Good article on creativity that appeared in economic times.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/corporate-dossier/strategic-creativity-imagine-the-unseen/articleshow/7150669.cms
Strategic creativity: Imagine the unseen
May the management concepts of yore rest in peace. As India Inc speeds into 2011, CD presents original articles from a select set of new-age management gurus — with cutting-edge ideas geared to our fast changing times:
(Martin Kupp is a member of the faculty and Programme Director at the European School of Management and Technology, Berlin, Jörg Reckhenrich is an artist and founder of Art-Thinking Consulting, Jamie Anderson is Adjunct Professor at TiasNimbas Business School)
In May 2010 IBM published an international research study titled Capitalising on Complexity - Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study.
Based on world-wide research with over 1500 CEO's and executives, creativity was identified as the most important leadership competency for enterprises seeking success in the contemporary business world. Business leaders at all levels realise that the complex situations they face cannot be approached in a routine manner, and therefore the quest for creativity starts.
But creativity is sometimes perceived as a fuzzy concept, applied to the use of specific techniques such as ideation, brain storming and so on.
While process approaches to boosting organisational creativity can help open people up to new ideas, we have found these approaches to be limited in their ability to help leaders optimise the creative potential of people and organisations. What leaders have to do is undergo a major change in mind-set regarding creativity, and for this they should seek answers not from consulting firms or business schools, but the world of art.
If leaders really want to boost innovation and profits through a more enlightened approach to the creative process perhaps, we believe that they should look to artists such Joseph Beuys, rather than the wisdom of management gurus such as Gary Hamel or Peter Drucker.
The German artist Joseph Beuys (1921 - 1986) one stated: "Every human is a creator when he strives for introspection with his self". Through his radical approach to philosophy and interpersonal dynamic of creativity, Beuys became one of the most controversial artists of his time. But today the statement sounds like a prediction of the upcoming challenges of leaders to drive and shape organisations according to the complex needs of modern society.
Fostering creativity in organisations means recognising two different dimensions: the individual and the collective. Firstly, at the individual level, leaders and employees need to be able to understand their own creative potential. Truly exploring personal creativity can reveal hidden treasures and open the door to a more grounded creative culture.
Secondly, collective creativity is determined by the way employees interact in order to find new solutions, to innovate and to solve problems. Both levels are not only tightly connected but also intertwined in the way that one kind of creativity needs the other one to fully harvest its potential.
A closer look to Beuys' approach can provide deep insights to unleash creativity first on the personal, secondly at the collective level. Therefore we introduce three core concepts.
1. Make the secrets productive: How to be creative
Understanding oneself as an artist, Beuys said, is less about having the ability to paint, do sculpture or compose music, but rather about being aware of one's general latent creative abilities. In order to get access to that source, an individual needs to strive to discover which dimensions of his or her creativity is mostly developed. Beuys said if you ask yourself who you are and "risk the debate with yourself". Everybody could be creative — being an artist in his own field or profession. Leaders who want to foster creativity must take this challenge.
2. The active form of thinking: The three "I"s of Creativity
The active form of thinking is key to the creative process. There are three steps: inspiration, intuition and imagination. While inspiration is the very beginning, the "click" moment where you get the first spark of an idea, intuition is the second step where you sense and feel the impact of the idea.
The final step, imagination, lets you communicate the idea to others as a compelling image or story. Imagination is a core ability of leaders nowadays in order to create a strong and clear image to guide people through complex situations.
3. Collective creativity - The social sculpture
When Beuys was asked to name the most important piece of work that he ever produced, he spoke about the concept of the "social sculpture". Claiming a concept to be a 'real' piece of art might be unusual but has a deep impact. Beuys saw the interaction of humans as a sculptural space, which could be shaped, on a metaphorical level, in the same way as a real sculpture. As leaders we can give that space form and quality if we start to orchestrate the creative potential of people we are closely working with.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/corporate-dossier/strategic-creativity-imagine-the-unseen/articleshow/7150669.cms
Strategic creativity: Imagine the unseen
May the management concepts of yore rest in peace. As India Inc speeds into 2011, CD presents original articles from a select set of new-age management gurus — with cutting-edge ideas geared to our fast changing times:
(Martin Kupp is a member of the faculty and Programme Director at the European School of Management and Technology, Berlin, Jörg Reckhenrich is an artist and founder of Art-Thinking Consulting, Jamie Anderson is Adjunct Professor at TiasNimbas Business School)
In May 2010 IBM published an international research study titled Capitalising on Complexity - Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study.
Based on world-wide research with over 1500 CEO's and executives, creativity was identified as the most important leadership competency for enterprises seeking success in the contemporary business world. Business leaders at all levels realise that the complex situations they face cannot be approached in a routine manner, and therefore the quest for creativity starts.
But creativity is sometimes perceived as a fuzzy concept, applied to the use of specific techniques such as ideation, brain storming and so on.
While process approaches to boosting organisational creativity can help open people up to new ideas, we have found these approaches to be limited in their ability to help leaders optimise the creative potential of people and organisations. What leaders have to do is undergo a major change in mind-set regarding creativity, and for this they should seek answers not from consulting firms or business schools, but the world of art.
If leaders really want to boost innovation and profits through a more enlightened approach to the creative process perhaps, we believe that they should look to artists such Joseph Beuys, rather than the wisdom of management gurus such as Gary Hamel or Peter Drucker.
The German artist Joseph Beuys (1921 - 1986) one stated: "Every human is a creator when he strives for introspection with his self". Through his radical approach to philosophy and interpersonal dynamic of creativity, Beuys became one of the most controversial artists of his time. But today the statement sounds like a prediction of the upcoming challenges of leaders to drive and shape organisations according to the complex needs of modern society.
Fostering creativity in organisations means recognising two different dimensions: the individual and the collective. Firstly, at the individual level, leaders and employees need to be able to understand their own creative potential. Truly exploring personal creativity can reveal hidden treasures and open the door to a more grounded creative culture.
Secondly, collective creativity is determined by the way employees interact in order to find new solutions, to innovate and to solve problems. Both levels are not only tightly connected but also intertwined in the way that one kind of creativity needs the other one to fully harvest its potential.
A closer look to Beuys' approach can provide deep insights to unleash creativity first on the personal, secondly at the collective level. Therefore we introduce three core concepts.
1. Make the secrets productive: How to be creative
Understanding oneself as an artist, Beuys said, is less about having the ability to paint, do sculpture or compose music, but rather about being aware of one's general latent creative abilities. In order to get access to that source, an individual needs to strive to discover which dimensions of his or her creativity is mostly developed. Beuys said if you ask yourself who you are and "risk the debate with yourself". Everybody could be creative — being an artist in his own field or profession. Leaders who want to foster creativity must take this challenge.
2. The active form of thinking: The three "I"s of Creativity
The active form of thinking is key to the creative process. There are three steps: inspiration, intuition and imagination. While inspiration is the very beginning, the "click" moment where you get the first spark of an idea, intuition is the second step where you sense and feel the impact of the idea.
The final step, imagination, lets you communicate the idea to others as a compelling image or story. Imagination is a core ability of leaders nowadays in order to create a strong and clear image to guide people through complex situations.
3. Collective creativity - The social sculpture
When Beuys was asked to name the most important piece of work that he ever produced, he spoke about the concept of the "social sculpture". Claiming a concept to be a 'real' piece of art might be unusual but has a deep impact. Beuys saw the interaction of humans as a sculptural space, which could be shaped, on a metaphorical level, in the same way as a real sculpture. As leaders we can give that space form and quality if we start to orchestrate the creative potential of people we are closely working with.
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