99
5
Laying the Groundwork for
a Creative Environment
INTRODUCTION
Creativity can occur in just about any type of environment. Some of the
most inhospitable work environments can sometimes encourage creativity
to blossom. Some other environments can, quite frankly, kill any chance
of creativity arising. Generally, the best approach is to understand what is
required to engender creativity rather than wait for circumstances to allow
it to percolate to the surface on a project. Armed with that understanding,
project managers can take the necessary actions.
NECESSARY ACTIONS
Creativity sometimes just happens; but more oen than not, project
managers have to set up conditions in the environment to further its
occurrence. Here are some actions that you can take:
• Establish a receptive audience.
• Make training available.
• Grant necessary access to data and tools.
• Concentrate creative energy.
• Encourage a certain degree of anxiety and tension.
• Establish priorities.
• Encourage diversity.
• Build and maintain trust.
• Support people’s growth.
100 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
• Encourage ownership.
• Stress communications.
• Emphasize coordination.
• Relax rules, procedures, and so on.
• Align individual and organizational goals and objectives.
• Allow for risk taking.
• Allow time for problem or issue denition.
• Provide opportunities to create.
• Broaden people’s knowledge and experience.
• Counter groupthink.
• Encourage transformational leadership.
Establish a Receptive Audience
Being creative, by its very nature, challenges the status quo in whichmany
people have a vested interest and the last thing they want is to be chal-
lenged. Naturally, nding a receptive audience is dicult under such
circumstances. Without one, creativity will likely be shut down and
creative people will go elsewhere. To avoid this situation, opportunities
must be available for creative people. One of the rst steps is to engen-
der an open environment for people to express their insights without fear
of physical or psychological retaliation. Novel ideas that are frequently
discounted in the beginning, may lead people to go elsewhere. is some-
times means going to or becoming a competitor.
1
Here are some ways to
establish a receptive audience to further creativity:
• Apply stakeholder management; for example, understand interests,
concerns, and so on.
• Communicate continuously about key activities on the project.
• Encourage participation by key stakeholders on activities involving
creativity.
• Share information about the progress of creative endeavors.
Make Training Available
Creativity requires an increased awareness of what is occurring in the
immediate and greater environment. It also requires being up to speed on
the latest tools and techniques. Training is the vehicle for allowing that to
happen. Regardless of the training medium, making training available can
Laying the Groundwork for a Creative Environment • 101
enhance creativity; otherwise, people may become stale, only inhibiting
their creativity. is is especially the case in high-technology environ-
ments where the pace of technological change and knowledge is furious
at times.
2
Here are some ways to make training available to further creativity:
• Apply the buddy system to work on activities requiring some transfer
of skills and knowledge.
• Communicate best practices from other organizations.
• Exploit the use of all training media, for example, CD-ROM training.
• Provide cross-training.
• Share lessons learned from creative activities on other projects.
Grant Necessary Access to Data and Tools
With the exception of proprietary data, creativity requires data to convert
into information. Having the data and information then allows creativity to
ourish as an enabler of people to experiment freely, combine and recom-
bine the content to gain new insights, and encourage a greater exchange
of ideas. Data and information fuel creativity, especially in highly spe-
cialized environments.
3
However, having too much access to information
can result in paralysis, whether in decision making or creating. Dietrich
Dorner, author of e Logic of Failure, observes that too much information
can be as detrimental as having too little. Sometimes, ignorance breeds
simplicity, giving a person a better view of reality. Ironically, the more
we know, the less we do.
4
Creativity also requires having the best tools
available for much the same reasons as having open access to data and
information. Having the necessary tools allows people to experiment,
see the impact of their ideas much more quickly, and build condence.
Tools are the engines fueled by data and information, again in specialized
environments.
Here are some ways to grant access to data and tools to further creativity:
• Conduct frequent data-sharing sessions.
• Establish a repository of data to which team members have open
access.
• Provide people with the tools to access applicable data.
• Provide tools adhering to common standards.
• Provide tools with the most current capabilities.
102 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
• Pursue cross-training on using tools.
• Reduce the number of controls restricting access to data.
• Reduce the number of controls restricting the use of tools other than
for private application.
Concentrate Creative Energy
e common misperception about creativity is that it is something wild
that lacks focus and encourages people to run amuck. Nothing could
be further from the truth. For creativity to lead to innovation, it needs
to be focused in laser-light fashion, but broad enough to be like high-
beam lights on a car. Successful creativity is not unbridled; rather, it is
concentrated. It is true that creativity le unbridled may dissipate energy
and resources. However, creativity and focus must be aligned to achieve
results. Creativity, therefore, requires just enough discipline for people
with vision to achieve.
Here are some ways to concentrate creative energy to further creativity:
• Ask continually at meetings whether the topic under discussion
helps further the goals of the project.
• Have team members participate in dening and planning the project.
• Have team members ask for creative insights from others on how to
address a problem or issue.
• Review the goals of the project at team meetings.
Encourage a Certain Degree of Anxiety and Tension
Complacency is one of the greatest threats to creativity. ey do not get
along. David Whyte, author of e Heart Aroused, says that creativity
and its expression serve as a volatile combination that sets everything
alight.
5
By providing dened goals and objectives that cause people to
stretch but not break, people will experience the necessary degree of anx-
iety and tension. Too much, however, over a sustained period can prove
counterproductive, leading to dysfunctions like burnout and scapegoat-
ing. Sometimes, periods of relaxation following high-stress situations
that fail to produce creative results can actually encourage greater cre-
ativity by allowing the subconscious to work on a problem or issue. It
is not uncommon for people to have a creative idea when driving a car,
taking a shower, walking in the woods, shaving, or taking a trip. Just
Laying the Groundwork for a Creative Environment • 103
the right degree of anxiety and tension will allow for greater awareness,
alertness, and directed energy to complete activities. David Whyte
likens creativityto re, bringing great warmth and fear at the same time.
A creativere builds but it can result, sometimes, in getting burned,
especially in the workplace.
6
One of the key ways to do that, of course,
is to take the comfort level out of being too compliant with the existing
way of doing business or hiding behind the rules, referred to by Dietrich
Dorner as “crippling conservatism,” which restricts one’s options.
7
Here
are some ways to encourage a certain degree of anxiety and tension to
further creativity:
• Give visibility about the project’s progress by reviewing repeatedly
one or two key metrics at every meeting.
• Have other team members serve as devil’s advocates to question pre-
vailing thinking.
• Have people become responsible for complete deliverables.
• Mention at meetings any potential problems or issues looming in the
background that could negatively aect the project.
Establish Priorities
Priority setting provides an excellent means to accomplish both concen-
tration along with anxiety and tension. Priorities tell the team where to
focus; they also provide high drama by demonstrating impacts if they
fail to achieve them. Of course, the priorities must be realistic, based
upon constraints, such as time and money. Setting deadlines for those
priorities more oen than not builds anxiety and tension in a meaningful,
constructive manner. However, unrealistic deadlines imposed from else-
where will inhibit creativity, and the same goes for vague ones. A balance
is necessary. Dietrich Dorner says that the propensity to solve a problem
sooner rather than later leads to making incremental mistakes that
accumulate. is behavior is reective of not setting specic goals, that is,
being too broad.
8
Consequently, a vague goal or goals serve as criteria that
make it dicult to assess progress.
9
Here are some ways to establish priorities to further creativity:
• Have team members participate in determining and assessing
priorities.
• Provide continual feedback on achieving priorities.
..................Content has been hidden....................

You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.
Reset