18 September 2006 Capturing creativity for business success
ASPIC seminar: 12 September, 2006 How can communications
professionals help create a culture of creativity in their organisations?
Three very different speakers shared their experiences and offered
delegates tools and ideas to meet the challenge.
Personal development coach Tom Magdich asked delegates three
questions:
• What is creativity? Responses included: it’s thinking
outside the box, it’s something that has an outcome and
it’s something that has a use for someone
• What’s the difference between innovation and creativity?
Delegates said that innovation is more process-driven and about
new ideas, so can therefore be a product of creativity
• What are the barriers to creativity? Areas highlighted
included going to work in the same place every day, budgets,
time, company politics and brand guidelines.
Tom’s session looked at using alternative perspectives
to capture creativity. The theory that we all have ‘multiple
personalities’ was explored. The way we act in front of
the MD may be very different to the person we are at home, for
example.
Using a different personality – in the same way that actors
create a character – may offer a different perspective
to a problem and be a more creative approach. Delegates each
created a character around a specific issue and were asked to ‘act’ from
that character’s perspective, offering a different insight.
Tom also outlined the five different archetypes of character
and how to recognise your own creative type, closing with the
comment that creativity begins with who you are as a person but
that a diverse mix of people is required to harness this and
come up with innovation.
ASPIC member and Head of Communications at Arup, Olivia Gadd,
presented a case study on the award-winning civil engineering
firm and an insight into how creativity is an absolute requirement
of day-to-day work.
The firm is famous for landmark icons including Sydney Opera
House and the Millennium Bridge and has 72 offices around the
world, 10,000 live projects at any one time and 7,000 people.
It was founded 60 years ago by Ove Arup with creativity at its
core and a belief in employing gifted individuals who should
have a voice. The challenge for internal communications, said
Olivia, is that everyone wants to communicate, debate and share
knowledge and best practice. Arup uses a mix of print and online
newsletters as well as opportunities for internal conversation.
One recent example was a sustainability challenge project in
which employees were given online space to debate and define
sustainability for the business and its people, resulting in
a section on the intranet and a CD of the collective thoughts.
Every employee has a profile page on the intranet, answering
specially tailored questions to find out their skills, knowledge
and areas in which they can collaborate.
To help unlock conversations in workshops, meetings
or with clients, probing questions on the impact
of issues such as technology or the environment
have been produced on cards, and ‘speed
mentoring’
sessions give people the chance to talk to senior managers one-to-one
for up to five minutes on any topic.
What one thing would Olivia recommend to generate creativity?
‘Debate. Giving people the right environment for debate
and a voice generates shared knowledge and creativity,’
she said.
Finally, consultancy ideas unlimited discussed
the solutions they use with leading organisations
to help engage people in creating a great future.
Most organisations aren’t the
best environments for nurturing creativity due to systems, processes
and structures so a company can’t decide one morning that
it is going to be more creative. It requires a shift in thinking.
Steve Phillips outlined how to recognise the four
different styles of thinking - intuitive, imaginative,
intellectual and implementing - how to discover
your own ‘style’
and how best to use this to engage with organisations and employees.
Teams were more effective and creative if they included people
with all four thinking styles, each style offering different
strengths and value. Effective communications need to combine
understanding of the message with generating belief and motivation
to result in action.
