The Strategic Exchange – The Organizational Change Consultant Report, July 2006
Organizational Success through Creativity
Creativity is the ability to find new and innovative ways of doing something differently that works as solution to problems. It is taking off the cover from what is already existing in the organization; allowing people to think and use their ability and skills to deal with daily issues and generate new outcomes.
Why creativity? It's simple: Creativity stimulates people to be more motivated because they are achieving something. They are discovering a better way of doing things or they are solving problems by thinking outside the box. People, who are successfully finding solutions to problems, are more motivated to work. The more motivated they are, the more productive they become. More productivity leads to more satisfaction and more motivation.
Creativity is integral to the operation of any organization and is significant to its success. The organization that is committed to encouraging creativity, finding and removing obstacles to creativity; and building strategies to foster creativity will be successful., and its people will maximize their potential. It will impact positively on your customer service, innovative capabilities, employees' efficiency, employees' morale and their state of health. The organization will also be better able to manage all information efficiently and effectively.
Set the climate for creativity
Determine whether or not the employees have the necessary abilities, skills, knowledge and resources to successfully get their jobs done. Will they be effective with what they have? If not, develop training programmes to bring them up to the level where they are equipped to be creative and or recruit new people to provide the challenge. Developing and enhancing the creativity in people means that they will be more self-directed and less dependant on others.
Convince the employees to think positively. Trust in creativity in yourself and in others. As you do that there will be an emergence of an entire new world of possibilities open up. Encourage and allow them to take risks and to be enthusiastic about it. Withhold criticism and allow room for failure. Explore an idea to see the outcome, even if you do not agree with it. You might not be looking at all the angles, and to reject the idea because it appears too absurd may not be the best thing to do.
Recognize and praise your employees for their efforts in solving problems, in research and development and for continuously making improvement to the quality and quantity of productivity; praise them for putting their imaginative skills at work in carving out the future of the organization. It is often said that " encouragement sweetens labour. " Praise is an extremely powerful inducer of a positive working environment and a more creative and satisfied workforce. Also, provide acceptable rewards for creative efforts and encourage independent action in coming up with new ideas.
Maintain an environment that encourages curiosity. Allow people to explore and look beyond the horizon. Allow some ambiguity, expand and develop it into details. Always generate a large number of answers, ideas, to whatever problem or situation there is. Always look for more; never accept the first answer that comes up. Think of other options to consider.
Concentrate as much of our time and energy as possible on the high payoff tasks. This ensures that we achieve the greatest benefit possible with the limited amount of time available to us. Do the essentials, and ignore the nonessentials. We must make tough choices about what to do and what not to do.
Develop the flexibility of freeing yourselves from established ways of thinking about things and established ways of doing them. To foster creativity in organization, breakdown barriers that exist and avoid emphasis on the status-quo. Combine and link the elements, ideas, process, procedures and concepts in ways never done before. Move away from conventional thinking, by always asking questions.
Avoid working at the last minute on everything. When people work under pressure it is very hard to be creative. The creative pressure does require some time. Use the brain effectively, and allow enough time to think things through before acting on them. The brain is a resource of untapped and unlimited potential. Using it effectively can generate new and creative alternatives.
Build an environment where creativity is accepted, simply by practicing it. People must have some amount of freedom and autonomy to decide how to do their jobs. Eliminate the fear of criticism and penal action against them if they dare to step out and be different. There must be openness and trust that they will get support in creating ideas.
It is a pleasure to hear from you and I look forward to answering more of your questions.
Sharon Ho–Sang
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