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CREATIVE CAPITAL - New Currency for the New Economy
Traditional business thought looks at 3 major types of Capital - Financial (investment, stock price, and equity), Technological (equipment, systems and processes) and Intellectual (patents, expertise, knowledge). However, the race is now more that ever about Creative Capital - the innovations and new ideas that generate new products and services. We've seen the 1960's take a decade to generate the computer and the copy machine. The pace has steadily increased and now we have entirely new operating programs appear in a year! Obviously, it is now the most creative company that sets the pace and wins the race.
In several recent offsites for a national pipeline company, we were impressed with the natural creativity and innovative problem solving across all levels and functions of the company. The interactions provided several insights based on 3 principles -
- Great ideas live in all levels of a company,
- It is critical to encourage and enable open collaboration, and
- Diverse perspectives are essential to new ideas.
The role of the leader in establishing the requisite environment for creativity has been overlooked and undervalued. There are core cultural realities that are directly influenced by the role of the leader: Creating the safety (emotional and intellectual ) that allows and encourages people to take the risk of putting themselves and their ideas on the table and Enforcing the expectation that ideas will be respected and rewarded regardless of outcome.
We encourage our clients to ask two important questions - Is it safe here to question and share ideas? And secondly, do we recognize and encourage the ideas and contributions that individuals make? If the answer is not a resounding YES!, it is time for serious cultural improvement work. We have found that without the focus on these core principles, creativity cannot flourish.
Creative Capital is the new currency for success in the 21st century.
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WE NEED EVERYONE'S IDEAS! - Laura Butler, SVP, W orkLife
We are smarter together than we are individually. In a world of constant change and turmoil it is critical to hear from everyone involved. I can't possibly see all the angles and possibilities for new solutions without hearing from those around me. Below is a link to a quick 3 question survey that we will use to further our research and to help us in our work improving workplace communication. Please take a moment to complete and also email me any thoughts you have on topics you would like to see in upcoming issues.
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