This article was previously published in the November 2002 issue of Public Service Magazine, published by the FDA, edited by Simon Moore.

Using creativity to improve organisational performance

by Dr Marilyn Fryer

Creativity is an elusive term. In the UK it tends to be mainly associated with the Arts, but elsewhere, especially in the USA , it is commonly used to refer to exceptional individual and organisational performance. At The Creativity Centre, we envisage creativity in very broad terms. For us, it's about doing the best work possible, given the resources at one's disposal, whilst at the same time pushing forward the boundaries in some way. Originality alone is not enough, since new ideas may be simply bizarre - they also have to be useful or valuable and appropriate.

A recent survey conducted by The Creativity Centre in one major public sector organisation revealed that most senior managers were very aware that things had to change. Old ways of doing things would no longer suffice. Existing structures and working patterns no longer met client needs. They knew that they would be expected to achieve more with less resources and that this would demand more creativity.

Fortunately, there is a great deal which can be done to improve the level of creativity at work. Most important is the recognition that people are the organisation's most valuable asset. A two-fold strategy can then be adopted which involves:

• ensuring that organisational structures and processes optimise the creativity of one's workforce
• developing the creative capacity of staff through training.

Improving organisational structures and processes

This may involve small and subtle changes within a project group or department or, ideally, the initiative will come from senior management and permeate the whole organisation. To ensure they make the necessary changes, managers will need to have a good understanding of creativity: what's involved; what kinds of behaviour need to be fostered; what supports and what inhibits creativity at work. This may involve staff development at all management levels.

Managers' own assumptions and prejudices may need to be challenged. For example, it is often erroneously assumed that some people are creative whilst others are not, that creativity is something people do or don't have or that creativity at work is disruptive and counter-productive, that it is only relevant in certain departments such as design, publicity and marketing. Organisations which take creativity seriously realise that it's about optimising the performance of every department and that everyone has a role to play. In fact, creativity is an essential feature of human behaviour. Most people are capable of a lot more creativity than they or their managers realise. And there is good evidence that just about everyone can learn to be more creative about their work, yet this is frequently neglected in both management and training.

It is usually neither necessary nor wise to change everything in the organisation at the same time. Instead, what's normally needed is a hard look at current policy and practice in the light of immediate, medium and long term objectives. Sometimes a baseline assessment by an independent consultant can help, as familiarity with the situation can inhibit a fresh perception. Employees' views can also be invaluable.

Creativity at work isn't just about generating fresh ideas. Evaluation against stringent criteria and implementation are just as important. Some people will feel much more at ease with the evaluation or implementation stages than with idea generation and this is something managers need to keep in mind. Normally, insufficient attention is given to the implementation stage. The implications of any proposed changes need to be carefully considered and any likely objections addressed.

Staff development in creativity

This can take place in the course of normal working as well as through deliberate training. Short term one-off workshops are unlikely to be of lasting benefit. A series of regular two hour sessions coupled with enlightened management practice will be much more productive. A great deal can be achieved by managers setting interesting work tasks which require creativity - tasks which are a little more challenging or different from those previously undertaken by that member of staff. Personality factors and working style preferences also need to be taken into account.

As far as formal training is concerned, employees can also benefit from having a good understanding of the creative process. Thinking strategies for coping with situations which demand creativity can be learned. These situations are normally characterised by uncertainly about the current situation, the target or end-point or the means of achieving targets

Such strategies may include:

• insight learning - seeing what everyone else sees but being able to spot something no-one else has realised
• scenario-building - building mental pictures of current and alternative states of affairs in order to select the most promising option
• attention-directing devices - involving the generation and evaluation of ideas at every stage from problem identification through to solution implementation
• use of metaphor and analogy to identify useful connections between previously unrelated ideas
• consideration of systematic changes to certain aspects of a problematic situation in order to find an acceptable way forward.

This list is not exhaustive.

The Creativity Centre has worked with many public sector organisations and individuals as well as in the private sector to help them meet the demands of a changing world. Its recent international conference on creativity and cultural diversity highlighted the strengths of a multicultural approach which draws on the strengths of a diverse workforce.

Dr Marilyn Fryer is founder-director of The Creativity Centre and a co-founder of The Creativity Centre Educational Trust. A chartered psychologist, she has had sixteen years experience of consulting and training in creativity for a wide range of organisations.