ByAnkita Suresh

Harvard Business Review

ONBreakthrough

Thinking

IDEAS WITH IMPACT

Introduction

Creativity and innovation are keys to competition and success.

Creativity• Its is a part of imaginative thinking supported

by expertise and motivation.• Business needs creativity to survive Eg. Introduce a product or improve an existing one• Other 2 essentials along with this are

– Expertise– Motivation

• Extrinsic• Intrinsic

Creativity

ExpertiseCreative Thinking Skills

Motivation

What kills creativity????????• Managers fear creativity.• Anti motivational managerial practices and

techniques.• Manager’s effort to promote creativity has adverse

results. Six categories to identify it are:– Challenge– Freedom– Resources– Work-group features– Supervisory encouragement – Organizational support

• Key Factors for Leading Creativity Culture as a Manager – Form good and small teams.– Effective communication and interaction.– Support them by supporting their inputs and

identifying their potential.– Fair work and rewards

• It is with the manager to foster or kill creativity.

How to spark innovation through empathic design???

• Companies strive for continual innovation.• Customers tend to be ignorant of what they want

and have a tendency to adjust and compromise.• Empathic Design – Observing the consumers in

their environment to get detailed information.• It is the most important source of new ideas.

– Helps to personally understand the consumer feedback.

– Know how the product is useful to the consumer.– What more the customer expects from the product.– His emotions wrt the product eg. Taste of a masala.

Process of Empathic Design• Observe• Capture and collect data• Reflect and analyze• Brain storm for solution• Develop a prototype of the possible solution• This tool can help companies be ahead of its

competitors and keeps its customers always happy.

United we stand, divided we fall!!

• Innovation requires collective effort.• Result of collision of ideas, perceptions and ways

processing and judging a situation.• To encourage and strengthen your team

– Know your team’s weakness, strengths– Identify the worthy people, encourage and boost

them– Support who needs your help as a manager– Believe and make them realize their ability– Involve with your team– Handle conflicts and channel the spirit to the right

path.

Temporary Systems• Film industry-formed for a purpose and dissolve on

completion.• Similar to permanent systems that need Creativity

Management.• A team of short life span needs more

concentration on– Select right people(no time to train, learn,

develop. No probation.)– Sufficient resources– Working relationships–MOTIVATION

Reasons for innovation and creativity

• Unexpected occurrences– Unexpected failure

• Incongruities• Process needs• Technology and market changes• Change in taste and perception

How to motivate the creativity of your team as a Manager??

• Professionalism and basic need to exercise competence

• Match the ability and task• As a leader involve all members equally in the

goal of the organization in the right way.• Employees intrinsic motivation• Acknowledge positively and reward for a task

(success or failure)

Try to bring in Value Innovation than

following a Conventional Strategic Logic!!!

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT!!