Friday 30 September 2011

Creating a “hothouse effect” in your organisation

Daniel Pink quoted in one of his presentations, “Left brain thinking gets you the job, right brain thinking gets you the promotion“. Since we are living in a ‘conceptual world’ through the impact of the digital economy we need to use both our analytical left brain but also our creative right brain. However, many of us struggle to develop our creative right brains because our educational system focuses on analysis, critical thinking, and facts and figures.

A key driver of business growth and development is the ability to nurture the intellectual capital in organizations (that is, the employees, their tacit knowledge, skills and experience). One critical success factor is to enhance creativity in people and subsequently in the organization by creating a “Hothouse Effect”. Dr Barton Kunstler author of the “The Hothouse Effect“ describes a number of ways to intensify creativity in your organization using secrets from history’s most creative communities. The book describes common characteristics of history’s “Creative Hothouses”, including ancient Athens, Renaissance Florence, the creative communities of the Parisian salons (early 1900′s) and the German Bauhaus (1919-1933).

Following is a summary of the ‘Four Dimensions of the Hothouse Effect’. Learnings, observations, behaviours and processes from the creative hothouses are outlined that can be applied to the modern organization to stimulate new thinking, creativity, innovation and breakthrough ideas.

I. Values/Mission.

1.Values drive organizational goals, strategies and operations and should be ‘lived’ by employees throughout the work environment both explicitly and implicitly.

2.The organization should support the creative expression of individuals and utilize their knowledge to solve problems and capitalize opportunities.

3.Employees are driven by the vital impact and meaning they create for other individuals, organizations and society.

4.Highly creative groups challenge assumptions and conduct in-depth research to gain a better understanding of the situation or problem.

5.The organization’s mission aspires to universal application in the market.

II. Ideas/Exchange.

1.The organization provides recognition and respect for thinkers and the products of thought.

2.Create a system to facilitate the circulation and flow of ideas throughout the organization.

3.Intellectual exchange inputs into the evolution of organizational culture.

4.Employees tap into the expertise across disciplines and teams, and utilize other fields of knowledge.

5.Mentoring relationships are cultivated throughout the organization.

6.Hubs of creativity are encouraged which proliferate throughout the organization.

7.The organization continually analyzes the impact of core technologies on all aspects of operations, development and strategy.

III. Perception/Learning

1.The organization encourages and actively promotes education for all employees.

2.Employees have access to tools and problem-solving methodologies to perform their work and deliver services to clients.

3.Perception-based methods are implemented into the employees’ daily work lives.

4.Creativity training is provided to employees to better understand the creative process, consisting of immersion, incubation and illumination.

5.The organization and its employees maintain an open mind to external opportunities, networks and collaborations.

6.Employees are encouraged to enhance their mental operations through various activities, including ‘thinking about thinking‘ and “design thinking’.

IV. Social/Play

1.The organization has a strong business model that provides the resources and structure to encourage and support creative activity.

2.The organization continues to develop its future leaders.

3.Crises draw employees together and release hidden reserves of energy and creative inspiration.

4.Playing with ideas, information and material encourages experimentation and removes the fear of failure.

5.Social activities are planned imaginatively and promote social interaction and rapport.

The knowledge and practical approaches are available for any organization seeking a competitive advantage in this interconnected global arena. The challenge lies in the commitment and implementation strategy.

This article is taken from Dr John Kapeleris’ blog

 John is the General Manager of the AIC, a division of QMI Solutions.

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