Grow The Box

We often hear the phrase ‘think out of the box’ in relation to being creative in organisations.

Cambridge dictionary defines creativity as the ability to produce or use original and unusual ideas. And it defines an organisation as a group of people who work together in an ‘organised way’ for a shared purpose. This organised way is enabled by rules, processes, norms and other boundaries. And often these are or can be seen as inhibitors of creativity.

Managers are expected to be creative and foster creativity and have the ability to think out of the box. While the organized way of organisations puts them in a box.

So what is the option?

Grow The Box. By harnessing creativity. That can sound contradictory. Since creativity is meant to be spontaneous and free. My experience is that in spite of this creativity can be fostered and harnessed. And it is the manager’s job to do so for self and others.

Be Curious

Encourage yourself and your people to be curious, ask questions and be more aware of the environment in which your business operates.

?Rudyard Kipling once said

‘I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who.’

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It still works. Questions based on these 5 Ws and an H are enablers of curiosity. They open the mind. And produce ideas.How else can this be done? What are the enablers? Where is the problem localised? Who can do this better? When is this going to impact my business? How is the competition doing it? What routes have we failed to explore? And more.

Capture The Ideas

Generating ideas is not enough -- even if original and unusual. As per Dr Deepak Chopra an average human being has 50,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day. Many of them are unusual. And are related to your business. But they have to be captured – because ideas have a high mortality rate. They come like shooting stars – and go likewise. Unless captured in some way - for future use. Notepads, messages to yourself, reminders – anything that works. Don’t rely on the mind to remember all the ideas that it generates – it does not happen. Recognise the time and the environment when your mind is really active and brimming with new thoughts. Could be on a flight, while taking a walk, just before going to bed. And find a way of capturing the ideas at that time.

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Make The Connections

Captured ideas need to be connected to your business. Joining the dots is important. For example. A product manager in a telecom company is reading about AI and it’s potential for changing the way we work. And captures the idea by sending a message to himself. Later in the day or week he wonders about the impact of this on his work. That is connection. Connecting the dots between the ideas and his business. He wonders if this will change the way demand forecasting is done. What else will change in the future? This would not have happened if the idea had not been captured and connected to his own work.

Build Confidence

Now comes the confidence. Of expressing the idea to others. Of taking chances by trying something new. Convincing others about the new ways. For this self confidence is needed. And an environment that encourages creative ideas without judging them. In short-term target driven environments such ideas often fall by the wayside. Good managers create the right environment. ?They build confidence in self and others to speak up, share and experiment with ideas without fear of judgement.

Create Challenges

Another way of bringing out unknown potential is by setting challenges. I was once working with a senior consultant who wanted to grow her profit centre. She mentioned that she wanted to grow 25 % revenue in the next year for her business unit. In her mind this was a good number because the organisation was growing at 15 odd percent. Out of curiosity I asked how did you get to 25%? Why cannot it be 35 % ? Or only 10 % but with a higher margin? Her mind had simply not gone there. As it does not for most of us. We go beyond the obvious only when challenged.

Much later she told me that that one question had stayed with her. And she challenged herself and her team with it. They grew by 36.8 percent the next year - by dropping some clients from the past and adding some new high growth ones. An idea which had never been explored earlier. Simply because staying with old clients was comfortable. Challenge is a great catalyst for getting the creative juices flowing.

Yes, it is possible to harness creativity by creating an environment of curiosity, capture, connection, confidence and challenge. And grow the box while being in the box.

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