Corporate Creativity (Hardcover)

In this context, in describing the corporate creativity, Alan G. Robinson and Sam Stern write that a company is creative when its employees do something new and potentially useful without being directly shown and taught. And they argue that in every unexpected creative act the following six essential elements are key to promoting consistent corporate creativity:

1. 'Alignment' is the degree to which the interests and actions of every employee support the organization's key goals. Strong alignment requires three things: *clarity about what the key goals of the organization are, *commitment to initiatives that promote the key goals, *accountability for actions that affect the key goals.

2. 'Self-initiated activity.' The majority of creative acts in companies are self-initiated, which explains why they are unanticipated by management. To promote it, companies only have to unleash what is already present. The key is an effective system for responding to employee ideas, which must have five characteristics. The system must: *reach everyone, *be easy to use, *have strong follow-through, *document ideas, *be based on intrinsic motivation.

3. 'Unofficial activity,' work done without direct official support, is what makes it possible for a company to go where it never expected to. Every unexpected creative act begins with a period of unofficial activity, which might be a matter of minutes or years.

4. 'Serendipity' combines a fortunate accident with sagacity. Fortunate accidents can be promoted through strategies that provoke and exploit accidents. Sagacity can be promoted by expanding the company's human potential beyond its immediate needs.

5. 'Diverse stimuli.' A stimulus can either push someone in a completely new direction or give that person fresh insight into what her or she has already set out to do. There are four strategies companies can use to promote diverse stimuli: *identify stimuli and provide them to employees, *rotate employees into every job they are capable of doing, *arrange for employees to interact with those outside the company who are likely to be the source of stimuli, *create opportunities for employees to bring into thr organization stimuli they get on their own.

6. 'Within-company communication.' Every company tries to ensure effective communication between employees who depend on each other to do their work. However, most organizations overlook the importance of unanticipated communication between employees who do not normally work together. And these exchanges of information often lead to unexpected creative acts. There are three ways a company can promote within-company communication: *provide opportunities for employees who do not normally interact with each other to meet, *ensure that every employee has a sufficient understanding of the organization's activities to be able to tap its resources and expertise, *create a new organizational priority: all employees should know the importance of being responsive to requests for information or help from other employees.

Finally, Robinson and Stern write that "If the six elements are implemented in your organization, its overall level of creativity will certainly rise. Use them yourself and you may very well find yourself in the middle of a creative act...Our journey led us to 'discover' the power of the unexpected. Your journey will lead you to 'realize' it."

Highly recommended.

Boils down to 6 areas which you need to boost to increase creativity: corporate alignment, self-initiated activity, unofficial activity, serendipity, diverse stimuli, and within-company communication

The chapter on serendipity is not really convincing.

The book is rather short on practical advice. Provides a list of questions to help you 'start unleashing corporate creativity'. This is where the book is a bit of a let down.

Overall a pleasant read with useful insights.

While the book does a great job at exploring these concepts and gives excellent examples, what I found lacking was the "how-to" compontent.

As the author of Aha! - 10 Ways To Free Your Creative Spirit and Find Your Great Ideas, I am always looking for good books on the topic I am most passionate about. As far as creativity books, this one takes a unique perspective, the corporate rather than the individual. I applaud their work in this regard. Their examples are well-researched, and from a variety of industries.

If you are looking to dig deep into the field of organizational creativity, this is an excellent addition to your library.