Leadership Archives

Reclaim Your Creative Confidence and Fear of the Messy Unknown

In this new series on Reclaiming Your Creative Confidence, I’m recapping ideas presented in HBR (12/12) by Tom Kelley and David Kelley (see my previous post for a full reference). The authors suggest that four fears most commonly block people from exploring creative ideas in the work place, with “fear of the messy unknown” at the top of the list.

I agree wholeheartedly, which is why Intertech routinely has brainstorming sessions with our team. Our goal is focused: finding creative solutions to problems that have been clearly defined.

But how? We’ve found that being creative in problem solving involves creating an environment where people can generate ideas without fear of criticism. In our sessions we call this “green light thinking,” which means no idea is a bad idea. We want to generate as many ideas as possible.

Sometimes the zany ideas lead to the best ideas! Kelley and Kelley (K&K) note that “creative thinking in business begins with having empathy for your customers” and they urge managers and executives alike to get out and talk with customers. From listening to customers in online chat rooms to meeting them in their own environments, nothing beats getting into “the mess” of real life and real problems. As consultants and software instructors, Intertech interacts with our customers every day. We’re in the trenches helping solve problems and working with teams to reach goals.

Getting into our customers’ home turf definitely gives us empathy for the challenges and opportunities they face. We step into the unknown together – bringing experience, knowledge and confidence — and the outcome can be amazing.

Next post: Fear of Being Judged

Reclaim Your Creative Confidence

If you’re reading my blog, I’m guessing you are a business leader, a software professional, or both. You probably majored in business, technology or computer science. And, if you’re like most of us in these types of fields, you don’t consider yourself “creative.” The creative types (or, simply, “creatives”) are those slightly off-beat people in the organization who write marketing copy, develop advertising or create the creative packaging for your products or services.

But a provocative article in the December issue of Harvard Business Review (HBR), “Reclaim Your Creative Confidence” presents a vastly different way of thinking about – and cultivating – creativity in the workplace.

“The world seems to divide into ‘creatives’ and ‘noncreatives,’ and too many people consciously or unconsciously resign themselves to the latter category. And yet we know that creativity is essential in any discipline or industry. According to a recent IBM survey of chief executives around the world, it’s the most sought-after trait in leaders today,” write authors Tom Kelley and David Kelley.

What makes their article particularly interesting to me is their sensible plan for overcoming the four most common creativity blockers: (1) fear of the messy unknown, (2) fear of being judged, (3) fear of the first step and (4) fear of losing control.

Tom Kelley and David Kelley (who do not mention if they are related) bring academic and real-world experience to this topic. Tom is the general manager of IDEO, a design and innovation consultancy, and the author of The Ten Faces of Innovation (Currency/Doubleday, 2005). He is an executive fellow at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and the University of Toyko. David is the founder and chairman of IDEO and the founder of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, where he is the Donald W. Whittier Professor in Mechanical Engineering.

In my next series of posts, I will share their recommendations – and some of my own – for rediscovering creative confidence within your self and fostering it in the people you work with or lead.

With Training, Take the Long View – 3rd and Final in the Series

As I described in my previous post, I’m taking issue with the article: “Who Can Fix the ‘Middle-Skills’ Gap?” by Thomas Kochan, David Finegold and Paul Osterman, which appeared in the December 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review. The authors simply accept at face value the notion that individual employers should not train employees because those employees might leave. I disagree.

In fact, I believe the best way to retain employees is to continually offer them great training. At our annual senior leadership offsite planning retreat, we always have an agenda item around how we ensure job satisfaction for our associates. We believe there are multiple components, including:

Stimulating, challenging work
Clear expectations
Continuous feedback
Unparalleled learning
Explicit career paths
Fair reward and recognition
Inclusive culture

I recently did a presentation to the leadership team of a local college on “programs or incentives to increase morale and productivity.” I explained that if the above components aren’t covered, no program or bonus system matters. Focus on the core blocking and tackling of creating satisfied/happy/productive employees!

Similar to training, professional certification makes some employers feel at-risk for losing talent (after their people become certified). There was a local, large firm who stopped incentivizing their employees to be certified because its management believed certification created opportunities for people to leave.

Here, too, I think it is short sighted. We pay for study materials, pay for the exam (pass or fail), and give a spot-bonus of $750 for each technical exam passed (for Microsoft, there are typically four exams in a certification so it’s $3K total). That investment in our people is small in comparison to the benefits we reap: extraordinarily loyal and satisfied employees who do great work! Our employees are happy, our customers are happy and Intertech thrives. It may sound simplistic, but it’s a formula that works!

Post #6 (and last) in the Series: Accountability

Dr. Westerman writes:

Business says: “Why do you make me go through all of this bureaucracy?”

IT says: “Our methodologies are how we make sure everyone does the right thing.”

“It may often seem to business leaders that IT’s answer to every request is more procedures—more forms to complete, reviews to attend and approvals to get. These procedures, or methodologies, require effort, but they help to ensure that nothing important gets forgotten and that everyone knows their roles.

They become a sore point, though, if people don’t understand the purpose of each step, or if the steps become a bureaucracy aimed at enforcing unnecessary rules rather than helping requests to be executed well. As with the prioritization processes described earlier, the best companies have solid IT methodologies, and IT people make it as easy as possible to follow them.

The CIO of a defense contractor decided to convert IT’s development methodology to the same one the firm used for product-development projects. Suddenly, everyone knew what they were supposed to do, what questions to ask of whom, and how to deal with the answers. Executives made better decisions, project performance improved, and so did the relationship between IT and business people.

Creating transparency takes extra time and effort on everyone’s part, especially IT’s. But this is one project that definitely pays. Transparency around performance and decision processes improves the business value of IT and builds trust between business and IT people. As everyone learns to work better together, IT becomes part of the company’s business-level decisions and initiatives, not its own world. When that happens, the marriage of IT and the business side is really working.”

Tom’s Take: In my book, Building a Winning Business, I devote an entire section to working effectively with vendors. Not surprisingly, a fair amount of that section talks about the importance of taking the time to get key things right.

First, take time to select the right partner. Next, it’s crucial to clearly define what’s in and out of a project, identify risks and mitigation plans, have clear lines of responsibility, and, as shared throughout the book, a solid communication plan.

As noted an earlier post, in the world of Agile and Scrum, sprints create visibility and accountability… which is good for customer and vendor alike!

Post #5 in the Series: Prioritization

Business says: “I need this right away.”

IT says: “Sure, but three other executives just told me the same thing.”

“IT people are in a tough situation. While they have to provide service to every unit in the organization, business-unit chiefs tend to recognize only the work IT does directly for them. One CIO said, “We need a way to ensure that resources go to the right people, not just to the ones who yell loudest.”

To accomplish that, executives need to decide which projects are most valuable to the company. The most successful companies have clear ways to estimate the value of every proposed project—how much it will boost sales, say, or increase efficiency. Then they have a clear method to decide which projects are most worth doing. Some firms use a steering committee headed by the CFO or CIO. Others use different methods. Whatever method is used, there must be a way to ask tough questions to ensure the company allocates its IT resources wisely.

But it doesn’t end there. Any good manager knows how to game a system like this by inflating a project’s projected value or overstating its prospects of success. So the best companies require executives to report back with evidence on whether each project met its goals. That reduces fibbing and helps executives learn how to drive more value from IT.”

Tom’s Take:

Engaging a third-party IT vendor, such as Intertech, is a great way to supplement a company’s internal resources, particularly when an IT department needs to quickly scale up resources. Consultants provide the metaphorical extra arms and legs needed to get the job done. Beyond bandwidth, vendors can bring new knowledge and expertise that in-house staff may not possess.