Tag Archive for creativity

6 Considerations for a Creative Culture

May 16, 2013 Uncategorized 3 comments

be7db324062b24a5bf1a53f28899602dYesterday we looked at a creative culture from an individual level, but today I want to zoom out and look at it from a broader, organizational level. What are some practical considerations if we really and truly want our teams to be creative?

It’s not as simple as telling them to be more creative, or nodding and smiling when someone mentions creativity or innovation. There has to be an intentional focus on it, or it will become an afterthought. You’ll have little bursts of creativity here and there from individuals, but nothing on the level or organizational creativity.

Here are some things you could take a look at:

1. Workspace

I’ve jokingly said before that cubicles are tiny, cubed prisons where ideas go to die. And by jokingly, I mean I’m being completely serious. It’s not that you can’t use cubicles, but you’ve got to figure out ways to get the team out of them sometimes. Or have really low walls. Or something.

Have meetings other places. Go outside for the love of pancakes and pogo sticks. When it’s feasible you could even let folks — gasp — meet offsite. You know, get some fresh air and all that. Studies show that humans think and work better that way.f056f6d2c62cf2fc41490b688f6ce874

Even the workspaces themselves need to be examined. What do they feel like? Just looking at them, what sorts of actions or behaviors or attitudes do you think they encourage? What symbolism do they bring? Are they sterile? Bright? Uniform? Individualized? Formal? Relaxed? Closed in? Open? Buzzing fluorescent lights? Natural light? Colorful? Colorless?

It all matters. It all combines to create a certain atmosphere. That atmosphere can be one that either encourages or stifles creativity.

2. Interaction with others who think differently

How easy is it for people to get together to talk, think, and create?

Some of us don’t have time to stand around and talk about solar-powered umbrellas. We have work to do, Matt.

Yeah, sarcasm’s like a second language to me, so I’m reading you loud and clear there. And don’t be silly — a solar-powered umbrella doesn’t even make sense.

I hate how something that is not just helpful, but necessary for an organization to be innovative is relegated to something that’s only done “if there’s time.” No, no, no. If it’s important, we make time for it. Simple as that. We make time for the most inane crap every day, but we can’t find time for that?

3. Rules

3334a2a9d7ec2434995596a7329b02a0Or policies. Or guidelines. Or suggestions. Or unwritten codes. Whatever. Depending what they are, they can snuff out creativity. Like this one:

You may not be on the internet during work hours.

Really? You want them to be creative but don’t want them to access the single largest source of information and inspiration in the modern era? Seems a little off, no?

Or this one:

Social media networks are off-limits.

Oh geez. Think about how odd that must sound to employees, and especially those who were born later than others of us. They’re told to collaborate with others, but they’re told that they are not to access their largest network of people. Hm. I mentioned this in a #TChat a while back, but telling employees today that they can’t use social media is like telling employees a couple decades ago that they couldn’t use the telephone.

4. Resources

This is a tough one, because there’s so much uncertainty around it; but if you want something to happen, you’ve got put any number of things into it. Maybe that’s people, maybe it’s time, perhaps it’s money, and maybe it’s all those things.

5. Hiring

Very few interviews I’ve seen or heard of do anything substantive in the way of figuring out if candidates have any inclination toward creativity. Want a creative culture? Then interview and hire people who demonstrate creativity and a desire to exercise creative ability!

6. Leadership

Like anything else, leadership is absolutely critical here. If leadership is risk-averse, uber-conservative, loves tradition, prefers the status quo and so on; chances are that creativity will not thrive there.

On the other hand, if leadership is OK with people flexing their creative muscles everyone once in a while when they have free time, creativity will likely flourish, right?

No, sillies. It won’t because the above is still way too passive. It’s not enough for leadership to be OK with creativity. They should be pushing it, facilitating it, asking about it, and demonstrating it themselves in their own ways. We lucked out at Mazuma. Our CEO encourages creativity. It’s actually an element that we’re weaving into the culture. And he’s not just paying lip service to it. You should see what he let me do to my office.

So what say you? Agree? Disagree? What would you add to the list?

4 Sorts of Folks That Make $*!* Happen

May 13, 2013 Uncategorized One comment

make-things-happenOrganizations, products, services, and so on don’t just happen. I think sometimes we romanticize the process and make it into something it’s not. Other times, we make the mistake of thinking one part of the process is somehow more important than the others. Here’s how it goes.

You get this idea. You take the idea and do something with it; you take it from concept to reality. Then you take that prototype and make it even better. And then you keep making that product, providing that service, etc.

You can see the things that have to happen. Ideation, creation, refining, and making it real.

1. Ideators

The sort of ideation we’re talking about here tends to have its origins in the minds of strategists, creators, and visionaries. It’s these folks who love to think, think, think. They might even be what some would call a bit of an “odd duck” or maybe an introvert. And just as you’re about to whisper to your colleague that Mr. Ideation over there wastes so much time thinking, Mr. I walks over to your area and says something starting with “So I have an idea I wanted to run by you…” Four and a half minutes later you’re trying to decide if the idea is crazy, brilliant, or a tasty cocktail of both.

2. Creators

But then what? Say the idea is fanfreakingtastic. It can’t simply live in Mr. Ideation’s head in perpetuity. That’s where our creators come in. They’re the ones who can decode these half-delusion-half-illuminations, and bring them from their current abstract form into something more concrete and tangible.

3. Refiners

But even then we’re not done, are we? We can’t simply make or do a thing one time and call it good. This is where the refiners come in. They take the creator’s prototype and start fiddling with it, pushing on it, prodding it, kicking the tires, kicking the tires harder, taking a knife to the tires, and figuring out every possible way they can conceive of to make the thing better.

4. The Finishers

At that point, you have a fully-formed, refined, widget. But now what? Here’s where your make-it-real folks come into the picture. They make it happen, whatever that means. Maybe that means closing deals. Perhaps that includes finding efficient ways to make an s-ton of widgets. They make those widgets — the same ones that were at one point some cockamamie idea floating around Mr. Ideator’s head — a real and viable thing.

Now, you smartypants kids (you know who you are — the ones who complained to the rest of us when you got a 99 on a test in your super-duper advanced Calculus for gifted students course) are thinking But wait, I do elements of each of those every day. Does that mean I’m still smarter than everyone else in the class?

Well first, your stupid 99s didn’t make you smarter than the rest of us. Nerdier maybe, but not necessarily smarter. (That coming from a self-proclaimed nerd.) More arrogant perhaps, but not necessarily smarter. Second, almost everyone has elements of all of these within the scope of their positions. Now typically, you’ll be more heavily into one or two of them, but it’s likely you’ll dabble in all of them at some point.

But you see, it’s not just Miss Teen Calculus who struggles with thinking in unhealthy, less-than-constructive ways. It’s all of us. We tend to view the particular thing or things we contribute to the process as more, if not most, important. We would give token acknowledgement to “all the little people who helped make my…er…this dream come true” as the emotional Oscar-esque music cued up in the background.

The bottom line is that that’s the beauty of a team. It’s all these distinctly human and unique parts lending their particular and unique skill sets to create things others couldn’t and create them in ways others couldn’t. But it’s the mix of all them that makes it possible. We need to be self-aware, embrace a bit of humility, and appreciate the beautiful, amazing mess of humans around us, and be thankful to be counted among them.

8 Characteristics of Creative Leaders

May 6, 2013 Uncategorized 6 comments

madmen2I hate to outline things that may generally be true of what some would consider “creative” leaders, because I don’t want that to misconstrued as me positing that some humans are creative and others aren’t. I don’t think that at all.

But while I think all of us have the capacity and ability to be creative in our own ways, I think some people have more of a natural bent in that direction. That’s more their default mode than anything else. It’s a more pronounced trait in some than in others, just like any other can be.

Here are a few I was chewing on. Please feel free to add your own to the list.

1. Creative leaders may be somewhat (or very) rebellious, but in a good way, if that makes sense. They’re rebellious in that they tend to be uncomfortable with traditional rules and conventions. They want to do new things, or at least old things in new ways.

What I’m not saying: Creative leaders get to be obstinate jackasses. I don’t care if you think you’re Pablo freaking Picasso, it’s going to be harder to be creative when someone has judo chopped you in the windpipe because of your incessant and jackass-ish obstinacy.

2. Creative leaders are ambitious, but in any number of ways. tumblr_m3k421abMD1rnh7c1o1_400Ambition can take many forms; some of them attractive, others, not so much. It could be influence, team success, need for recognition, need for adulation, etc. This one can go either way. I feel like I’m about to give “the talk” to Luke Skywalker about the Force and the Dark Side. Sorry, Andy Janning, no such luck today.

3. The make associations others wouldn’t. You might see this especially clearly when creative leaders have locked their minds on some dilemma or quandary. They’re imaginative, sometimes playful, and general have oodles of ideas, many of which leave you scratching your head wondering if they were serious or not. And then three seconds later you realize they might be accidentally brilliant.

4. Their minds are like, a roller coaster baby baby, I wanna ride. (90′s Red Hot Chili Peppers reference free of charge) Some studies have shown that creatives may have a greater tendency to experience emotions more intensely and have more fluctuations in moods and emotional state. Translation: They might be moody. They can also have self-confidence issues.

5. Details, deatils. Sometimes creative folks may need to some help from the more put-together among us to actually fill in the details and take a project all the way across the finish line because Mr. Rollercoaster hopped in line for a different ride already before that annoying teenager gave him permission to unbuckle from the one he was on.

6. They want to kick ass (when they’re not being moody little beyonces as mentioned above). Their creativity is often kicked into gear because they’re trying to accomplish something, solve a problem. They feel a need — a real need — to find a way to solve a thing once they’ve put their mind to it.

7. Mental stamina. Related to the above, they can have bursts of creative mental energy that allows them to focus for extended periods of time on a given conundrum or preoccupation.

heavyweight-gymnast_500_copyright8. They’re like gymnasts. Yes, it’s true. Creative leaders have a propensity to don grown-up singlets and prance around the house every third weekend.

I’m kidding. (I hope) They’re often flexible. They tend to roll with the punches and adapt as they’re rolling. Many times they’ll be able to see different aspects of issues and will throw out options that sound ridiculous at first, but then….boom. Oh? The situation just changed? Woohoo! Another chance to be creative.

Why does it matter? If our workplaces are truly habitats for humans, then it’s super important for us to work hard to understand the different sorts of folks with whom we get to work every day. Those oddball creative people are no different. Well, actually, I guess they kind of are. But that’s a good thing.

 

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