Wanting creativity in an organisation and creating the environment for it to happen are two very different things. A recent article form Deloitte Insights (read it here) discusses how leaders can maximise the creative potential of their organisation.
While individual creative talent is a core ingredient, it is not everything. The article cites research that notes it is the interactions of individuals and teams that give rise to ongoing creativity. This implies that creativity is not just something we can have but is also something we do.
The authors have compiled a list of the 5 Ps for effective creative organisations. These are:
- People: Having creative people with the right skills
- Process: Facilitating an understood journey for creative teams to develop ideas
- Place: Creating the right environment via equipment, organisational policies, culture etc.
- Product: Knowing what new idea, object or behaviour is to be developed
- Persuasion: Being able to convince internal and external stakeholders the idea is worth pursuing.
Effective creativity is the result of all these factors interacting.
The article also provides excellent ideas and suggestions on how to effectively allocate organisational resources towards these five components in order to maximise the creative potential of the organisations.
There is one additional crucial factor, which is having the executive and leadership team equipped to appropriately lead a creative organisations. This includes:
- Valuing initiative and learning from attempts
- Accepting that “not every horse is a winner”
- Trusting the creative process
For any leader that would like to see creativity bloom withing their organisation, this is the article for you.