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The case for creativity
Why creativity?
Historically considered a soft skill, or not considered at all, creativity is starting to get attention.
Businesses have seldom taken active steps to encourage it, prioritising procedures, knowledge and experience.
In an age of improved (or improving) communication, agile workplaces, open offices and a focus on employee engagement, creativity hasn’t been pushed. Where presentation, sales or leadership skills are an accepted part of learning and development, creativity gets overlooked, feared even. Many people don't consider themselves creative and avoid taking part in anything that might expose that.
But here’s the thing – it’s vital.
Its value lies in its crucial role in the innovation process. Creativity leads to imagination, which leads to innovation. And all businesses need innovation.
What we need, is to show people how to tap into it.
Creativity significantly helps create a culture that fosters innovation in business.
At Symes Group we believe that creativity, far from being an abstract concept, is a process with recognisable, repeatable steps that can be applied in normal work practices.
In many organisations though, understanding of the creative process and the development and execution of creative solutions and ideas can be under-developed.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Albert Einstein
As we move towards 2020 there is no doubt that the entire workforce needs to be more adept at critical thinking, creativity and complex problem solving, in order for organisations to grow, thrive and survive.
Organisations need not only to have their workforce develop the skills required to think more creatively, but also to ensure that their systems support the process of creative, collaborative thinking and is not in opposition to it.
Embedding the creative process requires the ongoing support of the organisation so that it is fostered at all levels and is integrated into all work practices. For some organisations this requires systemic change.
When creativity is thought of as an abstract concept, it is difficult for individuals to improve their creative skills and to integrate them into their work. It is also difficult for organisations to set goals and strategies around abstract concepts.
Symes Group has built a framework and methodology around the creative process that includes 10 steps and defines sets of behaviours and capabilities connected to each step. The process is tangible and practical and can be applied by anyone.
The importance of understanding creativity and the process:
Learning about the creative process and the behaviours and capabilities required for the process has three benefits:
• Individuals can navigate through the process confidently as they will be able to identify each of the steps as they experience them.
• Individuals can increase their creative potential by working on behaviours required for each step, exercising their “creative muscle”.
• Organisations can (and must) integrate the process into working style/method of operation.
Commonly though, the perception of creativity if misconceived, individuals stall at stage one of learning, a lack of diversity impedes creative behaviour, which are either absent, underdeveloped or in opposition to what is required.
Sir Ken Robinson, global expert on creativity, argues that creativity is the most crucial 21st century skill we’ll need to solve today’s pressing problems. And according to a report produced by the World Economic Forum, creativity will become one of the top three skills workers will need by 2020. – Jessica Symes