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Training & Development, March, 2001 by Ryann K. Ellis

Every week, T&D posts a question on the ASTD Website (www.astd.org) asking visitors what they think about the training field.

But often, your questions are better than our questions. So, this month we're spotlighting a discussion thread on how companies nurture creativity.

A majority of the discussion focused on how fear and risk issues stifle creative work, as evidenced by this post from J. Perrault: "To release passion and creativity in each employee, leaders must allow employees to make mistakes without fear of ridicule."

Meanwhile, a few participants offered the following exercises:

Nurturing creativity requires support of individual employee skills and such structural promoters as reward systems. Also, individuals and organizations would be well served by focusing on whole-brain approaches to business problems that use metaphor, art, drama, and storytelling in conjuction with sequential and analytical idea development. The point: Engage mind, body, and spirit.

One suggestion for jumpstarting a creativity effort is to develop a list--preferably in a group session--of cutting-edge approaches that challenge the conventional wisdom and pose the challenge, Why not try some of these? Resistance would be the mark of an organization that is sorely lacking in the innovative spirit needed to compete successfully.

Jerry Kail

Many people believe in celebrating creativity and innovation, but they're often derailed by negativity. Without concrete evidence that creativity is positive, sometimes newcomers can get shot down. Here's howl deal with that: Celebrate small successes; be sure to inform nay-sayers. You don't need to acknowledge nay-sayers, but craft a ready response to a theoretical negative stance.

Tom Donovan

Creativity is essential for the development of new products, workplace harmony, and individual satisfaction. Training activities that nurture organization-wide creativity should be fast and fun, and support individual satisfaction, team spirit, and internal brainstorming.

I suggest that at the end of the workday--about 15 minutes before people leave--have teams or work groups spend 10 minutes sharing positive things that took place during the day. This activity is short and supports the concepts of clarification, appreciation, and accomplishment.

Another example of brainstorming problem resolutions is to have participants sit in a circle facing each other, declare the issue, and then write a one- or two-word reaction. This is meant to be spontaneous, and it opens the group to a stepping-off place for communication.

Eileen Schwartz

Let me relate an experience in my organization. In our emerging technology development area, the manager came up with a simple concept: Break the department into 10 teams, with five people on each team. Individual teams had to develop as many new product ideas as possible. He gave each team two weeks and $100 to spend as it saw fit. After two weeks, each team had to make a presentation of all of the ideas. The result was more than 100 ideas good enough for submission to our formal program that considers, develops, and prioritizes new revenue-generating ideas.

Rob Orr

Sometimes you have to turn the tables on employees to get them to be creative, offering no parameters.

For example, in new-hire training, we divide the class up into groups of four or five and have them present the material to us, making sure to review and correct information. This exercise uncovers great ideas on how to discuss things in enjoyable (and sometimes hilarious) ways. It also makes lecture-based materials interactive. More important, it nurtures employee creativity from the first day.

Mel

In my experience, the find-the-flaw mentality takes over many creativity exercises. People worry that their ideas won't be accepted or, worse, peers will find them stupid. Any momentum gained from the initial activity is lost quickly.

To avoid this, structuring the evaluation of new ideas is a critical part of the process. Try taking evaluation offline or making it a follow-up exercise to the idea-generating session. Make this expectation clear at the beginning, and enforce it. Point out that any idea may spawn new ideas with other team members.

Mike Kent