|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Creativity Management - The Value of Being Prolific
When asked his secret to success, the author Graham Green said that it was down to his always writing 500 words a day. There are real reasons why this philosophy rings true: a) The single best creative product tends to appear at that point in the career when the creator is being most prolific ? quality of output is closely related to quantity. b) In the early stages, relative lack of experience, knowledge and refined methodology limits performance to sub-optimal levels. With time these factors improve and productivity increases exponentially. The experience curve implies that creativity should get easier and faster the more it is engaged in. c) The major part of learning takes place subliminally and unconsciously. When we are strongly motivated by an endeavour, we will become good at it by working on it at various cognitive levels. d) Many skilled actions are initially learnt with much conscious effort then, with practice, they come easily and smoothly (subliminal perception and learning). After complete automisation, paying complete attention can actually be detrimental. e) Incremental targets produce more output than a "do your best" approach. If a leader asks participants in an idea generating session to address a problem and think of at least 5 ideas every half an hour, then 80 ideas are produced by one individual and 1600 are produced by 20 individuals at the end of an average working day. This level of output is conscious and would not be produced normally. This topic is covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com. You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site. Kal Bishop, MBA ********************************** You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author's name and site URL are retained. Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com.
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Employee Retention: Its a Changing Game As a management consultant, I have seen some poorly conceived retention policies at otherwise well-run companies. The philosophies underlying these policies lack some basic knowledge of two things: So, You Want to be in Management? Five Essential Factors that Will Determine Your Chances The following information is based upon over 500 interviews with senior executives with whom I conducted over the past four years. These senior executives represent a variety of industries and organizations. It is interesting to note the similarities of their responses. The research concentrated on five areas: Is It Worth To Outsource? How One Can Outsource Wisely Recent trends in software development market show that it is no longer the most efficient way to work onshore. Competition is too high and in some particular cases, US or European IT people even go farming rather than admit the situation and adapt themselves. This article is mainly for those who are going to stay straight in the industry whatever surprises it keeps bringing. Turbo-Charge Your Rollout with ERM Employees are the often-neglected stakeholders in the success or failure of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) initiative. But employees don't always resist new ways of doing business. If you factor in relationship management practices that engage people in the change process, you can circumvent significant resistance and actually speed up implementation. The 70% Solution: Practical Testing and Version Control "What do you mean you need to push back the launch date?"Says the CEO. Says the CFO. Says the user community. CTOs, CIOs, and all officers who oversee major development projects have had to deliver the dreaded message. But a deadline for the sake of a deadline is a dangerous pitfall that can consume an entire project and stymie it to the point that it never launches. Over the years I've come up with six simple rules that help deadlines become more meaningful, while keeping the developers, the user community, the CFO and the CEO all satisfied. Prioritise Your Day - Keep Focus - Win! Whether you run your own business or manage a team, there are times when things don't go to plan. Like:-Your key people don't show up.A deadline shifts.Your boss turns up unexpectedly.You get really busy beyond expectations....and more.How do you get clear on the priority of the day?Value it - that's how!So, if you run any sort of business, consider what the most important thing would be to your business, if you were down to the barest of bones in personnel numbers, for just one day, what would you do?Here are some thoughts...Be honest with yourself, and very, very realistic - in fact, plan what you can achieve and then less! It is far better to be great at less, than poor at too much.Be honest with your people and get them on board - appeal to their emotional side, "I need your help", usually works.Think damage limitation - what would do the most harm to your business - and resolve that first (hint - think Customer).With customers, be honest and realistic with them - usually, they will be very understanding if you are clear about it being a bad day - they will not forgive inadequate information and poor performance.Plan short-term solutions on the run - by making space for thinking time (see 1 above) to resolve where your problems are today, so you move on tomorrow.Celebrate success with your people. Back to basics and succeeding against all the odds builds teams - utilise the opportunity to let it sink in - together!Learn and make changes - so that there will not be a next time. Your clients and your own staff have only so much generosity when things go wrong - so make sure it doesn't happen again.Fire-fighting happens! So, when you need to have a day doing just the top priorities for your business, let go of everything else. Have the courage to be honest with yourself, park not-necessary-now stuff and enjoy your day truly in the business. Be honest with your people and welcome them on board the firetruck! Finally, yet most importantly, be honest with your customers and clients, forging new, mutually supportive relationships with them too.If you need to do this too often for comfort, you need a rethink - then is the time for some real 'source' problem solving (see the "Solving Problems with Whys" article at www.ezinearticles.com - checkout 'Expert Authors, sort by name, Martin Haworth) How to Create a Positive Work Atmosphere Positive versus Negative Workplaces ISO 9001, What Next? The overriding goal of ISO-14000. (History 1995) Provisioning/User Management System Upgrades: Part I -- Ten Reasons Why Not To Do An Upgrade Tommy Sherman daily monitors a helpdesk-provisioning queue for a large company. The current provisioning/user management system was written with homegrown software. It has not had a major update for several years. Each day, he is getting more and more frustrated. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot keep up with the increasing workload. New employees are screaming for their system ids and have no way of checking their id creation status. Existing employees are demanding timely updates to their ids when they transfer across business units. Ex-employees exist in the system months after departure. His frustrated manager will be meeting with him this afternoon to talk about his "unresponsiveness." Loyalty, Motivation And Work-Life Balance Managers who aren't loyal to their people can't expect loyalty in return. Companies that complain about employee loyalty have usually done nothing to earn loyalty, often routinely lying to employees, demanding sacrifices that are never rewarded, shunting them aside and casting them off in the name of good business. The Permissive Environment is the Suspect The permissive and participatory conduct which most employees take for granted, eventually escalates into the more serious assaultive behavior commonly referred to as employee on employee workplace violence starts with innuendos, a bad word, or simple jokes taken out of context or used to inflame another. Initiation of a proper and thorough investigation is possible under the auspices of a Threat Assessment Team. Banter between employees if left alone by supervisors becomes tense and often results in a more aggressive response. The truth of the matter is that in most cases this banter is perceived as harmless shop talk. Employee Performance - If You Want the Best, Get Personal! This is a story about a man and three dogs.I walk a lot - usually for about half to three-quarters of an hour most mornings. I see a guy with two dogs quite a lot. We chat a little occasionally.Of the two dogs (I know I said three, so hold on a bit), one is a light brown lurcher and is quite friendly and the other is a beautiful black labrador. He is 'nippy' as my co-walker tells me, so I have been a bit careful of him, but I always try to stroke him too. Whilst I have always been cautious of dogs, I have always tried my best to make friends with them, wherever I have gone (and no, I don't have a dog, and yes, I probably would like one!)My friend has now gained a third dog - another black labrador; a bit younger than the other two. So as I'm walking down the road this morning, I see all four of them coming down the road towards me. I'm not sure which black labrador is which, so I try to pick out the 'nippy' one (he sometimes nips you, to clarify!).One of the black labradors seems to be 'smiling', the other not, if you get my drift. I guess right, say my 'hellos' safely, we pass pleasantries and I walk on. As I go on, I hear the man say to the nippy labrador, 'I've no biscuits left', as he is pestered.I'm a little sad for the dog. His master doesn't know why he is temperamental, but he is. It's also interesting that he's the first to pester for a biscuit.QuestionsWhy has the 'nippy' dog got a different temperament to the other two?How does this translate to us humans and more specifically, to you and people you work with?What can we learn from this and apply in our day to day business relationships?By considering the answers to each of these questions carefully and applying the thinking to the relationships we have with our people in the workplace, we will do much to leverage our people's performance. And forging the relationships, individualised; personalised, one-by-one with our people, we will get the very best from their individual talents. And, of course help our businesses grow. Dont Wait for Tax Time to Look at the Bottom Line A curious thing happens to entrepreneurs in the spring of every year. They wake up one day and realize they had better figure out how much money they made last year so they can pay their taxes. But wait, shouldn't a business owner already KNOW how much money he or she made last year, last quarter, or last month? Creativity and Innovation Management ? Personality Testing Whilst tests measuring the creative or innovative personality exist, there are a number of inherent flaws. Some are noted below: Goodwill is an Intangible Asset 'Goodwill' is regarded as an intangible asset in a business. Goodwill carries a value over and above the tangible assets of a business, and representing all benefits derived from the distinctive location, trade and brand names, credit rating, reputation, cusotmers and patronage of the business. When a business is sold, a charge is usually applied for the goodwill as one of the assets. Parenting Your Employees to Better Performance Have you ever worked for someone who was such a micro-manager that it drove you crazy? And have you ever worked for someone who was so hands-off that you felt like a lone warrior on the battlefield? These are examples of you working for leaders who did not adapt their style based on the employee's needs. I would venture to guess that you were not entirely motivated to put out your very best effort every time when you were feeling such frustrations. People - You Cant Make Them What Theyre Not Many business people and managers are spending too much time trying to change the underperforming people who work for them. They seem to believe that if they train people - tell them what to do or even threaten them with the sack - then the performance level will go up. Five Steps to Increase the People Power in Your Business Take some bold steps and help your employees and business partners open up to real change and help them start thinking again to the longer term. Send a message that you are ready to commit to new ways of thinking and that that includes a commitment to the success of your employees in the changing workplace. Few Things Are More Destructive Than An Insecure Boss Few things are more destructive to a career than a boss who is insecure. Unfortunately, it is a near certainty that most people will encounter one or more such persons along the way. Communication Mix-Up My friend Delia is the owner of a small private school. This spring her school is experiencing the crunch of reduced enrollment for next September and all staff have been asked to take a six percent salary decrease. One staff member, much to Delia's horror, outright refused and resigned her teaching position at the school. Delia pleaded with her, telling her how valuable a teacher she was, how parents had come to count on her expertise, and essentially how the school couldn't operate without her. The next day she had reconsidered resigning her teaching position, saying that it was because of what Delia had said regarding how valuable she was to the school.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
