Outside of generating ideas – in and of itself, an important task – a surprising number
of people admitted they didn’t know why
they needed to be creative. And, many of these people further said they didn't have any interest or need for creativity.
It’s
not surprising. “Being creative” has historically described someone who’s
subversive or rebellious. It’s a person
who falls outside of the traditional, normal or accepted path. For many cultures, creativity – also known as “being different” – is an unwelcome attribute for a variety
of political and societal reasons. I’ve
even met people who believe being creative is incompatible with being
professional.
And
yet, creativity is often cited as one of the most important leadership
skills. It’s the skill you apply to develop something new or different. Without creativity, nothing would ever
change.
Here’s
some examples of how you might use creativity at work.
1. Strategic Planning
Strategic planning involves investigating all of
the ways an organization
might
grow in a particular industry or category, or transition into new areas.
Researching and
developing any possible plans of action demands creativity, particularly in
ways which are new, different or unusual.
To paraphrase Albert Einstein’s famous quote, “You
can’t expect new solutions from doing the same thing and over.”
One of my favorite books on strategy is The
Mind
of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business
by
Kenichi Ohmae.
2. Branding and Message Development
Every good corporate spokesperson knows this mantra, if not be heart, then by intuition:
Know what you say, not say what you know. Determining what you're going to say requires the speaker to develop, re-write and edit a variety of statements into the perfect one. Similarly, branding or re-branding an organization or product means investigating all of its potential positions when compared with its existing or potential competition, with message development to follow. Positioning a company or service also means creating ideal messages which resonate with its target audiences, their influencers and the media.
3. Negotiation Skills
Knowing the range of
options between
what
is needed versus
what is
wanted is
the difference
between a
successful and
poor negotiator. Creativity allows
the negotiator to develop those
options in advance of the meeting with the other side. It’s preferable to brainstorm
options in advance,
as it’s often difficult to be
creative during the intensity of the negotiation. The ideal book: Getting
to
Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury and Bruce Patton.
4. Risk and Crisis Management
A seasoned communicators considers all
worst case scenarios for risk, issues and crisis management. The phrase “What if…?" is the same
question used in many brainstorms. Good
crisis plans think through every possible catastrophe in advance because – like
negotiating – one’s creativity disintegrates in tense situations.
In their Harvard Business Review article
”Preparing
for Evil”
(April 2003), Ian
I. Mitroff and
Murat C. Alpaslan outline
how the best companies prevent and contain crisis and issues, often using
creativity.
What other activities or events do you use your creativity at work?
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