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Creativity Is Good Business

September 22, 2008

 Fostering Creativity in a Competitive Marketplace

 LONDON, UK (RUSHPRNEWS) 09/22/2008--Many businesses are aware of the importance of creativity in the workplace. Creativity is the source of breakthroughs and often leads to profit-generating initiatives. Contrary to popular belief, creativity is not an isolated act that produces a brilliant spark, which translates into profit. The initial idea is usually just one step in a long arduous process that may stretch on for years. In order to realize the potential of a creative idea, an organization must have the structure and support in place for it to flourish and bring returns.

Nicholas Goh, Managing Director of Verztec Consulting Pte Ltd, an ISO 9001:2000 certified Multilingual Communications Service Provider, provides a tip sheet on how an organization can effectively build a sustainable creative culture.

A business comprises different levels of processes and management. Creativity must be present at all these levels in order to foster strong performance and breakthroughs. The director and the senior management team do not come up with all the ideas on their own; rather, every single member of organization makes suggestions. The leaders then sort through a mass of ideas to find the ones that fit into a coherent whole.

1. Accept uncertainties
To act in this fashion, executives have to resist natural tendencies to avoid or minimize risks. To inculcate original ideas, people have to accept the uncertainty, even when it's uncomfortable, and have the capability to recover when your organization takes a big risk and fails.

2. Rigorous feedback loop
This practice of working together as peers is key to a creative workplace. A regular discussion to obtain positive feedback is one way to foster an open environment. While in most companies, only a small senior group would review the work progress of projects, it is possible to broaden participation to include the project team. People show work in an incomplete state to the whole team, and although the director makes decisions, everyone is encouraged to comment.

There are several benefits. First, once people get over the embarrassment of showing work still in progress, they become more creative. Second, the director guiding the review process can communicate important points to the entire team at the same time. Third, people learn from and inspire each other. Finally, there are no surprises at the end since everyone agrees on the final product. People's overwhelming desire to make sure their work is "good" before they show it to others increases the possibility that their finished version won't be what the director wants. These feedback sessions can avoid such wasted efforts.

3. Alternative communications channel
This means recognizing that the decision-making hierarchy and communication structure in organizations are two different things. Members of any department should be able to approach anyone in another department to solve problems without having to go through "proper" channels. It also means that managers need to learn that they don't always have to be the first to know about something going on in their department. The impulse to tightly control the process is understandable given the complex nature of organizations. Nevertheless, problems are almost by definition unforeseen. The most efficient way to deal with numerous problems is to trust people to work out the difficulties directly with each other without having to check for permission.

4. Everyone is encouraged to offer ideas
An organisation should inculcate a culture of constantly showing works in progress internally. Attendees of meetings are worked out to ensure that there are people who can contribute fresh perspectives and ideas. Everyone in the company, regardless of discipline or position, gets to contribute their ideas. A concerted effort can be made to ensure that criticism is accepted by allowing attendees to e-mail additional ideas to the project managers.

Ultimately, creativity in service offerings has to reside with the organization's leadership. This is often not the case in many companies. It is our firm belief that the creative vision propelling each movie has to come from the entire organization, whether they are corporate executives or a development department, and not from one or two people.

The guiding philosophy in many successful companies boils down to a few fundamental principles: hire creative people, give them enormous leeway and support, and provide them with an environment in which they can get honest feedback from everyone.
http://www.verztec.com

 
Contact Information
Nicholas Goh
Verztec Consulting Pte Ltd
http://www.verztec.com
+6565774646

 

 

 

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