Creativity & Innovation at Workplace

There was a time when the concept of creativity was only associated with writers, painters, musicians and similar people in artistic professions. But with the ever-increasing necessity of cultivating a unique brand personality, the need for creative thinking has transitioned from the arts into everyday business. In addition, the act of producing a product that distinguishes itself from competitors in a marketplace where differences are often hard to come by demands a high degree of creativity both in innovation and marketing.

As a result, it’s now become commonplace for companies – both large and small – to adopt policies that foster creativity and thereby promote innovation.

Many organizations, such as 3M, Frito-Lay, and Texas Instruments, have introduced systematic creativity activities into their training and production processes with outstanding results. Frito-Lay, for instance, reports documented cost savings over a four-year period of almost $600 million due to their creativity training programs (Morrison, 1997 — Cited in 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving, by Arthur VanGundy, 2005).

• The Wall Street Journal reported that a two year in-house creativity course at General Electric resulted in a 60% increase in patentable concepts.

• Participants in Pittsburgh Plate Glass creativity training showed a 300% increase in viable ideas compared with those who elected not to take the course.

• At Sylvania, several thousand employees took a 40 hour course in creative problem solving. ROI: $20 for every $1 spent.

• Hewlett-Packard invested over $2 billion in R&D in 1999, and generated more than 1,300 patent applications. Net revenue: $42.37 billion. (Source: HP 2000 Annual report)

Creativity is the mental and social process used to generate ideas, concepts and associations that lead to the exploitation of new ideas. Or to put it simply: innovation. Through the creative process, employees are tasked with exploring the profitable outcome of an existing or potential endeavor, which typically involves generating and applying alternative options to a company’s products, services and procedures through the use of conscious or unconscious insight. This creative insight is the direct result of the diversity of the team – specifically, individuals who possess different attributes and perspectives.

It’s important to note that innovation is usually not a naturally-occurring phenomenon. Like a plant, it requires the proper nutrients to flourish, including effective strategies and frameworks that promote divergent levels of thinking. For example, by supporting an open exchange of ideas among employees at all levels, organizations are able to inspire personnel and maintain innovative workplaces.

Therefore supervisors must manage for the creative process and not attempt to manage the creativity itself, as creativity typically does not occur exclusively in an individual’s head but is the result of interaction with a social context where it’s codified, interpreted and assimilated into something new. Within this system, incentives are paramount – ranging from tangible rewards such as monetary compensation to the intangible, including personal satisfaction and social entrepreneurship.

Creativity is not the mystical attribute reserved for the lucky few. Creativity is a skill you can develop with practice, and a process you can manage. Creativity workshops for business will help you crack the creativity code and succeed at innovation.

Turn ideas into action, put creativity to work, and develop strategies for innovation.

HR Power House has some unique two day programs to foster creativity and innovation in your teams through Edward De Bono tools like SIX THINKING HATS, Random Object and much more. During the two days you would:-

1. Explore some of the thinking strategies of innovators in business, art and science, and how you can apply these strategies to your everyday work.

2. Experiment with ideation tools that supersede traditional brainstorming in a fun, inspiring action-filled environment.

 Activities involving drawing, painting, story telling and improvisation, create a lively and friendly atmosphere, that awaken the senses, sharpen insights and allow exciting possibilities for taking creative risks—both personally and professionally.

3. Develop your  skills in idea-generation, problem solving, collaboration and creativity. 

4.Learn creative techniques you can apply immediately to your work, to help you innovate more effectively.

After you’ve attended our innovation training

We are committed to ensuring that you get maximum value from training in creativity. That’s why we have developed a password protected MEMBERS’ SITE for course attendees, that provides our clients with unparalleled access to additional support to reinforce their learning while reminding, reinforcing and revisiting the skills and techniques covered.

For details drop a comment below.