Yesterday Business Creativity was something management did when the team went on a retreat or when shooting the breeze over a cold beer at the end of a grueling day, the shape, feel and form of creativity, while taken seriously, not always easy to achieve seeing its dynamics were too often placed in the basket of soft management, in other words, a touchy feely thing that real managers did when they had the time, which usually meant it stayed at the bottom of the filing basket.
Fast forward to today! Businesses struggling with 21st century reality are finding that without the ability to be creative, they are up the creek without a paddle. And the reason is simple. The world is changing so fast that traditional ways of managing are increasingly out-of-step in a world where flexibility and adaptability are the drivers in creating and sustaining a competitive advantage.
Put simply; the ability to innovate is now a premium business skill, Corporate Creativity not something that can necessarily be taught, despite the many claims to the contrary, but rather a state-of-business-mind that relies heavily on the ‘will’ to be creative … and that means shifting creativity out of the shadows and into the mainstream of business functioning … and for many management teams this is a scary thought.
Yet it doesn’t have to be seeing Corporate Creativity is the difference between teams that can compete and those that can’t. In fact in every business team there is a great deal of creative potential that can be readily tapped once the team gives itself permission to be creative, rather than worrying about stepping out-of-line from the accepted way of doing things.
Corporate Creativity nothing more than the ability to successfully shape the future through innovation, strategy and forward thinking so that smart ideas can positively impact on business performance.
And when you start thinking about it this way, you don’t need a guru, all you need is the same thinking tools you use in any other business situation. Discipline, hard work, logic and the willingness to push the boundaries beyond best practice. The only difference being you are working in an experiential as opposed to an academic mindscape.
Any management team prepared to use its collective life experience (see earlier Blog) quickly turns creativity from something to be feared into something that becomes the basis for meeting and beating the competition. State sector, private sector, the challenge is the same. The courage to step outside the boundaries of your known mindset in order to create something that truly defines your business.














