Re- Learn To Be Creative For A Super Performing Future

Re-learn To Be Creative For A
Super Performing Future
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PRESENTS
© 2013 The Mudd Partnership | www.themuddpartnership.com | @muddpartnership | www.fb.com/muddpartnership

We would contend that rather than learn how to be creative, as Adults we
should un-learn how not to be!
Picasso fabulously suggested that everyone is born an Artist, but in the journey to
Adulthood, being Educated to pass Exams, follow defined paths and fit into
particular categories and boxes, we un-learn Creativity. We become increasingly
wary of failure & looking stupid – we become more risk averse, caution takes hold
and our horizons diminish!
In a great TED talk from 2006, Sir Ken Robinson speaks with passion about how
Schools can kill Creativity. He argues that Creativity is essential and just as
fundamentally important as literacy. He also very powerfully makes the point that
Children now starting their school career will not be retiring from the world of
work until circa 2080 and how can you educate for what the work place will look
like then?
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Of course, you can’t, &, traits and qualities like Resilience, Positivity, Creativity
and the capacity to Innovate need to be taught, nurtured and harvested.
All things that The Mudd Partnership is passionate about and Blogs about
regularly & we believe that how you recognise, understand & harness creativity in
the workplace is very important in driving forward the capacity to innovate,
manage change and create agile, Super Performing Organisations and
Businesses. So, in today’s Blog we’re going to look at one particular technique for
enabling You, Your Team or Your Business to become more Creative. We pose
this though as a Question – Brainstorming Versus Individual Creativity?
First off lets reclaim the term Brainstorming as some of us will be old enough to
remember when, for a while at least, we would be „Thought Showering‟ instead!
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The fact is there is a proper pedigree behind the technique and a very good
reason for keeping & using the term, „To Brainstorm‟. As the concepts originator
Alex Osborn puts it, the process is, „to use the brain to storm a creative problem
and doing so in commando fashion, with each stormer attacking the same
objective”.
It will also probably come as no surprise that the process was born and nurtured
in the world of advertising. Alex Osborn was a partner in the New York Advertising
Agency BBDO & his celebrated idea was first promulgated in Chapter 33 of his
surprise best seller, “Your Creative Power‟ which first appeared in 1948. In fact it
was the success of this book that set the template for a range of Management
and Business ‘Help’ books being authored during the 1950’s & 60’s by luminaries
from this sector, including David Ogilvy who was described as the Father of
Modern Advertising. His book in the early 1960′s, „Confessions Of An Advertising
Man‟ was hailed as being important because, “It‟s not just about advertising, it‟s
also about how people think and behave at the sharp end of business”.
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In Osborn’s book, Chapter 33 was entitled, „How To Organise A Squad To Create
Ideas‟, & he wrote that when a group works together, the members should
engage in a „Brainstorm”.
For Osborn, Brainstorming was central to BBDO’s success and his book outlined
the essential rules of a successful Brainstorming Session. The thing that he believed
distinguished Brainstorming from other types of group activity was the absence of
criticism and negative feedback, &, he wrote, “Creativity is delicate, a flower
that praise tends to make bloom while discouragement often nips in the bud”.
Brainstorming was predicated on a no-judgments approach to holding a
meeting. It provided companies with an easy way to structure their group
interactions and it became the most widely used creativity technique in the
world. It gave rise to detailed pedagogical doctrines, such as the Osborn-Parnes
„Creative Problem Solving Process‟ which is still used today by many Business
Consultants, &, when people want to extract the best ideas from a group they still
observe Osborn’s cardinal rule – “Censure Criticism (whilst) Encouraging the most
Freewheeling Associations”.
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Arguably, Brainstorming is then the ideal, feel good way to boost productivity,
but does it actually work? The scientific evidence would suggest not!
Based on the findings from empirical tests dating back from the late 1950’s and
conducted by such august bodies as Yale & Washington State University, the
control sample of individuals would always roughly come up with twice as many
solutions as the Brainstorming groups under the same conditions and the „Solo
Solutions‟ were independently judged to be more „feasible‟ & more „effective‟.
The conclusion drawn was that rather than unleash the potential of the group,
the process of Brainstorming made each individual less creative.
The interesting paradox subsequently thrown up by all of this however for both
The Mudd Partnership and many other practitioners & Business, Organisational,
People and Change Management commentators, is that like it or not, human
creativity has increasingly become a group process and many of us work better
creatively when teamed up!
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To appreciate and understand this is then important in how you structure for
creativity, the capacity to innovate and ultimately to be both organizationally
robust and agile; not only responsive to your market, customers, stake and
shareholders, but also to be on the front foot and ahead of changing demand,
new pressures, new challenges & new targets.
So, what People, Process & Structural changes should you be considering to
ensure you have the best market position, optimum capacity & capability and a
true competitive edge?
The Mudd Partnership suggests the following ⇒
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1. Have a Powerful Engagement Process & Committed Local
Sponsors
To overcome resistance, build commitment and stimulate creativity, you need to
engage powerfully and bring people together in a Purposeful Way (We shall be
looking more closely at Purposeful Leadership in future blogs): In addition, you
want your middle and front-line managers to model the behaviours that will drive
forward creativity & innovation and they will be critical in connecting the
creative thinking done to the organisation‟s values and goals;
2. Recognise that Behaviours are the Key to Organisational
Success
These include both Relationship Behaviours and Task Behaviours; There will be
clusters of each already operating in your organisation or business, &, both
clusters are important for creative, innovative and High Performing Teams.
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3. Engage Both Relationship & Task Behaviours
Relationship Behaviours include adaptability, communication, innovation,
creativity and personal leadership: Task Behaviours include decision making,
people development, planning, results focus, vision and strategy (All traits which
regular readers of these Blogs will recognize as being characteristic of a Super
Performer):
4. Actively Develop Your Thought Leaders & Super Performers
Model respect for talent and achievements at every level; Offer frequent public
thanks; Praise those who meet high standards whilst helping poorer performers to
improve; Emphasise personal responsibility; Reward initiative; Make Brainstorming
a habit; Provide opportunities and resources for continual learning and growth;
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5. Remove Silos, Inert Boundaries & ‘The Way We Do Things Here’
Mentality
Convene conversations across groups; Involve diverse cross-cutting teams in
problem solving; & again as we have suggested in previous Blogs stress
„Common Purpose‟ & communicate inspiring goals larger than any individual or
group;
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6. Help Everyone To Raise Their Emotional Intelligence
Help Everyone to Raise Their Emotional Intelligence: In previous Blogs we have
looked at the importance of Emotional Intelligence in Super Performing
organisations, &, in particular, the work of Daniel Goleman; Another EI guru is
Richard Boyatziz who found on questioning 2000 Supervisors & Managers about
the 16 Attributes he had identified distinguishing „Superior Performance‟, that all
but two were Emotionally based! So, High EI, coupled with excellent social skills
are just as important as creativity, innovation & expertise in driving forward the
organisation, &, be mindful then to encourage employees not to bite off more
than they can chew – to be clear about what the pay-off for them will be in
every situation – to focus their energy on making the most of their strengths,
before looking at their weaknesses – & to become tenacious in seeking
feedback from everyone around them; & finally
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7. Think Relationships, Think Communities, Think Networks, Think
Pattern Management
Organisational adaptability and agility come from the little creative contributions
of the many, not just from the big ideas of the few & a Leaders role today is not
so much to “Hold a mirror up to the organization” as to, “Honour emergence in a
complex adaptive system”: Create the optimum opportunities for lots of frequent
but small creative inputs which can be communicated and acted upon quickly
through nurturing a „Community of Practice‟; And nurture relationships through
abundant social communication to create what Robin Dunbar would call a
„Social Glue‟.
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Your Turn!
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What do you think?
Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below and if you enjoyed this
post, remember to 'like,' share and subscribe. :-)
#TMPOnline @MuddPartnership

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Re- Learn To Be Creative For A Super Performing Future

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