Creativity and Innovation Management in Conservative, Staid Organisations

Conservative and staid organisations generally have a harder time implementing creativity and innovation into their day-to-day work processes and people. Leaders may want to capture the benefits of creativity and innovation, yet there may be relevant and almost contradictory issues that they have to deal with, including:

a) It may be that a conservative culture is desirable (may result in a greater fit with the client base, for example).

b) Culture change is time consuming and needs constant monitoring and measurement.

c) Large-scale changes may not be desired.

However, it is possible for leaders to have the best of both worlds. That is, it is possible to combine a conservative culture with a creative one and without large-scale change. Some methods include:

a) Creating teams outside the core organisation whose job it is to manage creativity and innovation, identify problems, generate ideas, select the best ones, and see them through the development and innovation cycle.

b) Allowing the culture of creative teams outside the core organisation to gradually diffuse its way into the core culture.

c) Creating direct links to decision makers. Whenever employees have good ideas, having them addressed by powerful people encourages further good idea generation.

d) Removing layers from idea generators to decision makers. Good ideas often get filtered and diluted when they are passed between management layers. This slows feedback times and reduces the encouragement levels that push idea generation.

e) Visible progression of ideas through to tangible results. Motivation quickly declines if ideas do not progress. People will not see the value of today's idea generating activity when yesterday's was fruitless.

In conclusion, creativity and innovation management does not necessarily involve large-scale change. Incremental changes can lead to radical effects. Further creativity and conservatism are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

These topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com. You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author's name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop MBA is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com

---

Project Management 101

Project management is a very important business concept because it... Read More

Leadership Styles - the Ten Top Qualities the Best Leaders Show

Top leaders...Are Visionary Top leaders have a very clear understanding... Read More

Collaboration: 3 Keys to Keeping Your Documents from Getting Lost in the Shuffle

Often, collaborating documents in a team or in a business... Read More

Internal Prisons: The Thief of Productivity and Quality in our Workforce

As a professional speaker, one of my biggest challenges is... Read More

How Your Business Can Pick A Software Developer

Eventually, your business is going to need to have some... Read More

Boost Your Leadership Skills By Disciplining Yourself In The Way Of The Question Mark

I'm often asked to come in to organizations and give... Read More

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

You can't build a reputation on what you are "going"... Read More

Making Your Workers Your Partners

There is an inherent conflict between owners and managers of... Read More

Meetings and Road Trips

Managing a meeting is like setting off on a long... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management: Generating Better Ideas

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Classifying Motivational Needs

While there exist several useful definitions of motivation, for our... Read More

Leadership Skills

Recent studies have shown that industrial supervisors are working at... Read More

Knowledge Management - Keys to Successful Communities of Practice (Networks)

How can I make my community of practice truly effective?How... Read More

Innovation Management ? some ideas are better than others

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Can A Business Still Be Profitable When People Skills Are Absent?

In our current world of rapid and amazing technological advances,... Read More

Einstein - Definition of Insanity

Insanity in the Sign & Graphics IndustryEinstein's DefinitionAlbert Einstein once... Read More

Competion or Cooperation?

It has been said, there is no better way to... Read More

Change Management: Avoid Havoc In Very Uncertain Times

Escalating gas prices...tensions and turmoil in the Middle East...a struggling... Read More

4 Steps to Success In Life, Business, The Universe And Everything

Everyone wants to succeed in life. And no one starts... Read More

Safety Policy Sample Outline

Writing a safety manual is a tough job and most... Read More

Your Company Without Training - Any Questions?

Okay, be honest!Are you guilty of sticking in a few... Read More

Document management : A dream of paperless office

What is document management: When we think about "Document Management"... Read More

Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness

Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness. Having a poor understanding... Read More

5 Management Decision Making Lessons from a Long Shot. A Heartening Belmont Victory

Like many, I watched the 134th Belmont Stakes hoping to... Read More

Focus on Outcomes to Keep Your Business On-Course

Did you know that an airplane in flight is off... Read More

How to Manage Your People Well: Tips for Managers of Training

As a training manager, there are two important aspects to... Read More

Create Your Dashboard for Success

Driving down the road our eyes frequently scan the vital... Read More

The Rise of Corporate Chair Massages

Employers have rapidly begun to understand the importance of stress... Read More

ISO 9001 Okay Now You Have It How Do You Market It?

Marketing ISO 9001 2000.Lately we've been seeing a lot of... Read More

Telephone Techniques: Boost Your Productivity With Effective Phoning

One of the things that most impacts people's productivity is... Read More

Give Yourself a Boss Day Gift, Part 2: Are You the Position or the Person?

Are you the position or the person?Bosses can lose their... Read More

Money, Motivation, Success and Who?

It was 7:30 on a Saturday morning, and I was... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Adapting Human Resource Functions

This article relates to the human resource functions competency, commonly... Read More