Creativity and the Planning Process • 201
GROUNDWORK FOR INDIVIDUAL CREATIVITY
Individuals are the linchpins for enabling creativity on projects. Project
managers, however, need to encourage people to exhibit certain values
and behaviors while others simply need to let naturally creative people be
themselves. Project managers need to encourage and allow for the right
side of the brain to ourish as much as the le. Too oen, the le side has
emphasis, giving preference to following form and function, for example,
at the expense of the capabilities of the right side of the brain, which
encourage breaking the rules, taking a dierent perspective, and liking to
experiment. Project managers need to encourage both sides of the brain
by seeking a balance and skewing the capabilities of one side of the brain
over the other, based on a conscious decision.
Some actions that project managers can take to allow people to be
creative are outlined in Table10.4.
GROUNDWORK FOR TEAM CREATIVITY
Laying the groundwork for individuals to be creative is one half of engen-
dering creativity on a project. Project managers must also make a con-
certed eort to lay additional groundwork for individuals to work together
synergistically. ey should focus on reducing oversight, red tape, and
non-value- added activities, such as irrelevant meetings. ey should also
stress taking the cumulative creative energy of a team and directing it
toward achieving the common vision, goals, and objectives of the project,
but with minimal control.
Some actions that project managers can take to allow a team to be
creative are outlined in Table10.5.
RELEVANT TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
e tools and techniques employed for the planning process span
awide range simply because of all the project management deliverables
to produce. ese tools and techniques will require using both sides