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.