Cost Effectiveness of Creativity

A manager holds up his hand and comments: I’m not sure I want my people to be more creative; they have trouble getting their work done on time and within budget as it is” Many of us are led to believe that creativity is costly. For example, we hear about the costs of some project such as Gillette’s 21 – part razor. It was introduced during the 1989 Super Bowl (one I prefer to forget, since my Denver Bronco team was demolished by the New York Giants). Super Bowl advertising is the most expensive in television, so Gillette spared no expenses to introduce their new product. The company spent more than $100 million in developing the product and over $150 million to advertise it. Nor is the 21 – part razor a very profound invention! The implication is that most products require this kind of investment, causing managers to question the viability of embarking on a creativity improvement program. Yet, a profound invention – the CAT scanner – cost less than $15000 to develop. Creativity need not be expensive. Creativity is highly cost-effective.

Cross-Functional Dynamics in New Product Development

Managing cross-functional teams is one of the challenges of new product development, yet how members from different functional areas come together, interact, and arrive at consensus is a poorly-understood process. After a pilot study, the authors conducted interviews with 40 managers (representing all the key functions) from 10 different firms to better understand the human interactions across the functional area. Three major finding emerged from the study. First, the relative participation and contribution of production groups were significantly less than that of other groups. The R&D groups tended to have the highest participation and contribution and in a sense “owned” the new product activities. Marketing performs relatively more tasks, yet participates less in new product decision making. Second, participation and contribution were related. That is, when participation of a functional group was low, so was its contribution. To create a sense of ownership and get the best contribution, it is important to get early participation and to allow all members of the team to analyze the new product opportunity. Third, cross-functional cooperation was weak in most of the firms studied. Importantly, efforts designed to increase a functional group’s participation in new product decision making may result in that group performing more tasks, but not necessarily increasing its cooperation with other groups. These finding suggest several human interaction issues. Because of the apparent ownership of new product activities by R&D, this group may be less excited about cooperating with other, and indeed other groups are more likely to be asked to cooperate with R&D. R&D may believe that new product pursuits do not concern other groups such as production. As a related point, R&D may be more concerned about serving the needs of future customers, while production’s concern may be more about current customers. The author found that the contributions of marketing and production were most likely to increase as a result of specific senior management activities, in particular (1) pressuring R&D groups into sharing control, and (2) forming cross-functional teams to manage new product decisions and work flows. In the forms where cooperation was poor, there were little or no efforts designed to promote collaboration among the groups.

Cost Effectiveness of Creativity

A manager holds up his hand and comments: I’m not sure I want my people to be more creative; they have trouble getting their work done on time and within budget as it is” Many of us are led to believe that creativity is costly. For example, we hear about the costs of some project such as Gillette’s 21 – part razor. It was introduced during the 1989 Super Bowl (one I prefer to forget, since my Denver Bronco team was demolished by the New York Giants). Super Bowl advertising is the most expensive in television, so Gillette spared no expenses to introduce their new product. The company spent more than $100 million in developing the product and over $150 million to advertise it. Nor is the 21 – part razor a very profound invention! The implication is that most products require this kind of investment, causing managers to question the viability of embarking on a creativity improvement program. Yet, a profound invention – the CAT scanner – cost less than $15000 to develop. Creativity need not be expensive. Creativity is highly cost-effective.

Think before you leap

Identify and forecast the various consequences of an action. You could identify the impact of building a holiday resort in a forest. This could be Improving the bottom line of the company Damaging the environment Harming the health of the employees The impact could also be studied in various time periods: the next month, 6 months, 1 year and 5 years. Sometimes the immediate impact on the company, may be great, resulting in short term profits. However, the long term impact could be disastrous, creating many dissatisfied customers.

The Feminine Principle

As we generally fear our fathers and love our mothers, the concept of a mother-Goddess appeals more to our heart than that of a father-God. Women are trained to be lovingly supportive, of listening to a child struggling to say his first word. Patience is a culturally celebrated feminine virtue. “As patient as the earth” is the phrase used for a good mother. Empathy becomes easier in such a relationship, protected by the possibility of a lifetime bond. Traditionally women are comfortable with the care of the old and the infirm. They are patient with lack of competence. Today this is changing where women have to operate in the workplace where the rules are different. Unconditional acceptance is ordained in a verse which says, “whether he is hard hearted as a stone or a useless as a leaf of grass, he is to be loved and supported as a husband, within the circle of a lifetime relationship like marriage”. Many men question the need for empathy in a bottom line-oriented workplace. Toughness is respected and empathy is considered a sign of weakness.

The Environment of Creativity

There are three elements involved in developing a creative atmosphere. *Extended Effort *Suspended Judgment *Postpone reaction Extended Effort Very often we tend to use the first idea that emerges particularly if it is a good idea. That is why the enemy of a better idea is often a good idea. Very often, you develop a single minded infatuation with your idea, thus shutting the door to other ideas. Extended effort involves spending a lot of time or simply generating a number of options. You could give your group a target: go on generating multiple options until you reach 100. Focus should be on idea fluency. The internal ‘Censor Board’ takes a vacation. All ideas are simply recorded in an atmosphere of nuturing and appreciation. Suspended Judgement Our parents, elders and significant people in our life start building up our internal ‘Censor Board’. Any idea that sounds foolish or even different from the norm is immediately shot down. Suspended judgment involves putting a fence around a new, germinal idea to protect it from judgment, criticism or attack. A new idea is treated with respect, with as much tenderness as a sprouting seed. This ensures a climate where the idea can be recorded and perhaps developed. Edward De Bono’s ‘PO” and the Synectics ‘Springboard’ provide a protective shield for new ideas. Postpone Reactions The temptation to react quickly and sharply to an idea often prevents new ideas from emerging. Immediate reactions are often knee jerk reactions characterized by strong emotions like anger and aggression. These emotions prevent clear thinking. Locked into the ‘fight or flight’ mechanism, the body shuts down all functions except those necessary for survival. All parts of the brain except those necessary for survival are shut down. These parts are those we share with dinosaurs – the primitive brain. The higher levels of thinking, reasoning and creativity are temporarily shut down. So an angry, disturbed man cannot think very clearly. Providing a “safe place” for ideas to be shared without attack, results in a nursery of germinal new ideas.

Rules for Productive Brainstorming Session

1. Encourage all ideas however foolish they may sound at first. Criticism, or sarcasm or lack of interest, no matter how subtle will quickly stamp out enthusiasm for innovative thinking. Managers are taught to be quick, critical and judgmental. It is important to turn that off. 2. Record all ideas. The great Walt Disney’s brainstorming sessions included a large bulletin board where all idea cards were pinned and photographed to be used in future sessions. 3. Build on others’ ideas using developmental thinking. Tell your teammate three things you like about his idea and then give him an itemized response on your areas of concern. 4. Select a “problem owner” for the session who will facilitate and encourage discussion without dominating. Bosses are the worst “problem owners”. 5. Use creativity tools. 6. Bring in people from different backgrounds. Bring in customers. 7. Make the session happy, enjoyable and fun.

The Auspicious field

Auspiciousness or a feeling of wellbeing is created in a space or a field by treating it as sacred. What happens to a space that is sacred is transformation. When you consider yourself as sacred, you will treat yourself well. You will wear clean, good smelling clothes. Maybe ironed and starched, mended if torn, but clean and fresh. You will smile at yourself and encourage yourself. Just as you put on clean fresh clothes, you will also clean up the mental space or field around you. Sweep out all ill-will, anger, fear and anxiety. Let there be the fragrance of incense, divinity of prayer and mantra, the smiles of loved ones, laughter and joy, the smell and taste of good plain, food. It is as important to clean the field around you as it is to have a bath. Sweep out the sad baggage of the past. Take into that field only what is bright and elevating, fine and happy. The space around you, your house, your office needs the same kind of careful attention. When a space is sacred, it magnetizes wonderful people, merges and attracts beautiful events into it. All the words spoken in that space should be beautiful and loving. When harsh words or events happen, do not allow them to take root like evil weeds. Sweep them away and find the gentle kindness that grows beneath.

Enhance Nurturing Environment

The family provides the love and nurturing required for the survival of children. Affirmation is important when people in our lives appreciate us and express it verbally, tonally, non-verbally. It is important to make sure you give affirmations to all members of the family, particularly the ones to whom you usually send devastating Heat Seeking Missiles (HSMs) like, ‘Why is your room like a pig sty?’ ‘Why do you always forget everything I tell you?’ Make every day an occasion to show how important your family is to you. Children need the security of a simple, dependable schedule. Ambiguity or lack of dependability in family life is known to affect the individual’s capacity to live in a secure long-term relationship in the future. Be a mindful parent. So parents need to devote time on quality food and lifestyle.

Analogies

The use of analogies and metaphors can be a valuable tool in stimulating creativity, both in problem definition and problem solving. Einstein often used these techniques as a way to visualize and solve problems. The development of analogies/metaphors creativity technique is generally credited to de Bono (1970). However Aristotle spoke of the value of metaphor almost 2,200 years ago: “Now strange words simply puzzle us; ordinary words convey only what we know already; it is from metaphor that we can best get hold of something fresh”. An analogy is a similarly between two things and the strange familiar,” By the use of analogies, an individual or group can often find a new insight and approach to the nature of a problem and thus its resolution. Often one can force analogies e.g. “How is this problem like a time bomb?” to examine and restructure a query. To use the technique of applying analogies: Identify the essence of the query that you are facing (for example, the query might be “How can we improve the way we work with other departments?”). The key to the statement is one of “improving” Create a list of devices and methods that are particularly relevant to the key concept (improving). For example, runners follow a training regimen to improve, which includes a combination of factors (diet, exercise, psychological techniques). Review your specific question in the context of each device or method on your list.

The Six Thinking Hats

This is Edward De Bono’s Classic tool – for mapping a situation and understanding all aspects of a problem. This tool is extremely effective when used in groups. Most of us tend to see situations through the flawed windows of our own nature. We are optimistic or pessimistic and do not really participate with others in understanding all aspects and connotations of a problem. The Six thinking hats can help a group or even a person to study all aspects of a problem. Here are what the hats stand for. White Hat – An objective look at data and information Red Hat - Legitimate feelings, hunches & invitation Black Hat – Logical negative judgment and caution Yellow Hat – Logical positive, flexibility and benefits Green Hat – New ideas and creative thinking. Blue hat – Control of the thinking process Each of us wear each hat in turn or persuade others to wear them. I’d like to state here, that while thinking one should remove all barriers and obstacles. Thinking is the easiest way of testing a solution. Thinking through all possibilities can prevent major financial distress. But most people are as careful and timid with their thinking as they are with their actions, thus losing the possibility of nurturing creative ideas.

Brainwriting Technique(Shared Enhancement Variation)

The distinction in brainwriting is the generation of ideas individually and recording them on a piece of paper. The advantage over brainstorming is reduction in the effect of dominating individuals; brainwriting ensures that all participants have equal opportunity to share their ideas. The other advantage comes from the rotation of ideas among participants with each person expanding and improving the idea. By the time the process is completed, everyone has ownership in the idea. The result is a more mature idea, ready to be implemented, compared to the results of brainstorming where the ideas are mostly immature. The shared enhancement variation uses the following additional steps: 1. The problem or opportunity is recorded at the top of a sheet of paper. 2. Participants record a possible solution on the sheet of paper. 3. The sheets of paper are collected and distributed randomly among participants. (Each time the sheets are redistributed, care is taken to ensure that recipients never receive the same sheet twice.) 4. The recipient of a sheet is asked to record three useful things about the idea. 5. The sheets are collected and redistributed and Step 4 is repeated. 6. The sheets are collected and redistributed and Step 4 is repeated. 7. The Sheets are collected and redistributed. Recipients are asked to respond to all the question, “what is missing from the idea: what would make it more useful”? 8. The sheets are collected and redistributed and Step 7 is repeated. 9. The Sheets are collected and redistributed for the final time. Recipients are asked, “Assume that cost is not a constraint, what has to happen to make this idea work? 10. The Sheets are collected and typed. The approach normally produces sufficient information for each idea to be forwarded to management for evaluation

Force Field Analysis

The name comes from the technique’s ability to identify forces contributing to our hindering a solution to a problem, and can stimulate creative thinking in three ways: 1) to define what you are working towards (vision), 2) to identify strengths you can maximize, and 3) to identify weaknesses you can minimize. 1. At the center of the sheet, write a statement of the problem you wish to solve. 2. Just below, at the left of the sheet, describe what the situation would be like in the worst case – catastrophe 3. On the same line, at the right of the sheet, describe the ideal, or optimal situation. 4. The center position represents your current situation. On the right, describe the “forces” tugging right now to move the situation toward the ideal. Then describe on the left side the “forces” tugging left now to move toward catastrophe. 5. The next step is to identify approaches that would improve the situation. Because the typical situation resembles a tug-of-war, use the following three approaches to move the centre line in the direction of the more desirable outcome: • Identify things that would strengthen an already positive force. • Identify things that would weaken an already negative force. • Add new positive forces.

Wildest Idea Technique

The approach in the use of the wildest idea technique is to remove people out of their normal problem-solving modes, which are usually quite conservative, by asking them to try to come up with a “wild” idea. An example was the discovery of radar, which was developed from the bizarre suggestion of a radio “death-ray” for shooting down planes. Instead of rejecting the ideas someone used it as a stepping stone to the concept of radar. The approach is most useful when an impasse has been reached in problem solving or opportunity identification. Participants need to be jogged out their mind-set by considering things so remote or unusual that they change their normal frame of reference or paradigm paralysis. It takes a while to get a group into the swing of generating wild ideas. Most of the ideas are impractical, but eventually a useful one emerges. It is usually one that couldn’t be produced by one of the more conservative techniques. Procedure for use 1. The facilitator selects the first wild idea as a starting point and asks the group to build on the ideas. 2. The group continues to explore variations or extrapolations of the wild idea. 3. Then the facilitator asks the group to try to find practical uses of the wild idea. If the results do not meet the problem resolution requirements, the process is repeated on another idea. If no practical ideas emerge, another wild idea is used and the process continues until an acceptable idea is found. This is an important technique because it produces a surge of ideas that are often highly cost-effective.

Boundary Examination Technique

The objective of this technique is to restructure assumption (boundaries to our thinking) and provide new ways of looking at the problem. Another way of thinking about this situation is to try to suspend assumptions. Senge says that “suspending assumptions is a lot like seeing leaps of abstraction and inquiring into the reasoning behind the abstraction.” Boundary expansion is used primarily to question various frames of reference in defining a problem. Boundary examinations are based upon the assumption that a problem’s boundaries are neither correct nor incorrect. The objective is to restructure the assumption of a problem to provide a new way for looking at it. The major strengths of the technique are its potential for 1) Producing more provocative problem definitions, 2) Clarifying often indistinguishable problem boundaries, 3) Demonstrating the importance of formulation flexible problem definitions, and 4) Coping with management teams that are overly precise in their problem definitions. Procedure to follow: 1. Describe the problem as presently understood. 2. Identify key elements of the definition and examine them to reveal underlying assumptions. 3. Analyze each assumption to determine the causes and effects. 4. Restate the problem based on your deeper understanding of the elements of the problem.