The Chinese symbol for creativity and destruction are linked with good reason, destroying one thing provides space for something new. A recession can provide a time when a large organisation becomes more open to change and willing to remove unnecessary procedures. It is also a time when many entrepreneurs set in place the means by which they make their fortune. For high wage economies such as the UK who find difficult to compete with the likes of China on high-volume low-end products, creativity can be critical in providing added-value. Dyson, for example, moved volume production of his floor cleaners to Malaysia but kept an expanded research and development group in the UK.

Creativity is often associated with 'thinking out of the box' but research shows creative people often spend longer than average deciding which question to devote their time to and which angle is the best to pursue. So allowing staff some time to pursue their hunches is one way to foster creativity.

Managers can make a difference by fostering a culture where staff feel able to challenge existing practice and voice new ideas, as opposed to an organisation where people feel obliged to look busy, watch their back and avoid steeping out of line for fear of being blamed.

An excess of internal procedure can induce a conservatism that makes it hard for creative ideas to be developed or sustained. Creative organisations often provide opportunities for creative endeavour by all their staff.

A suggestion scheme provides a simple way of tapping into the ideas of the workforce, locating substantive savings and possible process and product advances. Most organisations find the creative ideas provided pay for themselves in a very short-timescale - provided management publicise those they have taken up so employees know it is worth their while to participate.

Creativity is often associated with radical ideas provided by a select few, but the majority of products evolve from earlier models (the computers and cell phones of today are unrecognizable from their predecessors of thirty years ago).

Though we often associate a creative idea with an individual, it generally takes a team with different skills to realise its potential and bring it to market. People with different personalities may be better suited to different stages of the creative process.

People with wide interests can be better at coming up with fundamentally new approaches, whereas people who are better at detail and completion are often more drawn to improving existing products and practices. Entrepreneurs tend to be risk-takers willing to take chances most people would not. In organisations people with creative ideas often need influential sponsors to help get funding to realise their ideas.

For maximum impact managers may need differential reward strategies for different types of creative employee, scientists often place a higher value on freedom and job satisfaction than pay, whereas many entrepreneurs are interested in making serious money.

Find out more

The Open University course Creativity, Innovation and Change offers you the chance to explore ways of developing and fostering creative management. It includes a weekend residential school to help you develop your creative thinking and draw out the creativity in colleagues.

About the author

Jane Henry is an applied psychologist. She chairs the Open University Business School Creativity, Innovation and Change programme.

Subscribe to Jane Henry's posts