261
14
A Baker’s Dozen of Takeaways
By its very nature, creativity does not lend itself to applying a paint-by-
number approach on projects; too much is happening, quickly and stress-
fully. Project managers are not helpless, however. ey can encourage
creativity on their teams by following these takeaways.
TAKEAWAY NUMBER 1
e rst takeaway, and one of the major points of this book, is that
everyone on a project team has some degree of creativity. In other words,
it is not reserved for a select few or people in a narrow eld, such as art.
As inventor James Jorasch notes, “Creativity has been put up on such a
pedestal. … People associate it with the arts and being for the anointed
few struck by lightning. In reality, it’s much less exciting. It’s some-
thing everyone can do—and, like everything else, it takes practice.”
1
Choreographer Twyla arp agrees, observing, “It is an absolute mis-
match to think that art is not practical—or that business cannot be
creative.”
2
Naturally, some people have a greater capacity than others to be creative,
say 20 percent of the population, but everyone has some of it. Individuals
and teams alike need to recognize this capacity and know how to activate
and channel it into their work. at takes eort. As psychologist John
Houtz notes, “I think if we want everyone to have a way to be more creative,
we have to convey the message that they have to work at it; creativity isn’t
necessarily going to come naturally.”
3
262 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
TAKEAWAY NUMBER 2
e second takeaway is that project managers can help lay the ground-
work to enable creativity to occur. ey can play an instrumental role
when certain factors are under their control; when they are not under
their control, they can help ameliorate the impact of inhibiting creativ-
ity. “You can’t methodically teach creativity,” observes Mario Almondo of
Ferrari, “but you can provide an environment that nurtures it.”
4
Because
many project managers oen lack the necessary power to alter their envi-
ronment, they sometimes feel helpless about what they can do to enhance
creativity on their project teams. Fortunately, they can still enhance
individual and group creativity by such actions as encouraging frequent
breaks, furthering openness to allow sharing of ideas and information,
involving people in decision making, and bringing in outside experts. e
point is that project managers do not have to act helpless about encourag-
ing creativity on a project; they can be proactive.
TAKEAWAY NUMBER 3
e third takeaway is that project managers should encourage as much
deance as compliance. Following the “rules of the game” is, of course,
necessary. Taken to the extreme, however, all creativity goes to the wayside
except, perhaps, for a few incremental changes.
e rst part is having individuals and groups that are willing to ask
questions related to the most important one of all; “Why?” For exam-
ple: “Why are we doing this?” “Why don’t we think of a better way to
approach this problem on the project?” Asking such questions can peg
people as iconoclasts or nihilists because they rebel against the status quo,
both in terms of thought and action. ey do not care, however; they
enjoy it and it is their nature. Project managers should try to capitalize on
their rebelliousness. ese individuals would agree with innovator and
entrepreneur Steve Jobs that “it’s better to be a pirate than to join the
Navy.”
5
e other part is to develop truly creative solutions that entail
thinking outside the box. at may require everyone adapting what has
been attributed by some as “positive deviance,” meaning certain people
have evaded capture by their organization and have not succumbed to
A Baker’s Dozen of Takeaways • 263
the modus operandi.
6
Complacency through compliance is the greatest
threat to creativity and innovation projects. Project managers must keep
that very thought in mind, keep alive the piratical spirit that Jobs men-
tioned, and direct it to produce unprecedented results. “Being a pirate
means going beyond what people thought possible,” further observes
Jobs. “A small band of people doing some great work that will go down
in history.”
7
TAKEAWAY NUMBER 4
e fourth takeaway is that creativity is fuzzy. at is, following a logical
pattern, based upon a precise premise or set of assumptions, may impair
creativity by restricting perspective, perception, and practicality. Project
managers and their team members need to expose, explore, and experi-
ment when generating creative ideas. inking can be logically correct,
but can also come up with ineective solutions to problems or issues. In
other words, precision can hamstring creativity, due to a mental frame-
work that lters and masks data, information, and thoughts. It also limits
critical thinking so crucial for coming up with creative ideas and innova-
tions. Critical thinking is instrumental to a project’s success, according
to a poll by AllPM.com, in which 42 percent of respondents considered it
a core competency.
8
Coupled with critical thinking is imagination. With
imagination, the constraints of a mindset can be circumvented or altered,
leading to creative ideas. at is because it is easier to see connections
among seemingly unrelated ideas (e.g., unconnected insights and contra-
dictions) by asking questions like, “Why”, and as Albert Einstein did, per-
forming mind experiments.
9
TAKEAWAY NUMBER 5
e h takeaway is that creativity requires working closely with the
customer. is relationship should be more than at arm’s length. It should
be a close one, to encourage sharing needs and wants without fear of any-
thing negative, such as either party taking advantage of the other. Trust
and condence are critical to this relationship. e team should know
264 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
the customer well enough to provide value. e customer should know
the team well enough to communicate requirements. To quote musician
Yo-Yo Ma, “If I know what music you love and what music I love, we start
out having a better conversation.”
10
Communication is critical for this
takeaway. How the customer and team share their knowledge, insights,
expertise, and desires leads to greater satisfaction. Oen, this commu-
nication means adapting the Japanese concept of Genchi Genbutsu, also
known as Gemba, meaning the team literally visits the place where the
work actually occurs. Regardless of approach, however, the key to creating
and innovating is to communicate. As architect Maya Lin says, “I’m ask-
ing for a one-on-one relationship between the viewer and the work. … In
the end, it breaks down to an intimate, psychological experience.”
11
TAKEAWAY NUMBER 6
e sixth takeaway is that creativity is as much about failure as it is about suc-
cess. In fact, just about every successful creator and innovator will emphasize
that they learned as much, if not more, about themselves and their product
or service, when facing failure. In the world of project management, plenty
of projects have, and will, oer learning experiences. e key is how a proj-
ect’s leadership (e.g., project manager) and team members perceive failure.
Failure should be seen as a springboard for eventual success if they
subscribe to what Julia Cameroon, author of the celebrated e Artist’s
Way, refers to as “optimism in the face of creative despair.
12
Project
managers need to continually serve as cheerleaders, for themselves as well
as others, in the midst of failure, reminding all stakeholders that, as Kevin
Kelly says, “the most creative environments allow for repeated failure.”
13
Or, as psychologist Robert Epstein says, “You have to learn not to fear
failure and rejoice in it.”
14
In the end, it all comes down to a project team’s
resiliency in the face of failure. Although in reference to individuals, John
Houtz’s insight also applies to teams: “e creative individual thinks of
failure as a new opportunity. ‘Okay, why did I fail?’ Let me try to do some-
thing else. Let me go forward with it.”
15
Perhaps the best attitude expressed about failure is viewing it as a “return
on experience,” rather than return on investment.
16
Such a perspective
makes it easier for team and individual alike to experience a resurgence by
identifying new interconnections among ideas.
17
A Baker’s Dozen of Takeaways • 265
TAKEAWAY NUMBER 7
e seventh takeaway is that creativity still requires focus and discipline.
Creativity is not an excuse to perform haphazardly and operate without
order. A degree of aim and organization are necessary to apply creativity
and innovation successfully. Just about all great artists, engineers, archi-
tects, and writers build a model or prototype and then follow a strategic,
structured approach. Individuals, like Jobs, knew the importance of vision
while at the same time following an unorthodox strategic path to achieve
results.
18
Author Brent Schlender quotes Steve Jobs on the importance of
a vision when founding Pixar: “Pixar has been a marathon, not a sprint.
ere are times you run a marathon and you wonder why Iam doing
this? But you take a drink of water, wind back, remember the nish line,
and keep going.”
19
Vision and discipline are instrumental, therefore, in
creating a product or service of value. e degree of discipline, too, is as
important as the vision itself. is discipline should be rigorous enough to
further the vision yet provide enough latitude for creativity and innova-
tion to ourish. A clean mission, strategic direction, accountability, and
performance indicators all give stakeholders reasonable assurance that the
goals and objectives of a project will be met.
20
TAKEAWAY NUMBER 8
e eighth takeaway is that creativity requires as much emotion as it does
logic or reason. Individuals and teams need engagement in their work.
Otherwise, people perform perfunctorily, that is, with little or no energy.
Mixing emotion with reason serves as a powerful catalyst to perform
beyond expectations. With emotion comes initiative, ownership, fervor,
and pride in workmanship. Eventually, it draws a line between ordinary
and exceptional performance, especially with regard to creativity; Carlos
Castaneda observes, “e basic dierence between an ordinary man and a
warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary
man takes everything, either as a blessing or curse.” In other words, it is a
matter of perspective.
Emotion gives work meaning. Instead of just occupying one’s time,
projects give individuals and groups alike a purpose for existence beyond
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