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“Creative Organizations”

                                            by Kathy Goff

Kathy Goff, EdD

cSchool Program Director

Creative organizations involve people working together toward a better future. Creative organizations focus on bringing out the best in people. The creative organization nurtures the change process and gives visible, tangible rewards and recognition for taking risks and being creative. People in creative organizations are trusted to make good decisions and given the power to implement them.

Businesses that value creativity remain flexible enough to adapt to changing conditions in its environment. Valuing and embracing creativity will improve an organization’s capacities to respond quickly to the demands of competition and the breakneck pace of technology. Creativity in the workplace is what fuels businesses in making shifts and changes that increase productivity and profitability.

It is useless to talk about creativity while keeping the practices that deaden the imagination and spirit. In order for creativity to flourish, management must define, establish and provide a trustworthy environment. Old management paradigms of command and control do not encourage the sense of community shared in creative organizations.

A creative corporate culture is not about streamlining or making improvements to existing systems, but is about the elimination of bureaucracy, with the leadership at the center with self-managing, proactive teams. In creative organizations, self-managing teams are given opportunities to network and be creative while also being held accountable and responsible for revenues, costs, customer satisfaction and productivity. Creative organizations consist of entrepreneurial leaders guiding self-managed teams in a process focused on the ever changing needs of customers.

The first hurdle is creating an atmosphere where people have confidence expressing themselves and sharing their thoughts and ideas. This requires the people to defer judgment, to allow time for one thing to lead to another, to encourage discussion and questions, to respect each and every thought or idea expressed, and to allow each individual person to find his/her own acceptable solution.

If workers are not familiar with this type of nurturing environment, they may try to take advantage of the situation or rebel.  It requires patience and persistence on the part of the manager to allow the worker the freedom to explore while at the same time staying focused on the work at hand.  The manager must allow staff time to incubate and think during the creative process.  Usually, people test the situation in order to determine if the manager can be trusted and if they will be truly respected.

At first, people may be hesitant to engage in active, participatory work.  It may take several weeks or months to get the staff comfortable with the idea that they share in the responsibility for productivity.  Also, it tests the constitution of a manager to allow the workers to determine their own answers and solutions or to test and examine the current truths.

Once the worker connects with his/her intrinsic motivation, little external motivation and less time, on the part of the manager, is required. Providing an environment that supports creative thinking will call upon the creativity of management.  Consistency, patience, persistence and an abundance of ideas and time are critical ingredients for nurturing and maintaining the creativity of workers.

Morale effects productivity, creativity and quality. Creative organizations value dignity, respect, support and the importance of good working relationships. Managers in creative organizations simplify, clarify and provide a sharply defined sense of direction. Managers play a critical role in transitioning from traditional, bureaucratic hierarchies that cannot respond quickly enough to information, to knowledge sharing teams involved in selecting, developing and implementing ideas and processes.

Big ideas come from people who devote their energy to ideas they believe in and care about. Creative organizations create safety zones for experimentation and innovation. People who work in creative organizations feel confident to “push the envelope” to find that big idea because their career future is not in jeopardy. Meaning and purpose are far more powerful incentives for people than money.

Today’s great companies live and breathe creativity. Creativity is a valued and orchestrated process, rather than an event left to chance. Creative organizations let all their people know that they are valued for their individual strengths and talents. Creativity is a central, valued, integral part of the everyday organizational life. Successful businesses believe that a big idea is possible and are more apt to want to find it.

            “In Praise of Middle Managers”

                                      by David Burkus

David Burkus

cSchool Faculty

Middle managers don’t get a lot of attention or respect. Most business literature focuses on the actions of companies’ senior leaders. Most reorganization efforts try to squeeze the role out through “flattening” or “right-sizing.” Even most business satires are targeted squarely at middle managers, think Michael Scott or Bill Lumberg. But leadership happens at all levels. In most organizations, the impact of middle managers is just as important as that of senior leadership. In a recent study, that impact quantified and researchers found that a good middle manager was worth almost two team members.

In a working paper released last year titled “The Value of Bosses,” Stanford’s Edward Lazaer and Kathryn Shaw, as well as University of Utah’s Christopher Stanton examined the inner workings of a technology-based service firm and calculated the effectiveness of teams and bosses. Because the company used computers to measure the output of teams every hour, it was possible to gather productivity data for nearly 24,000 workers and almost 2,000 bosses for five years. In total, that’s about 6 million productivity measurements. On average, the service teams had nine members and employees changed supervisors four times a year, making it possible to isolate the effects of certain managers.

When they had calculated all of the comparisons, the research team found that adding a tenth worker to teams results in a productivity bump of around 11 percent. However, replacing a low-quality managers with a high-quality one bumped productivity by 12 percent, a significant increase. In their study, the average boss can add 1.75 times the productivity of adding a tenth team member. Clearly, middle managers add value that’s worth of a little recognition.

So what does it take to become a praise-worthy boss?

Teaching. The researchers found that the top-performing managers in the study were more likely to focus on teaching their team solid work skills or habits. They didn’t just supervise employees; they made them better. The results of this study are compelling, not just for middle managers but also for senior leaders. If you are a middle manager, start focusing on how you can better lead your team through teaching and coaching them to improve. If you’re a senior leader, give your middle managers a little praise…then teach them to teach others.