New power, old power

Revolution, Evolution, or Extinction?

Anthony Painter, Director, Policy and Strategy, RSA

We had one conviction and one hypothesis:

-That creativity and the power the create were fundamentally important to the future of society.-That creativity is stifled in our society, in its institutions, organisations and culture.

So we did a survey on creativity and segmented the responses into ‘tribes’…..• The ‘confident creators’ who are adept at developing their knowledge, creativity and

social capital. 11 per cent of the population.

• The ‘held back’ are ambitious but feel that they need more support, a greater level of learning and more confidence to make their hopes a reality. 20 per cent of the population.

• The ‘safety firsters’. This group is least creatively minded and just want to get on with things. 30 per cent of the population.

Creativity and our ‘tribes’

The ‘held back’ are seeking the most support to make their creative ideas a reality.

The evidence is that the ‘held back’ are already taking to digital technology to improve their knowledge and skills but they may be isolated…..

Life satisfaction and frustrated creativity

The changing organisational landscape – the rise of new power

(see https://hbr.org/2014/12/understanding-new-power )

• We have traditionally asked staff to adopt corporate values and leave their own values out of it.

• Gallup’s State of the Workplace study shows that only 13% of employees are engaged in their jobs, while 63% are not engaged and 24% are actively disengaged.

• New forms of the corporation are emerging – The B Corporation movement

1. The purposeful organisation

• Hierarchies are threatened but resolute

• The ways in which we consume, contribute and participate are changing – shifting patterns of supply and demand

• The rise of the collaborative organisation – Trader Joes, Cemex, Zappos

2. The collaborative organisation

• A creativity-sapping habit of management is ‘sorting’ – putting people in boxes

• The iron cage of bureaucracy resisting hard

• Business as usual is now on an uncertain and turbulent course – value has to be found throughout the organisation

3. The open and diverse organisation

• Technology is not just a driver of change – it is the change.

• Ultra transparency and diminishing private space. We now live in an unmediated world where anyone can create and share content with anyone. You can’t have different values in private and in public.

• Open innovation platforms can harness internal and external talent – using the problem-solving power of people

• We’re always on and we’re very demanding. Public values are shifting and technology with it.

4. The borderless organisation

• But…….

• What proportion of any given organisation are ‘confident creators’?

• What about the ‘held back’ and ‘safety firsters’?

• Do we really think that ‘old power’ will simply be eclipsed? How do you run a hospital, or a police force, or a finance department, or investor and public relations, or an airline, or a distribution network on a purely ‘new power’ basis?

= > The challenge is this: how can you evolve towards a balance of new and old power, revolutionise the creative potential of your organisation to avoid extinction?

And all this is great for the confident creators…

Evolving the right new power-old power

balance

Well-being is about the right balance – same for organisations

• What’s your mix of ‘confident creators’ who are more comfortable with new power, ‘held back’ who can better navigate new power with support, and ‘safety firsters’?

• The three powers: hierarchy, solidarity, individuality. Are they balanced in the right way?

• What are their different needs and what can you do to maximise your organisational creativity by meeting them?

• Where are your creativity blockers?

Predators and co-operators

• How well do your competitors blend new and old power?

• What are the ways of doing collectively what you have tried to do yourself previously?

• How can your users, stakeholders, and customers become part of your organisational creativity?

Lighting the fire

• What’s your real motivating purpose?

• What can really inspire all who engage with you?

• How can you engender a sense of ownership and purpose?

• The why matters.

• Over to you….

• @anthonypainter

• More on the creativity tribes in ‘The New Digital Learning Age’