TEASER ...
A man pushes his car down a road.
He stops outside a hotel and is immediately bankrupt. Why?
Ah. You’ll have to click here
for the answer. Sneaky hey?
What is creativity? Fine art, music and literature? Guys with trendy glasses and girls with pink hair? The antithesis of sound processes and robust systems? Does it have a place in the office? Or is creativity too soft and fluffy to be part of today’s tough business world? Perhaps it should be the preserve of the marketing department.
These are all pre-conceived ideas about creativity.
And they’re wrong.
Creativity is the only thing that will stop you following the competition.
Creativity is all about better, simpler, faster ways of doing things.
Creativity is everybody’s responsibility but if you’re logical
and your glasses aren’t funky, don’t worry. There are techniques
you can learn to help you be more creative.
And, if you haven’t guessed already, creativity is what March’s issue of Sharpening the Axe is all about. We hope it helps you find your inner artist.
Why businesses need creativity
Over recent years there have been three major games going on in business.
First there was the restructuring game which included mergers, acquisitions and so on. Growth was going to come from buying growth.
Then there was cost cutting, a game that’s still going on. If you can cut costs your balance sheet looks much better. But there comes a time when all the fat is gone and further cuts remove muscle.
The latest game is quality and customer service.
So you have a lean and competent organisation. But what happens when your
competitors become just as lean and competent as you and your cost effectiveness
is no longer a unique advantage? Well, that’s when creativity really
comes to the fore.
There is a huge need for better ways of doing things.
The future needs better thinking and part of this better thinking is going
to demand creativity.
And if you think that all the inventions we ever need have been made,
think again. That was the view held by the chief patents officer of the
USA … in 1898!
The C Word
What does the word ’challenge’ conjure up for you? My bet is it makes you think of difficult meetings and judgemental comments. It probably makes you think of things that aren’t working well enough. It may also make you think of defensive people justifying themselves. If that’s how you define challenge, it’s likely you only ever challenge things that are wrong. You probably find that you are always reacting to situations which means you are always on the back foot. From a competitive point of view it’s not very smart.
Creatively challenging is different. It doesn’t set out to criticise, judge, or find fault. Creative challenge is a challenge to uniqueness. It’s a mindset we might refer to as ‘creative dissatisfaction’. People who use this approach aren’t happy accepting that the current way of doing something is the best way. They look for alternatives.
Have you ever stopped to ask why London taxis are the shape they are? It’s because of a law that states there must be enough height for a passenger to wear a top hat. And why are plates round? Because at one time plates were made on a potter’s wheel which produces round objects.
You can see the point I’m making. We all
just accept these things: like we accept that the current way of doing
something is the only way. The smart person sees it as just one of many
ways.
So I challenge you. Look at your business. Look at your products; your
people; your processes and ask yourself ‘Why? Why do we do it
this way and why is this the only way?’ Seek alternatives. Adopt
the attitude of looking for other ways of doing things. If you don’t,
you could end up following the competition. And even if you are good
at
what you do, remember the old saying ‘good is the enemy of best’.
If you keep doing what you’ve always done you’ll always get what you’ve always got. Working creatively means challenging the status quo and striving to do things simpler, differently, better.
10 tips for working creatively
1. Judge people on the quality of their efforts, not
strictly results.
2. Look at root causes to problems – don’t just address the
symptoms.
3. Learn to question and challenge without causing antagonism. Challenge
is not the same as criticism.
4. Make teams autonomous, self-managing and able to design work themselves.
This will make it more meaningful.
5. Don’t reward innovation with money: it’s often seen as
a bribe. Reward through recognition.
6. Build small, flexible teams around individual skills and interests.
7. Divisions divide: encourage cross-company working.
8. Instead of always pushing for clarity and resolution, take some time
to explore the problem. If you try to push for a solution too quickly,
you will do so with the same old thinking. That means you’ll never
move forward. Maybe you are solving the wrong problem. Try to redefine
what the problem really is.
9. Create and sustain an environment that values better performance above
everything else.
10. Train facilitators who are equipped to lead teams in short,sharp idea
generation sessions of between 30 to 45 minutes. Then bring in another
team to review, harness and develop the ideas further.
Time to Think
by Nancy Kline,
isbn 0-7063-7745-1
I really love this book. I was introduced to Nancy
Kline’s thinking during my MSc studies and she struck me as a really
fresh, radical writer. Nancy has identified 10 behaviours that dramatically
help to improve the way people think. At the core is the skill of listening.
I connected with Nancy’s ideas because at the time I was involved with helping companies to untap their creative thinking potential. What resonated with me was her quote “the most tenacious block to new ideas is a limiting assumption.” Her question, which I urge you to ask yourself on a regular basis, is: what might you be assuming that is stopping you from achieving your goal?
You’ll find your assumption is one of three
kinds:
1. A fact (‘I am not the boss; he is’)
2. A possible-fact (‘The boss might laugh at me or think I am stupid’)
3. A bedrock assumption about the self (‘I am stupid’) or
about how life works (‘It is not all right to get it wrong’).
It’s the bedrock assumptions that damage. They were made without our permission a long time ago and they are hard core and dangerous. One of mine is that , during my upbringing, I had a solid family background and a dad who served forty plus years in the police force. I grew up thinking I would be a steady Eddy in a corporate role. I never imagined I would work for myself. It still stays with me to an extent, even though my last salary slip was over ten years ago!
What's your limiting bedrock assumption? Read Nancy Kline and help yourself uncover and remove the thinking that limits you from being better than you could possibly imagine.
Sharing can be so creative
Let us have three names and email address of colleagues, clients or friends you think will enjoy ‘Sharpening the Axe’. To say thank you, we’ll send you an exclusive article on how to run an effective creative thinking session for your teams.
The article won’t be available on our website or via any of our mailings. It guides you through the stages of running a session from focus to brainstorming, through to harvesting the ideas you’ve generated. It also includes 10 top tips to make sure the session is a success.
Inject some creative thinking into your teams: click here and let us
have those three names.
Parting thought
It’s surpetition stupid!
According to creativity guru Edward de Bono, in the future, competition will no longer be enough. The word competition means ‘seeking together’. This means accepting that you are running in the same race as your competitors. Surpetition means ‘seeking above’ or creating your own race.
Let me illustrate with a story.
Two boys are walking through the woods when they come across a giant bear. One of the boys turns and runs away. The other boy sits down and proceeds to put on his trainers.
“What are you doing?” asks the first boy. “You’ll never outrun the bear.”
“I don’t have to,” replied the second
boy. “I only have to outrun you!”
NEXT ISSUE
The next issue of Sharpening the Axe will be out at the end of May.
In the meantime visit www.ashteadgroup.org