By Tony Vengrove
As companies pursue the holy grail of innovation they are essentially contracting to become more creative. However, most senior leaders lack experience with building or managing creative cultures—or employees, for that matter.
In fact, most organizations are highly adept at implementing business processes and using logic to analyze business decisions. This leads to a paradox: Everyone claims to want creativity, but the uncertainty of, or even the ability to quantify the utility of creative ideas, tends to scare everyone away.
The Idea Climate Equation® is our Creative Leadership framework for teaching leaders to navigate the mounting tension between creativity and logic. Leading innovation can be a messy and uncertain process. That’s why you need to learn to create an idea climate where the seedlings of ideas can sprout and take hold.
I lived the ups and downs of corporate innovation and I know firsthand how frustrating it can be. My frustration manifested itself into this simple equation that illustrates a simple truth as to why innovation and creative thinking can be so challenging. It’s not because we do not want to be, or know how to be, creative. It’s because we’ve been trained and rewarded to favor logical and analytical behaviors.
This is the addiction we must break if we want to realize our innovation goals.
If you resonate with what you just read, I’d be happy to discuss how we might be able to help your team become champions of Creative Leadership. Creative Leaders know the hard and soft skills required to lead with objectives and create the cultural conditions for others to be creative. This is the missing link most struggling innovations team face today…and we’d love to help you change that.
I invite you to give us a call at 203-788-2665 or email Tony for a free consult.
Miles Finch Innovation helps companies navigate the messy territory of corporate innovation. We’re strategic thinking partners who can help you get unstuck and identify creative solutions to your toughest challenges. We also love to train and speak on the subject of Creative Leadership. Email us or call us at 203-788-2665 to learn how we can help you you unlock the creative potential of your employees.