By Michael Clayton, President/CEO

 Encouraging Creativity in Your Team

             Ideas are an organization’s greatest asset.  People are an organization’s only appreciable asset.  But creative people are an organization’s most needed asset.  How many creative people do you have on your team?

            The future of your organization will be determined by your people’s creativity.  Alexander Whitson said, "One of the most pressing problems of our country today is the urgent need for new creative talent.  It is not enough that we train more engineers, scientists, or mathematicians; what is demanded is more creative individuals."

            As a leader, do you provide an environment that encourages original ideas and enterprising solutions among members of your team?  To ensure that you are taking full advantage of your people’s creativity, consider these four guidelines:

1. Be willing to absorb risks taken by your people --  Stanley Gill said, "Most executives agree that creativity is the most profit-producing possession their company has, and many wish they had more, but very few are doing much about it.  As one executive candidly explained, ‘Sure, I’d like to have creative people around me if I didn’t have to put up with all the inconveniences they cause.’"  Leaders who encourage creativity allow their people freedom to express themselves, expect some mistakes to be made, and are willing and able to absorb failures.

2. Be willing to stretch the rule book --  Leaders who promote creativity among their people don’t disregard guidelines and policies, but they inherently know when they need to be challenged, and they can see when a more flexible approach should be taken.  David Kelley, founder of IDEO Product Development said, "The most important thing I have learned from big companies is that creativity gets stifled when everyone’s got to follow the rules."

3. Be comfortable with half-developed ideas -- Charlie Brower said, "A new idea is delicate.  It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn: it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man’s brow."  Handle the ideas of your people carefully.  Consider each one as the next great idea that could revolutionize your organization.  If an idea is half-developed but has potential, pass it to the people in your organization who are proven process thinkers and implementers.

4. Be creative yourself -- American Physicist Tom Hirschfield once said, "If you don’t ask ‘Why this?’ often enough, somebody will ask, ‘Why you?’" It’s a forgone conclusion that as the leader you must exhibit the same creativity in your ideas, decisions, and solutions that you expect in your people.  It’s one thing to foster an environment for creativity in your organization.  It’s another to do so in your own life.  Sometimes giving your people permission to be creative is not enough.  But showing them creativity will inspire them to maximize their creative potential.

Former President John Quincy Adams wisely commented, "Let us consider an alternative style of thinking, which we can call ‘creative thinking.’  It is playfully instructive to note that word ‘reactive’ and the word ‘creative’ are made up of exactly the same letters.  The only difference between the two is that you ‘C’ (see) differently."  Don’t let another day pass until you have taken the proper steps to ensure that your team is creating more and reacting less.