What creative consulting can't do
Creativity training doesn’t work. This may seem like a controversial statement, especially since it comes from someone who believes that he is the leader of a creativity consulting team. However, it is the truth. There are several reasons why creativity training in businesses won’t work – at least not as a one day or one week seminar.
Support from the Top
The first thing that any good corporate creativity program needs is support from the CEO or whoever is in charge. A CEO who claims to embrace creativity and the change it brings, yet continues to do the same thing day after day, will not inspire his or her employees to try to be creative. When managers model creative behavior; their employees follow suit. CEOs and managers who pay lip service to creative ideals do more damage than if they had ignored creativity altogether.
Change in Culture
No one day or one week can change a corporate culture that has evolved over years of doing business. Even CEOs may have a hard time implementing change that outlasts their term of tenure. Culture is formed by habits, and habits are hard to break. It will take dedication and buy-in on every person’s part to make the cultural shift required for a company to become truly creative over the long term.
Hierarchal Beliefs
What a company thinks of its lowest paid employees will say a lot for how much creativity and innovation occur in the company. No one person is as smart as three or four other people – regardless of the difference in the level of education. Employees are typically overlooked, and managers are given the responsible for creativity and innovation. However, the line worker may have better ideas than the manager based on the actual day-to-day work that the line worker does. Believing in all of your employees, regardless of position, is one great way to turn your company into a creativity and innovation dynamo.
Cross Pollination of Ideas
Creativity happens at the intersection of domains. In order for a company to take the best advantage of its employees and their knowledge, the company needs to come up with ways to integrate departments so that people with different skills can get to know each other. More creativity happens when people from different areas are able to come together in a relaxed atmosphere that is non-threatening. These friendly encounters, while appearing to be time wasters, build relationships and give employees a support system that may become invaluable to implementing new ideas.
Meet Basic Needs
Every employee needs his or her basic needs met. This means that employees need to be paid a wage that allows them to live comfortably, and they need to know that their job is secure. Employees who have to take second jobs will be less creative. Those worried about their jobs will be less likely to come up with new ideas and less likely to give the company any breakthroughs that the employee may feel could be personally beneficial. Once employees know that their jobs are safe, they need to know that a failure when trying something new won’t result in a loss of status or employment. Creativity takes failure.
What Creative Consulting Can Do
While creativity training may not be the panacea that most corporations crave, it can help your company grow, if you are willing to make the necessary changes to support the training that you get. Creativity consultants can help you with:
Showcase Reasons for Creativity
Managers are busy people. They have a lot of responsibilities, and generally, they lack the time to implement new programs that come from even higher up. While trying to take care of day-to-day activities, managers are hard pressed to find time to think about creativity. However, given the right reasons, managers will learn that they need to embrace creativity and what it can bring to the company.
Designing a Program
A good creative consultant can help you design a program to get the most out of your employees – creatively speaking. Programs need to be designed specifically for each business and may include suggestions like regular get-togethers for different departments, implementing an idea capture system and activities that will bring people together for projects.
Increase Creativity
In a culture that supports creativity, the right kind of training can help a company grow its creativity and innovation programs exponentially. By giving employees, the tools that they need to be creative, businesses can ensure that every person in the company is using both body and mind to the benefit of the organization. When employees feel secure in their jobs, know that failure is acceptable and have time to think, they can be a contributors to the company’s overall financial well-being.
Support from the Top
The first thing that any good corporate creativity program needs is support from the CEO or whoever is in charge. A CEO who claims to embrace creativity and the change it brings, yet continues to do the same thing day after day, will not inspire his or her employees to try to be creative. When managers model creative behavior; their employees follow suit. CEOs and managers who pay lip service to creative ideals do more damage than if they had ignored creativity altogether.
Change in Culture
No one day or one week can change a corporate culture that has evolved over years of doing business. Even CEOs may have a hard time implementing change that outlasts their term of tenure. Culture is formed by habits, and habits are hard to break. It will take dedication and buy-in on every person’s part to make the cultural shift required for a company to become truly creative over the long term.
Hierarchal Beliefs
What a company thinks of its lowest paid employees will say a lot for how much creativity and innovation occur in the company. No one person is as smart as three or four other people – regardless of the difference in the level of education. Employees are typically overlooked, and managers are given the responsible for creativity and innovation. However, the line worker may have better ideas than the manager based on the actual day-to-day work that the line worker does. Believing in all of your employees, regardless of position, is one great way to turn your company into a creativity and innovation dynamo.
Cross Pollination of Ideas
Creativity happens at the intersection of domains. In order for a company to take the best advantage of its employees and their knowledge, the company needs to come up with ways to integrate departments so that people with different skills can get to know each other. More creativity happens when people from different areas are able to come together in a relaxed atmosphere that is non-threatening. These friendly encounters, while appearing to be time wasters, build relationships and give employees a support system that may become invaluable to implementing new ideas.
Meet Basic Needs
Every employee needs his or her basic needs met. This means that employees need to be paid a wage that allows them to live comfortably, and they need to know that their job is secure. Employees who have to take second jobs will be less creative. Those worried about their jobs will be less likely to come up with new ideas and less likely to give the company any breakthroughs that the employee may feel could be personally beneficial. Once employees know that their jobs are safe, they need to know that a failure when trying something new won’t result in a loss of status or employment. Creativity takes failure.
What Creative Consulting Can Do
While creativity training may not be the panacea that most corporations crave, it can help your company grow, if you are willing to make the necessary changes to support the training that you get. Creativity consultants can help you with:
Showcase Reasons for Creativity
Managers are busy people. They have a lot of responsibilities, and generally, they lack the time to implement new programs that come from even higher up. While trying to take care of day-to-day activities, managers are hard pressed to find time to think about creativity. However, given the right reasons, managers will learn that they need to embrace creativity and what it can bring to the company.
Designing a Program
A good creative consultant can help you design a program to get the most out of your employees – creatively speaking. Programs need to be designed specifically for each business and may include suggestions like regular get-togethers for different departments, implementing an idea capture system and activities that will bring people together for projects.
Increase Creativity
In a culture that supports creativity, the right kind of training can help a company grow its creativity and innovation programs exponentially. By giving employees, the tools that they need to be creative, businesses can ensure that every person in the company is using both body and mind to the benefit of the organization. When employees feel secure in their jobs, know that failure is acceptable and have time to think, they can be a contributors to the company’s overall financial well-being.