others.

Definition

The terms creativity and innovation are often used interchangeably. The chief purpose here in distinguishing one from the other is to understand what each means so that they can be managed better.

Creativity has been described as the organisation of thoughts in a way that leads to different understandings of a situation. Innovation is more often associated with new product or service generation. They are different but they fit together--creativity is the process of generating new ideas, while innovation relates more to the process of implementing new ideas for the benefit of the organisation.

This checklist is concerned with the processes, steps and techniques of managing creativity in others, rather than being creative yourself.

For example:

Manager A is a highly creative individual who assails his/her team with ideas to the point where they cannot keep up with the flow. As a result no one really knows what is going to happen from one day to the next--exciting and challenging perhaps, but lacking in purposive direction and probably damaging on productivity.

Manager B has few creative ideas but is highly effective at listening, encouraging and helping staff to come up with ideas that can then be put to the test.

This checklist is mainly about Manager B.

Advantages of managing creativity

Every new product or service results initially from an idea that then follows an innovation cycle of testing, implementing and marketing. It is generally accepted that the key to competitiveness is the generation and successful exploitation of new ideas. The generation of new ideas is therefore an organisational must. The generation of new ideas that lead to successful innovation is at a premium. Getting more of the second kind economically still means generating more of the first kind.

Disadvantages of managing creativity

There are not so much disadvantages, as obstacles, to overcome. The environments in some organisations may prove hostile to creativity, and need to be addressed.

Obstacles include:

* free expression being stifled by a pervading culture of blame

* general resistance to change

* reluctance to think or move outside strict job descriptions

* failure being regarded as something to penalise, not learn from

* a view that the best ideas come from the top

* communication scarce and downwards only

* rigid formalities and rules

* non-existent incentives

Action Checklist

1. Identify potential sources of, or stimuli to, creativity

Research has tended to be more associated with invention of products, but it is as likely to come up with ideas for new processes as well as new products. This can come from academic research, newspaper reports or titbits, or the latest article from a trade or professional journal.

Employees are the ones who handle the day-to-day problems, processes and plaudits; they are the key to spotting opportunities or threats, better ways of doing things, or ways of doing different things.

Customers may not always be right, but it is vital to stay close, listen and explore their comments, feedback and complaints.

Relationships with suppliers can develop beyond the acquisition of raw materials into partnerships exploring mutual benefit.

Competitors will have their own agenda for creativity; actively seeking out intelligence on a competitor's activities can provide an early alert to new developments.

Happenstance: it has been said that creativity probably stems more from circumstances which are unplanned and undirected, be this in the bath, on the golf course or when suffering from gastric upset. Whatever the source, an idea is an idea, until putting it to the test demonstrates that it won't work.

2. Set an example yourself

This is a matter of attitude and style rather than being creative yourself, although that can obviously help now and again. The idea is not to manage by visible face-time productivity, but by realising that staff need "white space" for chatting, thinking, having sessions which explore different things in different ways.

* Encourage new ideas consistently rather than when, or if, you have the time

* Discuss all ideas in open forum--not just those that you think are good

* Welcome new explorations and different directions rather than enforcing a platform of unchanging stability

* Seek out new ways of working rather than always relying on the tried and tested.

3. Build a climate for creativity

Getting the climate right for creativity is difficult to put into words, but it is about:

* a sense of dynamism and hustle and bustle rather than a hush in the air

* a feeling of interest and mutual respect when people interact rather than deference to rank or position

* having rules and procedures under control rather then letting them control you

* an atmosphere of individual energy, enthusiasm, open-mindedness and commitment using conflicting ideas positively (but clamping down on personal conflict).

4. Use techniques for creativity

Brainstorming involves spontaneous, open-ended discussion in the search for new ideas, and can prove invaluable in generating large numbers of ideas, however off-the-wall they may appear at the time.

The key to generating ideas in a brainstorming session is not to evaluate them too soon, thereby curtailing participation in the discussion.

Suggestion schemes are used as a way of gathering ideas from employees to improve productivity, cut costs or improve working conditions. The key to successful suggestion schemes is to give feedback and reward contributors so that employees realise that management cares and listens to them.

Focus groups enable a particular topic to be explored in greater depth, allowing people to develop related ideas as they go along and build on the views expressed by others. Participants can be encouraged to think laterally rather merely towing the usual line.

Lateral thinking--pioneered by Edward de Bono, lateral thinking takes us outside our familiar, even organisational, way of reasoning and suggests that there are many ways of thinking about a problem. Rather than wacky or wishful thinking, this still needs logic and analysis, but challenges and tests the assumptions that tend to govern our 'normal' thought processes.

Mind-mapping--pioneered by Tony Buzan, a mind map is a tool that mirrors the way in which the brain stores and retrieves information and a is powerful way of expressing the thought patterns, pictures and associations that exist in the brain.

5. Become a team member

Although you may be the team leader, become a team member as well. Challenge others in the way they do things, even what they are doing, and encourage them to challenge you. You need to adopt a number of different roles to get the best from teams--sometimes you may find it useful to change between being:

* the manager who sits back, listens and encourages, and knows when to move away from an unprofitable track

* the communicator who interprets input from different individuals

* the devil's advocate who is trying to get people to see that there is an alternative

* the builder who makes links between a number of possibilities

* the co-ordinator who sums up when a consensus begins to appear.

6. Build in breathing time/space

There is no secret here--if you want people to be creative, you can't expect to see them 'doing' all the time. In fact you can't expect to see them all the time--they may be better being creative out of your sight or hearing. If you trust people with space and time, generally they will come up with the goods. Largely it's a question of trust, something that has to be given in order to earn it.

7. Build systems for creativity

Such systems will be based on the approaches outlined in steps 1-7 above. They may include:

360 degree appraisal--where constructive review and feedback from customers, subordinates, peers and managers takes place on a regular, honest and open, basis

Self-directed teams--small groups of people genuinely empowered to manage themselves and the work they do. They require flexibility and support from the organisation, and multi- skilling and self-discipline from the team members.

Flexible working--so that people may not be disadvantaged by standardised attendance, which may no longer be suitable for the type of work required, or that positive advantage may be gained by gearing the work to the employee instead of entirely the other way round.

8. Work out inexpensive pilots

It is important to try out ideas that seem to promise much but may need significant investment. Work out how to try and pilot such ideas on a smaller scale so that you can put them to the test, gain some feedback evidence for their justification and learn from initial phasing so that later, fuller implementations may benefit. Departmental applications, telephone surveys to existing customers and seed corn money can all add up to laying the foundation for innovation while avoiding unnecessary cost.

9. Feedback and Reward

None of the above initiatives will carry much value unless they are firmly supported with systems of feedback and reward. To let employees know how their suggestions are turning out is vital if further suggestions are to be forthcoming. Feedback should be constructive and encouraging, and cover all those ideas that employees have contributed, not just those which any assessing panel may deem worthy. Some successful suggestion schemes reward all contributions in cash on a sliding scale depending on how far that idea can be developed.

Dos and Don'ts

Do

* Have a customer focus in order to produce goods or services that people want now or may want in the future.

* Understand the major business drivers--eg, profitability, competitors, technology, demand, costs - against which ideas will be evaluated.

* Encourage trials and experiments, and use failure to move on, not back.

* Weigh up the importance of creativity when recruiting new staff.

Don't

* Accept that good ideas are the privilege of the few

* Accept that all conflict is negative

* Accept that creativity takes second place to order and routine

Useful reading

Books

Creativity and innovation: managing best practice 119 London: 2004

Creativity in virtual teams: key components for success, Jill E. Nemiro San Francisco, Calif.: Pfeiffer, 2004

Big ideas: putting the zest into creativity and innovation at work, Jonne Ceserani London: Kogan Page, 2003

Sticky wisdom: how to start a creative revolution at work, What If Oxford: Capstone, 2002

Journal articles

Managing for creativity, Richard Florida and Jim Goodnight Harvard Business Review, vol. 83, no. 7, July 2005, pp 125-131

How to make creativity contagious, Stefan Stern Management Today, March 2004, pp. 52, 54-55, 57

Thought starters

* Do you think 'outside the box' when recruiting and developing team members?

* Do you believe that creativity will come of its own accord, or that it needs to be nurtured?

* How often do you try out new ways of doing things in the spirit of inquiry? Do you find it easy to look at old problems from fresh perspectives?