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AN
INTERVIEW SESSION BETWEEN, J. Baker, COMPETENCY CONSULTANT AND
Paul Henrickson ORIGINATOR OF The Creativity Packet.
JB:
How does the use of the characteristics of creative
personalities support the organization’s business strategies?
PH:
If one looks at the entire field of socio-professional
behavior one sees a great deal of competition, but not all of the
techniques used to beat-out the competitors are professional. If
professional behavior were to be the rule then most
all successes
could be traced to creative innovation. Negative comments about a
competitor and tricky advertising wouldn’t play a role and they
certainly aren't self sustaining.
So if the business strategy is to provide a service or a product
that has real value the creative mind set is the ONLY way to go. This
has to be supported by the ethics and values at work in the
organization
and reflected in the values acceptable to the consumer group.
Creative
ideas can come in many forms from product development, service
improvements, process change, to
communication
strategies and
untapped markets –
the list is endless. Rarely does the creative type come up with
new ideas to make things work less well and sometimes it’s
a
matter
of reality i.e. lack of funds, time that make an idea unworkable
at a point in time.
Reason
for this comment is two-fold –
there are
occasions when creativity is not supported by values etc. and this
is where we find health and safety compromised for the bottom
line. Second is sometimes an organization will just by doing the “right
thing”
with no identifiable
link to creativity be able to beat out those less than ethical
competitors. That’s
not necessarily a sustaining strategy but sometimes it does work
ie. Look at those like Enron, Worldcom who sold their values.
Other companies who have not sold out, just did the right thing
will continue to survive just
based
on that strategy…..until the
next innovative strategy hits the market place.
JB:
How do you put creativity to work?
PH:
Actually, the creative mind is always “at work” it is
more of an addiction than a 9-5 past time. So, if you’ll allow
me I’d prefer to reword the question. How does one create an
environment where the creative minds feel free to work without the
threat of imminent and fatal judgment? My answer to that question
would be that if administrators could be willing to trust the
self-motivating nature of the creative personality and refrain
from negative judgments of unorthodox approaches and observations
they would get a baker’s dozen and more. The pun was intended.
JB:
Loved the pun and while I’m sure there is a vast number of baker’s
dozen out there, there is only one of moi J
It
has been observed that some organizational set ups seem to lack
support for the creative process.insure the failure
of innovations. How can one get around that?
PH:
That is a tricky matter. First
of all management must acknowledge that not all ideas are going to
work the first time around, just like many scientific and
technological approaches. Then
there has to be an understanding of the creative process and all
the building blocks that must be in place to ensure that creative
idea is brought to fruition. Although I think I
understand the psychological mechanisms at work, I am not at all
sure that I personally know how to frustrate the aims,the devices,
and avoid the effects of malicious behavior or behavior that is
motivated by fear of failure. The creative personality is more
involved in the act of creating (something) and is very tolerant
of ambiguous situations. This
is why at
the appropriate planning stage, a
multi-diversity team of differing strengths ie analytical,
strategic, operational, marketing etc. need
to be brought in. No idea works in a vacuum, just as no one in an
organization does. Mangers
and all team personalities
must accept
that one person’s
strengths are not threatening to their own. Just
like any new initiative, no matter what the catalyst,
there
is
an
investment in resources to be made and commited to with the
required support.
The
personality that cannot express its creativeness [on the
assumption that it is there] feels very threatened by the presence
of a creative mind set and the first, but primitive, instinct is
to kill it. In a business environment, and an academic one as
well, spending the time and the energy to eliminate novel ideas is
not the route to success.
JB:
Some administrators prefer to have a finished strategy laid
before them so that their involvement, or direct contact with it
is at a minimum. How would you deal with that?
PH:
This question relates to the one I just answered and it is
one that lies at the very crux of the subject. It is easier for
administrators to make a judgment “by the book” and since that
takes up so much of their time and their energy they have no time,
they think, for productive play. And to this, we might add, “the
book” is likely a product of collective experience, but, are we
to suppose that there has been no valuable experience since “the
book” came out…because we have “the book” should we cease
considering the value of our own perceptions?
This
is one of the reasons I have suggested that ALL people, from the
janitor to the CEO, be
involved submit to in
The Creativity Packet approach. One does not
know where the hidden treasures may lie.
JB:
You can’t just create a creative environment for one
group, its got to be across the organizational board, wouldn’t
you agree?
PH:
ideally, yes, I would agree, but if the outline of
personality types mentioned above is correct then in an
organization which supports and rewards creative thinking then it
would be only morally correct and
make good business sense to involve
those other strengths in the organization.
An organization is like a large family. Individuals
in the family
need to feel
that they are in a supportive
environment and
that
they will be provided
with opportunities to contribute and that their contributions
will
be
valued.
protect those defenseless linear thinkers who do so
well in adding up figures when they may be so disturbed by
amorphousness, the ambiguities and uncertainties which underlie
most creative solutions. It would be unkind to make them feel
unhappy. I would suggest that the organization allow for safe
houses for both types.
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