Your organization in the creative world
“Creativity is what keeps organizations ahead in the marketplace. That means you, as a leader, need to empower your team to generate and execute bold ideas.”
– Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO
In order to survive in today’s complex world, organizations need to generate, embrace, and execute on new ideas. That takes, not just creativity but a creatively capable workforce, as well. It’s the secret sauce, or in evolutionary terms, it’s the ingredient which keeps you going at a healthy pace in a rapidly changing environment.
When we first think of creative organizations, design firms, advertising agencies, or tech start-ups typically come to mind. But, building a creative workforce takes more than hiring a bunch of designers and hosting happy hours.
Unlike corporate culture, with its set of formalities and the mandatory red tape which accompanies it, creative businesses are all about keeping your organisation on its toes by trying innovative new technologies and exploring unchartered lands.
Leadership plays a pivotal role in deciding where any organisation stands in the rungs of originality. It’s not important that the leader has a lineage weaved in the lore of resourcefulness, artistry and talent. There are many leadership styles across diverse industries: teams in financial services, working with frontline customer support; healthcare organizations, improving patient experiences; and tech companies, learning new ways to retain talent.
These team leaders aren’t necessarily from “creative” backgrounds — they aren’t innovation experts, designers, or writers; they have all been at the same standpoint where all of us have stood one time or the other – they’re sales leaders, human resource specialists, and software engineers, who chose to upscale their life revolutionarily. And they’ve led their organizations in ways that has allowed every individual to participate creatively and arrive at better solutions, even when the path was unclear.
Leaders need to have an inspiring vision and set the course for a new direction. If they don’t, people won’t follow their lead. They also need to set the conditions for creativity to thrive, such as providing inspiration when energy is low. When challenges crop up, they need to act swiftly to address them and make necessary adjustments.
Holding a curious mindset is a great starting point when one’s leading a team. If you’re in a truly new space, you won’t always know the answers. Your team won’t either. You’re going to venture into the unknown together. Asking questions is one of the best ways to practice a curious mindset—questions that challenge assumptions, inspire others, open up a broader context, and cause reflection.
Supporting creativity in an organisation requires a suite of approaches that empower individuals and teams to search for solutions and take ownership of what they do.
Here are some points great leaders swear by:
- Keeping innovation central to business philosophy
- Leading from the front
- Experiment with new ideas
- Aptly rewarding creative talent
- Intellectual, technical and financial resources to fine tune creative ideas
- Never to be complacent
At sunSTRATEGIC, our vision is to change the way the world sees you by changing the way your company innovates. We don’t do things `to´ companies, we do it `with´ them and with a lot of ‘love’. We don’t make our clients reliant on us, we empower them to put into effect deep, sustainable change. If you are interested in building your Digital Tool Kit, Digital PR, Digital Branding, Digital Advertising, Social Media Management, Content for your brand or training your staff with Digital skills, we would be happy to help.