Learning Circle summary B1
WORK DESIGN: creativity and innovation
What is Creativity?
I define creativity as the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. Innovation is the production or implementation of an idea. If you have ideas, but don't act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.
"Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being...creativity requires passion and commitment. Out of the creative act is born symbols and myths. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness-ecstasy."
"A product is creative when it is (a) novel and (b) appropriate. A novel product is original not predictable. The bigger the concept, and the more the product stimulates further work and ideas, the more the product is creative."
Creativity at Work
Creativity is a core competency for leaders and managers and one of the best ways to set your company apart from the competition. Corporate Creativity is characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. Generating fresh solutions to problems, and the ability to create new products, processes or services for a changing market, are part of the intellectual capital that give a company its competitive edge. Creativity is a crucial part of the innovation equation.
Creativity requires whole-brain thinking;
right-brain imagination, artistry and intuition,
plus left-brain logic and planning.
Creativity is fostered in organizational cultures that value independent thinking, risk taking, and learning. They are tolerant of failure and they value diversity. Open communication, a high degree of trust and respect between individuals are crucial.whole-brain thinking Defining Innovation
Innovation is the production or implementation of ideas. 3M describes innovation is an action or implementation which results in an improvement, a gain, or a profit.
The National Innovation Initiative � (NII) defines innovation as "The intersection of invention and insight, leading to the creation of social and economic value.
Design Thinking: A Strategy for Innovation
A design-mindset will help you optimize your innovation process.
A design mind-set is not problem-focused, it's solution focused, and action oriented. It involves both analysis and imagination in problem-solving. Design thinking is at the core of effective strategy development and organizational change.
The design way of thinking can be applied to systems, situations, procedures, protocols, and innovation. You can design the way you lead, manage, create and innovate. The purpose of design, ultimately, is to improve quality of life.
The profession of management needs a re-design.
Henry Mintzberg, in the Globe and Mail, (03-16-2009) asserts the excessive focus on analysis, targets and number crunching, along with the absence of introspection and imagination has resulted in a crisis in management which is partly to blame for our current financial crisis.
Leaders and managers need to think like designers. "Design and leadership are fundamentally about actively creating the future rather than reacting to the present."
Rather than using deductive logic (reasoning from a general theory to a specific instance) or inductive logic (reasoning from a specific instance to a general law or theory), design thinking uses “abductive†reasoning, drawing on the logic of possibility and exploring alternative world states to reveal the possibilities of what could be. Design thinking is linked to an improved future and seeks to build ideas up, unlike critical thinking which breaks them down. (Peer Insight 2009)
Design is about human intention made visible and concrete through the instrumentality of design [that] enables us to create conditions, or artifacts, that facilitate the unfolding of human potential. Design focuses on what can be done and on what ought to be done - mixing the hard practicality of science and technology with the ethics and values of human living.
Embedding design thinking into company culture
Design thinking is not only for the elite employees. Everyone can innovate if they know how to think creatively, have the support of the company leaders and managers, are empowered to bring their ideas and inventions forward for review and aren't afraid to make mistakes. Game changing insight can come from anyone and often comes from unsuspected people and places in the company.
Design thinking relies on an iterative process of research, concept design, testing and functions across phases of development, from the so-called fuzzy front-end of innovation, through development, into the commercialization process and eventually to customer service. This requires certain skill-sets that your company may or may not already have.
We will assess your corporate readiness, help your company develop these skills, and develop cross-functional teams with interdisciplinary skills, to learn, collaborate and practice design thinking in their daily work.
Our Creativity at Work team will teach you how to discover and manage innovation opportunities and turn these into valuable assets for your company
Design-Driven Results
Our program will help you:
1) identify innovation opportunities that are unique to you
2) explore these opportunities through research, concept design and testing and
3) make decisions based on customer feedback and market opportunity as determined by market research.
GROUP B1 members:
BSOAD 3C
Merrian N. Japay
Marmel Ilano
Beverly Lazo
Nheling Lelis
Mary Joy Joves
