Business Improvement MethodsLecture 8Topic: What is the role of Creativity?

Bendigo Campus Term 2 2008Mike Turner

Are you creative?Do you desire to be a more creative person but don't think you have the "creative" gene?

What are some signs of your creativity?Can you share with the class?

Are you creative?"No one is born highly creative,Psychologists studying creativity have discovered that it is based on cognitive processes we all shareCreativity is not the result of some magic brain region that some people have and others don't.

Dispelling the myths When people say they aren't creative, it's because of some false ideas about creativity that we hold as a societyOne myth is that if you're a creative person it's a trait and everything you touch turns to goldThat's not the way creativity works. It's not some magical traitYou have to work hard to be a more creative person. You have to be diligent.

Creativity in everyday life

Many people don't realise they're being creative by just carrying on a conversation. Everyday conversation is a great example of creativity that everyone does on a daily basis. We don't think of conversation as being creative because a lot of people do it, we use it every day and it doesn't seem to require any special abilitiesWhen we have a conversation, we don't feel like we're being creative, but we areIt's hard to realise because conversation happens so fast. The creativity is somewhat hidden.

What is creativity?Common definitions:

Using imagination rather than imitating something else. Generation of ideas, images and/or solutions

Original or imaginative thought.

The process of creating value by bringing together a unique package of resources to exploit an opportunity. Morris et al.

And intrapreneurialcreativity?The intrapreneur creates - starts from scratch and brings into being something of value to the organisation that was not there before

Creativity: Is the art of expanding possibility. - Anthony Weston Creativity for Critical Thinkers

Creativity: is the ability to cast a situation or challenge or problem in a new light and thereby open up the possibilities in it that were not evident before. - Anthony Weston Creativity for Critical Thinkers

Creativity is the process of divergent thinking in search of an opportunity. StampThe Entrepreneurial ContextTo search is about disciplining your mind to be alert to what you might find.

Framework Context

searchpursuitCreative ProcessEntrepreneurial Process

All ideas deserve to exist.Ideas are not created equal! but they are a part of your life.But not all ideas deserve to be inthe marketplace.

Addressing Opportunity

abConventional ThinkingEntrepreneurial Thinking

Problems: are our opportunities to change the world. Nothing less than that. - Anthony Weston Creativity for Critical Thinkers

Creativity is the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary. DeWitt JonesPhotographer, National Geographic What is Creativity?

Habits: become blinders to creativity. - Anthony Weston Creativity for Critical Thinkers

The tree is not always brown!

Set Thinking: Solutions to perceived stimulus derived from memory recall from past successful patterns. - Anthony Weston Creativity for Critical Thinkers

Creativity is the process of removing the hurdles to perception that leads to a new awareness of reality. Stamp What is Creativity?

The Real Business Reality?People love to kill IDEAS!

Why do you kill ideas?Yeah ButSeparate Creation from Evaluation Your first instinct is to apply your own personal scale! Definitely Definitely STUPID REALLY COOL 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Never Give Up Dont Kill The Newborn Idea Breakthroughs Contradict History Use Stimulus Overlooking the StereotypesRules of Creativity

Creative Rule of ThumbCreate ideas that are fifteen minutes ahead of their time not light-years ahead.Attitudes vs. Needs

Stimuli Sets Off A Chain Reaction of Ideas

Where to go for your holiday?

Dynamic FramingThink (solve or find a problem) (isolate set thinking ideas)Search (reflect and look for connections) (de-contextualise via divergence)Discover (give yourself many options) (develop many contingent hooks)Live (look through the customers eyes) (change happens with real benefits)

Entrepreneurship is an aspect of action.The human brain is an sensory action machine. Use time and change as natural textures for sensory inputs to cue the need state for which the entrepreneur is alert to new possibilities.The idea must conform to external constraints.Exercising Your Entrepreneurial AlertnessWhy does Stimulus-Response Work?

If you dont like something, change it. If you cant change it, change the way you think about it. unknown creative

Those who wish to sing, always find a song. Swedish proverb

Creativity & motivation:The Corporate Intrapreneur Critical Success Factors"A critical success factor is an operational function or competency that a company must possess in order for it to be sustainable and profitable.Each company has different factors that must be sustained for success.

Creativity & motivation:The Corporate Intrapreneur Critical Success FactorsExamples range from sales growth & new customer acquisition rate, to inventory turnoverFactors change & mutate as company evolvesTo be sure executives receive information needed to make the right decisions for future actions, company must determine which factors are essential at that timeRapidly growing companies may need to acquire customers in a short time, while mature companies may find that reducing costs are more important to continue to be profitable.

Creativity & motivation:The Corporate Intrapreneur Critical Success FactorsFactors will change throughout business life cycleFour factors organisations require for long term success & profitability: InnovationCreativitydesire to implement new & exciting ideassupport & recognition from company & executivesWithout these four things, a company will never develop the intrapreneurial spiritWithout that spirit, the company is most likely to not survive into the future.

Creativity & motivation:The Corporate Intrapreneur Introducing the "Intrapreneur"Eventually all entrepreneurial start ups reach a size or momentum where they become "business". They are no longer considered to be entrepreneurialOften the entrepreneurial spirit is lost as organisation plods its way into the futureBy keeping this spirit alive within the company & rewarding free thinkers & innovators organisations can develop & improve competitive advantage far into the future

Creativity & motivation: Dynamic future corporations Should simultaneously be trying alternative ways of doing things in competition within themselves

Creativity & motivation:Innovative Solutions to Cultivate Intrapreneurship

Here is a brief list of some of innovative things that breakaway companies can do to foster corporate entrepreneurial creative and innovative spirit:Staff members are allowed to make their own choice of which internal vendor they wish to use.Intrapreneurial employees receive ownership rights in the internal intraprises they create.Companywide involvement is encouraged by insisting on truth and honesty in marketing and marketplace feedback.Intrapreneurial teams are treated as a profit centre rather than a cost centre.

Creativity & motivation:Innovative Solutions to Cultivate Intrapreneurship

Team members are allowed a variety of options in jobs, innovation efforts, alliances, and exchanges.Employees are encouraged to develop through training programs.Internal enterprises have official standing in the organisation.Contractual agreements between internal enterprises are defined and supported by the organisation.A system for settling disputes between internal enterprises and between employees and enterprises is part of the intrapreneurship plan.

Creativity & motivation:People as success factors The most important factors for long-term success in business are people and their invaluable knowledge bankIt cannot be bought or stolen but an environment can be created where employees feel they are free to use their creativity and innovation to improve the standing of their employer in the marketPeople and what they know are the most critical factors for success

Intrapreneurial creativityHas led to new ventures, which in turn have harnessed intrapreneurial energy of individuals-in long run continually reshaping & revitalising global economiesLarge corporations have generally been unsuccessful at planned renewal. Management orientation, direction of resources, and measurement of success are focused on near-term results. Coupled with less than flexible corporate culture, leads to key reasons existing corporations have found it difficult to be entrepreneurial.As small companies grow, they develop & acquire the trappings of mature companies that make being innovative & entrepreneurial difficult.

Creativity problemCorporate executives have internalised a mode of behaviour that is anathema to successful venturingThey are too blinded by pressures of running ongoing businesses to see special needs of new, immature business ventures, and have tried to impose the same kind of management on ventures that is successful in running ongoing businesses.

Creativity problemToo often, badly conceived & badly managed attempts at corporate venturing lead to waste of a business's three most precious resources: people, money, and time.Greatest waste is in human resources, in a loss of human incentive, emotional commitment to the enterprise, and potential.

Current concernsThe current concern for improving competitiveness and improving corporate performance is certainly one driving force for improving the corporate venturing success rate. Another, and possibly larger concern, however, should be the damage to individuals caused by failed ventures. Rarely do executives and others involved in failed corporate ventures think of:lost opportunitiesdashed hopesDisappointmentsDrop in morale that affect everyone involved in the ventures.

Current concernsFor many people associated with the venture, failure means they will not realise their personal objectives of pressing their creativity, showing their initiative, or demonstrating their skillsThey have bought into the venture's promises and possibly even been "bitten by the entrepreneurial bug," only to see their hopes dashed.

Current concernsRekindling the spirit many people brought to the venture is hardThe loss in human commitment and the economic loss are certainly sufficient to warrant doing something about venturing.

Creativity and Entrepreneurship: Potential Partners or Distant Cousins?Creativity and entrepreneurship, like innovation, have been recognised as important contributors to a nations economic growthCreativity plays an important role in the fuzzy front end of a firms innovation process and also in corporate venturing processes, but the relationship between creativity and entrepreneurship to a large extent has not explicitly been examined. Research required to investigate potential synergies of creativity and entrepreneurship and to progress the distinctness of each notion in landscapes of innovative firms.

Japanese intrapreneurial spiritJapan, traditionally the land of consensus and conformity, of finely calibrated bows and maxims like ''The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.'' Mr. Uchida, a 28-year-old executive in a small software company, dyes his hair brown, keeps a sleeping bag by his desk for late nights in the office and occasionally takes the day off to go windsurfing. ''Sometimes I listen to soft music to soothe my feelings, and sometimes I listen to hard music to build my energy. 'It's important that we always keep in touch with our sensibilities when we want to generate ideas.''

Mr. UchidaIs precisely the kind of employee that a growing number of Japanese companies crave. When immersed in a project, he churns out work through the night, collapsing for a few hours in his sleeping bag. Other times, he'll turn on the radio at the office to get the juices flowing. Not ordering their middle managers to stop being subservient -- just yet. Major Japanese companies think that in order for them to develop into the next century, they need to let ideas buried within the company bloom on an individual basis rather than in an organised effort

Mr. Uchida''The leaders of Japanese corporations think that creativity is very important because the sectors that have fuelled economic growth so far have matured,'' Japanese corporations are facing global competition with not only European and American companies but also Southeast Asian and East Asian companiesFor Japan to survive this severe competition, executives think that creativity is very important.

*What Is A Benefit: How the new product or service will serve the customer.Whats in it for ME!What will the product do to improve, enhance, or change for the better the quality of life.Benefits listen to the wants and needs of customersOvertly Articulate BenefitsBeware of Implied benefits and of beating around the bush....beware of BSIf you are overt in communication you receive full force. If you utilize an impliedbenefit, you reduce the net impact of the communication. To be really simple about it....Example....a pipe flowing at 100 gal/min.....close the valve half way 50 gal/min- It takes twice as long....it costs twice as much in mediaConsumers are overwhelmedthey only use about 2% of the available informationYou can not insult someone when talking about their need fulfillmentDont show off what you have...tell what you can do for themIncreasing Focus On Benefit Causes Many ChallengesUnarticulated benefitsArchetype research where we get in touch with inner childIts a challenge in many over worked categoriesHow to find benefitsLove your brand...often times we dont love them like we shouldAnswer the question....Dont Sell Me......Sell Me......There are always ways to uniquely communicate benefit- Look at the world in a different way..... (Gillette story)Benefits can be EMOTIONAL or RATIONAL Were not talking about just emotional wordsWere talking about emotional Benefits- Nike....aspirational- How itll make you feelThe more intangible, the more important strategy becomesOvert Visualization of Benefit Magic Moments Pictures tell the story Rocket Package (Get other great examples) Perfection Game*What Is A Benefit: How the new product or service will serve the customer.Whats in it for ME!What will the product do to improve, enhance, or change for the better the quality of life.Benefits listen to the wants and needs of customersOvertly Articulate BenefitsBeware of Implied benefits and of beating around the bush....beware of BSIf you are overt in communication you receive full force. If you utilize an impliedbenefit, you reduce the net impact of the communication. To be really simple about it....Example....a pipe flowing at 100 gal/min.....close the valve half way 50 gal/min- It takes twice as long....it costs twice as much in mediaConsumers are overwhelmedthey only use about 2% of the available informationYou can not insult someone when talking about their need fulfillmentDont show off what you have...tell what you can do for themIncreasing Focus On Benefit Causes Many ChallengesUnarticulated benefitsArchetype research where we get in touch with inner childIts a challenge in many over worked categoriesHow to find benefitsLove your brand...often times we dont love them like we shouldAnswer the question....Dont Sell Me......Sell Me......There are always ways to uniquely communicate benefit- Look at the world in a different way..... (Gillette story)Benefits can be EMOTIONAL or RATIONAL Were not talking about just emotional wordsWere talking about emotional Benefits- Nike....aspirational- How itll make you feelThe more intangible, the more important strategy becomesOvert Visualization of Benefit Magic Moments Pictures tell the story Rocket Package (Get other great examples) Perfection Game*