TRUDY MENKE
REFLECTIONS ON CREATIVITY: CREATIVITY AND MORE POWERFUL LEADERSHIP BY TRUDY MENKE While it’s true that not all leaders believe themselves to be highly creative, most leaders do value the importance of creativity. If knowledge was recognized as the only key to success in our world, our library cards would cost thousands of dollars and the internet’s ever-increasing, free bank of knowledge would put us all on a path to success. Add the spark of imagination to all that knowledge and we’ll engage our creativity. “Creativity is knowledge having fun.” Albert Einstein What is it, though, that starts the process and inspires us to invest ourselves in creativity? It’s a “Passion Plus Problem” scenario that leverages our frustration and moves us into creative thinking. Leaders start companies and organizations because they see a problem and find a passion to solve it. Creativity emboldens our belief that we can do something about it. Founders are those special leaders who create new companies, new products and new organizations to address a problem with a creative solution. But what happens when they pass the baton? How do they ensure that the next generation of their organization’s leadership honors creativity and meets future problems with passion? Here are four ways to encourage a creative environment: · Your current team and your next generation of leaders need to recognize problems as opportunities for them to unleash their own creativity. Don’t lead from a position that implies: a.) You already have all the answers; b.) You are the only source of answers; or c.) You question the value of others identifying problems. · Encourage the process. Value the fact that creativity will not always produce a viable solution to a problem the first time. A first attempt should be the proving ground for a stronger second attempt, and so on. What’s the value of one good idea? The value of one good idea is found in the support of the 99 other ideas along the way to finding it. · Recognize that people fear rejection and failure – a lot. Leaders must be intentional about encouraging team members to risk being wrong. Make it safe for them to contribute to the solutions. People won’t be creative if they are held to the standard of delivering perfection. Teams up-level creative solutions together and get the best thinking from everyone. “Creativity takes courage.” Henri Matisse · Passion is critical to launching creativity, so leaders can’t solely focus on knowledge. They must successfully persuade team members of the importance and potential of the work. No one passionately pursues something they don’t value or understand, and without passion, they won’t contribute or even discover, their creativity. Leaders exist to help people navigate change successfully and change is called for because problems emerge within the status quo. The current environment has produced plenty of new problems over the last several weeks. It’s a perfect time to be creative. Creative changes are more than just reactive, though. Creative changes are the proactive, passionate responses to problems that great leaders find a way to encourage every day. Trudy Menke of New Carlisle, Indiana, is the founder of Reframing Leadership and an active volunteer with Worthy Women Recovery in La Porte, Indiana. This article is part of a series, “Reflections on Creativity,” sponsored by the Center for Creative Solutions, celebrating April’s World Creativity and Innovation Week. Check out CenterforCreativeSolutions.com, #IamCreative wciw.org
- Start: 15 April 2020
- End: 15 April 2020
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- Location: N/A , , United States
