What do creativity managers do?

Replace the word management with the word optimisation.

That's what creativity managers do: they optimise the quality of the idea pool (creativity) and the implementation process (innovation).

There are many methods of optimisation and the creativity leader must be aware of all of them, in other words, he or she must synthesise them for optimal effect.

Areas [within creativity] that need managing include motivation, organisational culture, organisational structure, incremental versus radical effects and processes, knowledge mix, group structures, goals, process and valuation.

Areas [within innovation] that need managing include idea selection, development / prototyping and the art of commercialisation.

It is worth noting that 4000 good ideas result in 4 development programs, which in turn results in 1 winner.

Effective Group Structure

A problem can be solved as an individual, as a pair, in a small group or as a large group. Each has positives and negatives. What are they and what is the overall best practice?

Individuals have made many significant achievements but it is common that others who may have been involved in the process have been ignored. Also, it is difficult to separate an idea from its influences. Individuals tend to produce novel and diverse ideas as time increases but also have high degrees of path dependency.

A pair tends to have a lower degree of path dependency than an individual. Also, there are more incidences of frame breaking.

Small groups increase intellectual cross-pollination but introduce dominant and less-dominant information pathways. That is, some people contribute more than others; some people are left out.

As the group grows larger, efficiency decreases, as politics, group think, social loafing and many more hindrances take effect.

Learn more…

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Kal Bishop, MBA

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Download the MBA research, learn about this topic at http://www.creativity-management.com/

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