How do you create a creative organisation out of a (primarilly) processing organisation? You can't, not by your own efforts alone. But you can (help) grow one.
Are we talking about making 'everyone' creative? No, the bulk of your people have already self-selected into their jobs and are happy doing what they're doing, and hopefully they're doing it fairly well, and who don't particularly want to do anything more.. The people we are targetting are the ones who are looking for 'a little bit more', who are good workers, but frustrated that they have no outlet for what they might call the 'creative' streak, the urge to 'do things differently' (or different things). These people if encouraged have the potential to create benefits to the organisation that far outweigh their numbers. And they have the potential (because they are placed to do this) to encourage the creative streak in some of their 'less discontented' peers.
Are we talking about turning a processing organisation into an advertising agency? No, effectively we're talking about a 1 or 2 per cent effect. And I'd argue that we're talking about converting 'lost' time into creative time by diverting people from 'goofing off'. Productivity in this model should lift, because we don't have to demonstrate offsets against 'lost' processing time.
So is the creative organisation about making some people feel better in the workplace? No, it is primarilly about harnessing the potential of some of your staff to make a greater contribution to the success of the organisation, because - as I'll argue - technology and processing organisations 'die from the inside out' if they don't have a healthy creative or regenerative process at their core. We used to think this was the role of the Executive, or something we pay consultants for, but my argument is that if you marry the creativity to the workers at the 'coalface' you ensure that creative/regenerative process is linked to the most powerful (and numerous) force in your organisation - your staff. If it means that you get better staff morale and staff retention then that's a bonus. And I think you will.
It is easy? Very easy to start, because you are encouraging those people who have an 'urge' to go in this direction to simply 'go in that direction'. All the organisation has to do is is lay out the general direction, and loosen off the 'restraints'. It gets interesting when they start 'heading in their own direction', but that's where you earn your salary as a manager. More later..
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