Managing Creativity

Home
>
Business Management
>
Managing Creativity

Creativity Starts Here!

The ability of an organisation to create new products/services and innovate new processes is an essential skill providing a sustainable form of competitive advantage.

Given that organisations need to be creative, why are only a few really good at it and why are only a few individuals perceved as creative?

In this article we will examine the theories that underpin creative organisations and the attributes of the managers and individuals who work within them.

Individualism

Theories of why one individual may be more creative than another have changed dramatically over the last 50 years. In the 1950's it was considered that individuals with creative flair were 'born' not 'bred' and as such the hunt was on for people with these elusive skills. This theory evolved during the 1960's but the feeling was still that individuals could not be trained to be creative.

In the 1980's and 90's two new theories came to dominate the discussion surrounding creativity, these being 'intrinsic motivation' (how much the individual wants to be creative) and the ability of the working environment to either stifle or promote creativity, so called 'climate'.

Table 1 ? Summary of thinking on Creativity

- 1950's ? Creativity is an ability that you either have or don't have

- 1960's ? Creativity is a function of how mentally flexible you are

- 1970's ? Creativity can only flourish if you have relevant experience

- 1980's ? You must be intrinsically motivated to be creative

- 1990's ? Creativity exists only in the right climate

- 2000's - Innovation is a combination of skills, motivation and climate

The intrinsic motivation, or desire, of an individual to be creative is linked to both their personal values and drives, tempered by the environment in which they work and we need to examine the drivers of the organisational environment next.

Environmental Trauma!

Research undertaken by Ekvall defined 10 dimensions, or characteristics, of a creative working environment. Each dimension has a scale that extends from very uncreative through to very creative and the aim is that through both observation and questionnaires the climate of a business is plotted against each of these 10 categories.

Table 2 shows what each of Ekvall's 10 dimensions would mean in an extremely creative and a powerfully uncreative climate:

-Dimension: Creative Organisation-->Uncreative Organisation

-Challenge: Energetic-->Indifferent

-Freedom: Independent Initiative-->Rule-Bound

-Dynamism: Excitedly Busy-->Boring/Slow

-Openness: Trust & Failures Accepted-->Failure Punished

-Idea Time: Off Task Play-->Little Off Task Play

-Playfulness: Happy & Humorous-->Dull & Serious

-Conflicts: Debated with Insight-->Warfare

-Support: People Listen-->Negative/Critical Comments

-Debates: Contentious Ideas Voiced-->Little Questioning

-Risk Taking: Act on New Ideas-->Detail & Committees

From experience, few businesses define themselves as having a highly creative environment as many of the characteristics in this area go against cultural norms for business in many Western cultures, but the best are working toward the creative end of the scale, whilst the norm tends to be toward an environment that stifles creativity.

Having used Ekvall to assess the ability of an organisation to be sustain a creative environment, to then change the environment we need to look at the things that create, or drive, the organisational environment and the biggest driver of all is the prevailing management style.

Management Creativity!

In this context, a Creative Manager is not one who is themselves creative, but one who is able to manage the creativity of others and capable of building a creative environment.

Many researchers have analysed the attributes of such a person. Morgan stated that Creative Managers require 5 skills:

1. They must be proactive and flexible, not tied to rigid methods of working.

2. They must have high levels of Emotional Intelligence (see later).

3. They must possess good man-management skills.

4. They must be able to create a vision of the future for others.

5. They must have a series of competences enabling them to cope with different situations, for example in a single day they may be required to be a friend, a counsellor, a technical wizard as well as a manager.

Morgan refers to Emotional Intelligence as a key skill of the Creative Manager. Emotional Intelligence was popularised by Goleman and consists of 5 main elements:

? Self Awareness ? Managers who are self-aware understand what their motivations are and why they get stressed by certain situations and people. Self awareness can be achieved through psychometric profiling.

? Self-Regulation ? Sometimes you can cut the office environment with a knife when the boss is annoyed! Self-regulation is concerned with ensuring that the display of emotions are suited to the situation - getting it wrong is very off-putting for others.

? Empathy ? Having a genuine interest in the feelings and emotions of others is very useful for reading situations correctly.

? Motivation ? Self motivation almost goes without saying for a manager, but this is about constructive motivation not being a workaholic. The essence of this is to maintain high levels of motivation and a positive outlook even when things aren't going well.

? Social Skills ? This last category is concerned with the ability of a manager to communicate effectively with others in a way they can understand.

Try to think about your current, or last, manager and which of the emotional characteristics they had or did not have - why were they good (or bad?)

Research by Henley Management College into Emotional Intelligence shows that it can be more important that IQ in the success of senior managers, and it gets more important as a person moves up the management ladder.

A Creative Summary

The environment in which people work can severely affect their ability or desire to be creative and it is the job of managers to create the right environment that will allow indviduals and teams to be creative.

These managers are incredibly powerful, having the ability to both stimulate creativity as well as kill it - and those with the highest levels of Emotional Intelligence will tend to be working in the most creative organisations.

Mark Eaton was awarded the Viscount Nuffield Medal for his contribution to UK Industry and was until recently Director of the UK's Manufacturing Advisory Service in London and South East England. Mark now runs his own practice focused on organisational productivity and change management.

Mark Eaton MSc MBA CEng MIEE FIOM FRSA

markeaton@advanceprojects.co.uk

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Israeli government says Gaza offensive to continue (AP)

AP - Israel's government says it will press ahead with its military offensive in the Gaza Strip despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire.

Illinois House on verge of impeaching Blagojevich (AP)

AP - Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces almost certain impeachment by the Illinois House, a historic step that would trigger a trial to determine whether the Democratic governor should be tossed out of office.

Rifts show as Obama urges quick action on stimulus (AP)

AP - Lawmakers are under orders to finish action on President-elect Barack Obama's nearly $800 billion economic recovery plan by mid-February. But already it is plain that a set of serious fissures need to be bridged if the bill is to be completed within five weeks.

Democrats begin new session with labor bills (AP)

AP - Democrats are ushering in what they believe will be a new labor-friendly era in Washington with House votes on two bills aimed at helping women fight pay discrimination in the workplace.

Job losses stack up as recession deepens (AP)

AP - Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon.

Toxic coal ash piling up in ponds in 32 states (AP)

AP - Millions of tons of toxic coal ash is piling up in power plant ponds in 32 states, a practice the federal government has long recognized as a risk to human health and the environment but has left unregulated.

Obama to finalize national security team Friday (AP)

AP - President-elect Barack Obama is completing his national security team by announcing his unusual choices for CIA director and a national intelligence director who may face tough Senate confirmation questioning over how he confronted the Indonesian military when civilian massacres were occurring in East Timor.

Emphasis on smooth transition to new Cabinet (AP)

AP - Just minutes after George W. Bush took the oath of office eight years ago, he signed papers formally nominating 13 Cabinet-level officials. Several hours later, the Senate, meeting in a special Saturday session, confirmed seven Cabinet secretaries, including the heads of the key posts at State, Treasury and Defense.

Mini Dynasty: Gators beat Sooners for BCS title (AP)

AP - Tim Tebow enjoyed the battering-ram runs. He liked the old-school jump pass. Drawing a rare penalty, that really made Tebow's day. With No. 1 Florida about to finish off No. 2 Oklahoma 24-14 for the BCS championship Thursday night, Tebow was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Critics' final answer: `Slumdog' wins 5 awards (AP)

AP - The critics have spoken, and "Slumdog Millionaire" is their final answer.

World waits on jobs data as recession weighs (Reuters)

Reuters - U.S. employers probably cut the most jobs in at least 34 years last month as the global economic crisis gathered pace and moves by policy makers took time to filter through to struggling companies.

U.N. calls for immediate Gaza truce (Reuters)

Reuters - Israel pushed ahead with its two-week-old offensive in the Gaza Strip, ignoring a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Panel steps up criticism of Treasury: report (Reuters)

Reuters - A report being released on Friday alleges that the U.S. Treasury has failed to reveal its strategy for stabilizing the financial system, not answered questions asked by a government watchdog, and has done nothing to help struggling homeowners, the Wall Street Journal said.

EU seeks gas supply return after deal (Reuters)

Reuters - Europe sought a swift restoration of gas supplies on Friday after striking a deal with Moscow on monitoring gas shipments via Ukraine that have been halted by a pricing dispute with Kiev.

Citi backs measure to help avoid foreclosures (Reuters)

Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc will support a proposal in Congress to rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday.

Illinois panel recommends governor's impeachment (Reuters)

Reuters - A legislative committee on Thursday recommended the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Obama team amending financial rescue package: report (Reuters)

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is urgently overhauling the $700 billion financial rescue package to broaden its scope beyond Wall Street, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Health care overhaul needn't break bank: study (Reuters)

Reuters - An analysis of proposals to overhaul U.S. health care by President-elect Barack Obama and members of Congress suggests it is possible to insure all Americans without significantly raising total health spending.

Israel and Hamas battle on after UN ceasefire demand (AFP)

AFP - Israel and Hamas launched heavy air strikes and rocket attacks on each other Friday, ignoring a UN Security Council order on the warring rivals to end their conflict.

EU demands immediate resumption of gas supplies (AFP)

AFP - The European Union demanded Friday that Russian gas supplies to Europe resume immediately now that details of a mission to monitor the flow through Ukrainian pipelines have been agreed.

Managing Creativity

Business Management Business Management