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Member You - Managing Creativity
Fundraising can simply be defined as an activity that is focused on generating a certain amount of cash to help a good cause. There are two types commonly used by various organizations namely profit or non-profit.Those that do this for profit simply want to generate more income. An example could be an alcohol company offering its products in fair. The firm may or may not organize it but representatives are there to endorse and promote the brand.The second is known as non-profit. There are countless numbers of non-profit organizations around the world helping those starving in Africa to those who are helping to raise funds to continue AIDS research.Fund raising events can be done in a small or large scale. The former alumni of a school can host a luncheon where checks will be collected later
Morgan refers to Emotional Intelligence as a key skill of the Creative Manager. Emotional Intelligence was popularised by Goleman and consists of 5 main elements:
• Self Awareness – Managers who are self-aware understand what their motivations are and why they get stressed by certain situations and people. Self awareness can be achieved through psychometric profiling.
• Self-Regulation – Sometimes you can cut the office environment with a knife when the boss is annoyed! Self-regulation is concerned with ensuring that the display of emotions are suited to the situation - getting it wrong is very off-putting for others.
• Empathy – Having a genuine interest in the feelings and emotions of others is very useful for reading situations correctly.
• Motivation – Self motivation almost goes without saying for a manager, but this is about constructive motivation not being a workaholic. The essence of this is to maintain high levels of motivation and a positive outlook even when things aren’t going well.
• Social Skills – Thi
There are different types of call centers, namely, inbound call centers, outbound call centers, web enabled call centers, CRM call centers, telemarketing call centers and telephone call centers.Inbound call centers aid to handle calls coming from outside, mostly through toll free numbers. The services of inbound call centers are designed to handle catalog orders, and desk queries. They also incorporate customer care services, predict customer behavior and take action while the customers are still on the line. Inbound call centers employ teams of live operators, account representatives and program managers.The success of outbound call centers depends on their extensive experience, technological solutions, quality assurance programs and commitment to customer service excellence. They ensure maximum
The ability of an organisation to create new products/services and innovate new processes is an essential skill providing a sustainable form of competitive advantage.
Given that organisations need to be creative, why are only a few really good at it and why are only a few individuals perceved as creative?
In this article we will examine the theories that underpin creative organisations and the attributes of the managers and individuals who work within them.
Individualism
Theories of why one individual may be more creative than another have changed dramatically over the last 50 years. In the 1950’s it was considered that individuals with creative flair were ‘born’ not ‘bred’ and as such the hunt was on for people with these elusive skills. This theory evolved during the 1960’s but the feeling was still that individuals could not be trained to be creative.
In the 1980’s and 90’s two new theories came to dominate the discussion surrounding creativity, these being ‘intrinsic motivation’ (how much the individual wants to be creative) and the ability of the working environment to either stifle or promote creativity, so called ‘climate’.
Table 1 – Summary of thinking on Creativity
- 1950’s – Creativity is an ability that you either have or don’t have
- 1960’s – Creativity is a function of how mentally flexible you are
- 1970’s – Creativity can only flourish if you have relevant experience
- 1980’s – You must be intrinsically motivated to be creative
- 1990’s – Creativity exists only in the right climate
- 2000's - Innovation is a combination of skills, motivation and climate
The intrinsic motivation, or desire, of an individual to be creative is linked to both their personal values and drives, tempered by the environment in which they work and we need to examine the drivers of the organisational environment next.
Environmental Trauma!
Research undertaken by Ekvall defined 10 dimensions, or characteristics, of a creative working environment. Each dimension has a scale that extends from very uncreative through to very creative and the aim is that through both observation and questionnaires the climate of a business is plotted against each of these 10 categories.
Table 2 shows what each of Ekvall’s 10 dimensions would mean in an extremely creative and a powerfully uncreative climate:
-Dimension: Creative Organisation-->Uncreative Organisation
-Challenge: Energetic-->Indifferent
-Freedom: Independent Initiative-->Rule-Bound
-Dynamism: Excitedly Busy-->Boring/Slow
-Openness: Trust & Failures Accepted-->Failure Punished
-Idea Time: Off Task Play-->Little Off Task Play
-Playfulness: Happy & Humorous-->Dull & Serious
-Conflicts: Debated with Insight-->Warfare
-Support: People Listen-->Negative/Critical Comments
-Debates: Contentious Ideas Voiced-->Little Questioning
-Risk Taking: Act on New Ideas-->Detail & Committees
From experience, few businesses define themselves as having a highly creative environment as many of the characteristics in this area go against cultural norms for business in many Western cultures, but the best are working toward the creative end of the scale, whilst the norm tends to be toward an environment that stifles creativity.
Having used Ekvall to assess the ability of an organisation to be sustain a creative environment, to then change the environment we need to look at the things that create, or drive, the organisational environment and the biggest driver of all is the prevailing management style.
Management Creativity!
In this context, a Creative Manager is not one who is themselves creative, but one who is able to manage the creativity of others and capable of building a creative environment.
Many researchers have analysed the attributes of such a person. Morgan stated that Creative Managers require 5 skills:
1. They must be proactive and flexible, not tied to rigid methods of working.
2. They must have high levels of Emotional Intelligence (see later).
3. They must possess good man-management skills.
4. They must be able to create a vision of the future for others.
5. They must have a series of competences enabling them to cope with different situations, for example in a single day they may be required to be a friend, a counsellor, a technical wizard as well as a manager.
Morgan refers to Emotional Intelligence as a key skill of the Creative Manager. Emotional Intelligence was popularised by Goleman and consists of 5 main elements:
• Self Awareness – Managers who are self-aware understand what their motivations are and why they get stressed by certain situations and people. Self awareness can be achieved through psychometric profiling.
• Self-Regulation – Sometimes you can cut the office environment with a knife when the boss is annoyed! Self-regulation is concerned with ensuring that the display of emotions are suited to the situation - getting it wrong is very off-putting for others.
• Empathy – Having a genuine interest in the feelings and emotions of others is very useful for reading situations correctly.
• Motivation – Self motivation almost goes without saying for a manager, but this is about constructive motivation not being a workaholic. The essence of this is to maintain high levels of motivation and a positive outlook even when things aren’t going well.
• Social Skills – This
Don’t skip on planning, if you wish to stay in business for long. For determined entrepreneurs it does not take long to learn how to make a business plan. Apply the given ground rules and you can confidently prepare a document that will be the cornerstone of your business.You must be adept at defining your basic business concept in order to know how to make a business plan. Business concept is the strategy you will employ to set your business apart from competition. Focus on the competitive attributes of the particular product or service you wish to offer. Elaborate upon the strategic impact factors like marketing, research and development that will distinguish your business from the competing concerns.Conduct the feasibility studies and gather the specifics of your line of business activity. Find
Table 1 – Summary of thinking on Creativity
- 1950’s – Creativity is an ability that you either have or don’t have
- 1960’s – Creativity is a function of how mentally flexible you are
- 1970’s – Creativity can only flourish if you have relevant experience
- 1980’s – You must be intrinsically motivated to be creative
- 1990’s – Creativity exists only in the right climate
- 2000's - Innovation is a combination of skills, motivation and climate
The intrinsic motivation, or desire, of an individual to be creative is linked to both their personal values and drives, tempered by the environment in which they work and we need to examine the drivers of the organisational environment next.
Environmental Trauma!
Research undertaken by Ekvall defined 10 dimensions, or characteristics, of a creative working environment. Each dimension has a scale that extends from very uncreative through to very creative and the aim is that through both observation and questionnaires the climate of a business is plotted against each of these 10 categories.
Table 2 shows what each of Ekvall’s 10 dimensions would mean in an extremely creative and a powerfully uncreative climate:
-Dimension: Creative Organisation-->Uncreative Organisation
-Challenge: Energetic-->Indifferent
-Freedom: Independent Initiative-->Rule-Bound
-Dynamism: Excitedly Busy-->Boring/Slow
-Openness: Trust & Failures Accepted-->Failure Punished
-Idea Time: Off Task Play-->Little Off Task Play
-Playfulness: Happy & Humorous-->Dull & Serious
-Conflicts: Debated with Insight-->Warfare
-Support: People Listen-->Negative/Critical Comments
-Debates: Contentious Ideas Voiced-->Little Questioning
-Risk Taking: Act on New Ideas-->Detail & Committees
From experience, few businesses define themselves as having a highly creative environment as many of the characteristics in this area go against cultural norms for business in many Western cultures, but the best are working toward the creative end of the scale, whilst the norm tends to be toward an environment that stifles creativity.
Having used Ekvall to assess the ability of an organisation to be sustain a creative environment, to then change the environment we need to look at the things that create, or drive, the organisational environment and the biggest driver of all is the prevailing management style.
Management Creativity!
In this context, a Creative Manager is not one who is themselves creative, but one who is able to manage the creativity of others and capable of building a creative environment.
Many researchers have analysed the attributes of such a person. Morgan stated that Creative Managers require 5 skills:
1. They must be proactive and flexible, not tied to rigid methods of working.
2. They must have high levels of Emotional Intelligence (see later).
3. They must possess good man-management skills.
4. They must be able to create a vision of the future for others.
5. They must have a series of competences enabling them to cope with different situations, for example in a single day they may be required to be a friend, a counsellor, a technical wizard as well as a manager.
Morgan refers to Emotional Intelligence as a key skill of the Creative Manager. Emotional Intelligence was popularised by Goleman and consists of 5 main elements:
• Self Awareness – Managers who are self-aware understand what their motivations are and why they get stressed by certain situations and people. Self awareness can be achieved through psychometric profiling.
• Self-Regulation – Sometimes you can cut the office environment with a knife when the boss is annoyed! Self-regulation is concerned with ensuring that the display of emotions are suited to the situation - getting it wrong is very off-putting for others.
• Empathy – Having a genuine interest in the feelings and emotions of others is very useful for reading situations correctly.
• Motivation – Self motivation almost goes without saying for a manager, but this is about constructive motivation not being a workaholic. The essence of this is to maintain high levels of motivation and a positive outlook even when things aren’t going well.
• Social Skills – Thi
The popular junior Democratic Senator, Barack Obama, told Time Magazine (2/20/06), "I probably always feel on some level I can persuade anybody I talk to."Wow. I wish I could do that. How do we get other people to do what we want?When I was a kid, my life was all commands: "Clean your room." "Get in the car." "Put some clothes on, people are coming over." And if I ever asked "why," I got the same response: "Because I said so."Then you get a little older, and "because I said so" doesn't work like it used to. My folks had to negotiate a bit to get me in the car or to put some clothes on.These days, “enlightened” parents often skip the command phase with their youngsters — for better or worse — and try to negotiate with them or even jump right to the highest level of influen
Table 2 shows what each of Ekvall’s 10 dimensions would mean in an extremely creative and a powerfully uncreative climate:
-Dimension: Creative Organisation-->Uncreative Organisation
-Challenge: Energetic-->Indifferent
-Freedom: Independent Initiative-->Rule-Bound
-Dynamism: Excitedly Busy-->Boring/Slow
-Openness: Trust & Failures Accepted-->Failure Punished
-Idea Time: Off Task Play-->Little Off Task Play
-Playfulness: Happy & Humorous-->Dull & Serious
-Conflicts: Debated with Insight-->Warfare
-Support: People Listen-->Negative/Critical Comments
-Debates: Contentious Ideas Voiced-->Little Questioning
-Risk Taking: Act on New Ideas-->Detail & Committees
From experience, few businesses define themselves as having a highly creative environment as many of the characteristics in this area go against cultural norms for business in many Western cultures, but the best are working toward the creative end of the scale, whilst the norm tends to be toward an environment that stifles creativity.
Having used Ekvall to assess the ability of an organisation to be sustain a creative environment, to then change the environment we need to look at the things that create, or drive, the organisational environment and the biggest driver of all is the prevailing management style.
Management Creativity!
In this context, a Creative Manager is not one who is themselves creative, but one who is able to manage the creativity of others and capable of building a creative environment.
Many researchers have analysed the attributes of such a person. Morgan stated that Creative Managers require 5 skills:
1. They must be proactive and flexible, not tied to rigid methods of working.
2. They must have high levels of Emotional Intelligence (see later).
3. They must possess good man-management skills.
4. They must be able to create a vision of the future for others.
5. They must have a series of competences enabling them to cope with different situations, for example in a single day they may be required to be a friend, a counsellor, a technical wizard as well as a manager.
Morgan refers to Emotional Intelligence as a key skill of the Creative Manager. Emotional Intelligence was popularised by Goleman and consists of 5 main elements:
• Self Awareness – Managers who are self-aware understand what their motivations are and why they get stressed by certain situations and people. Self awareness can be achieved through psychometric profiling.
• Self-Regulation – Sometimes you can cut the office environment with a knife when the boss is annoyed! Self-regulation is concerned with ensuring that the display of emotions are suited to the situation - getting it wrong is very off-putting for others.
• Empathy – Having a genuine interest in the feelings and emotions of others is very useful for reading situations correctly.
• Motivation – Self motivation almost goes without saying for a manager, but this is about constructive motivation not being a workaholic. The essence of this is to maintain high levels of motivation and a positive outlook even when things aren’t going well.
• Social Skills – Thi
Small business owners are amazing. They have the courage to do what so many others only dream about. Small business owners also are challenged. They often are specialists. This makes them great at one or two aspects of their business but often lack the knowledge and skill in other areas. One area many business owners have little to no knowledge is how to effectively market their enterprise. For those businesses that rely on the customer coming into the store or rely on the customer calling to request a service, radio should be their weapon of choice.When you want to have others know something about you, do you write it down and hope they stop by the location it's written, your desk, you table, the bulletin board, and hope they read it or would it be more effective to go to each and every one of them and
Having used Ekvall to assess the ability of an organisation to be sustain a creative environment, to then change the environment we need to look at the things that create, or drive, the organisational environment and the biggest driver of all is the prevailing management style.
Management Creativity!
In this context, a Creative Manager is not one who is themselves creative, but one who is able to manage the creativity of others and capable of building a creative environment.
Many researchers have analysed the attributes of such a person. Morgan stated that Creative Managers require 5 skills:
1. They must be proactive and flexible, not tied to rigid methods of working.
2. They must have high levels of Emotional Intelligence (see later).
3. They must possess good man-management skills.
4. They must be able to create a vision of the future for others.
5. They must have a series of competences enabling them to cope with different situations, for example in a single day they may be required to be a friend, a counsellor, a technical wizard as well as a manager.
Morgan refers to Emotional Intelligence as a key skill of the Creative Manager. Emotional Intelligence was popularised by Goleman and consists of 5 main elements:
• Self Awareness – Managers who are self-aware understand what their motivations are and why they get stressed by certain situations and people. Self awareness can be achieved through psychometric profiling.
• Self-Regulation – Sometimes you can cut the office environment with a knife when the boss is annoyed! Self-regulation is concerned with ensuring that the display of emotions are suited to the situation - getting it wrong is very off-putting for others.
• Empathy – Having a genuine interest in the feelings and emotions of others is very useful for reading situations correctly.
• Motivation – Self motivation almost goes without saying for a manager, but this is about constructive motivation not being a workaholic. The essence of this is to maintain high levels of motivation and a positive outlook even when things aren’t going well.
• Social Skills – Thi
If you are up to your ears in a stressful situation, it becomes difficult to think clearly. Sometimes, it is best to walk away from a problem, and think about it, rather than try to solve it with an instant solution.My grandfather used to say: “Even the court jester can teach us something useful.” This saying goes much deeper in meaning and applies to many things - from a Yoga class, to not taking life too seriously, and to the unfortunate way customer feedback is commonly handled by the business world.As a customer of any service or product - how do you feel when your Email is ignored, your voice mail message is never answered, and you don’t get any feedback or concern, at all, from customer service? We all feel the same – nobody likes to be ignored. The shame of all this is that customer ser
Morgan refers to Emotional Intelligence as a key skill of the Creative Manager. Emotional Intelligence was popularised by Goleman and consists of 5 main elements:
• Self Awareness – Managers who are self-aware understand what their motivations are and why they get stressed by certain situations and people. Self awareness can be achieved through psychometric profiling.
• Self-Regulation – Sometimes you can cut the office environment with a knife when the boss is annoyed! Self-regulation is concerned with ensuring that the display of emotions are suited to the situation - getting it wrong is very off-putting for others.
• Empathy – Having a genuine interest in the feelings and emotions of others is very useful for reading situations correctly.
• Motivation – Self motivation almost goes without saying for a manager, but this is about constructive motivation not being a workaholic. The essence of this is to maintain high levels of motivation and a positive outlook even when things aren’t going well.
• Social Skills – This last category is concerned with the ability of a manager to communicate effectively with others in a way they can understand.
Try to think about your current, or last, manager and which of the emotional characteristics they had or did not have - why were they good (or bad?)
Research by Henley Management College into Emotional Intelligence shows that it can be more important that IQ in the success of senior managers, and it gets more important as a person moves up the management ladder.
A Creative Summary
The environment in which people work can severely affect their ability or desire to be creative and it is the job of managers to create the right environment that will allow indviduals and teams to be creative.
These managers are incredibly powerful, having the ability to both stimulate creativity as well as kill it - and those with the highest levels of Emotional Intelligence will tend to be working in the most creative organisations.
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