Creative Diversity How Do I Manage It In My Organization

Creative Diversity – How Do I Manage It In My Organization? Written by Sandy Cormack Creative Diversity describes the range of creative styles in your organization. In the article linked above, I defined creative style and explained how the theory behind it was developed. To recap: The extremes for creative style are adaptive (associated with ‘doing things better’) and innovative (associated with ‘doing things differently’). Those who prefer a more adaptive style are commonly referred to as adaptors and those who prefer a more innovative style are called innovators. Here are some characteristics of adaptors and innovators: Adaptors tend to… Innovators tend to… In problem solving Refine, extend, improve the Break, modify, eliminate, current accepted structure or replace the current structure or process process In managing change Prefer gradual, incremental Prefer radical, transformational change change In defining a problem Look for threats from WITHIN Look for threats EXTERNAL to the system the system In generating ideas Look to what worked in the past, Proliferate exciting, theoretical producing a few reliable ideas ideas, many seen as impractical In methodology Be precise and reliable, seeking Challenge basic assumptions, solutions in accepted ways thinking tangentially, inefficiently In managing structure Rarely challenge the prevailing Break the prevailing rules, often rules, maintaining continuity and seen as a mold-breaker and stability risk-taker In decision making Achieve consensus Stand alone Creative style is measured by the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI). It’s a 33- question inventory that produces a score between 32 and 160, midpoint 96. A lower score indicates a more adaptive style, a higher score a more innovative style. Creative Diversity – How Do I Manage It In My Organization? © 2010

Both adaptors and innovators are needed for an organization to function. The wide range of creative styles that naturally occur in a good-sized organization define the organization’s creative diversity. An organization must welcome and cultivate creative diversity to succeed • All people solve problems and are creative • Adaptors and innovators can be equally good or bad at problem solving – they just do so differently • It takes a wide range of styles to solve all problems Consider the statement from above: “It takes a wide range of styles to solve all problems.” If I am confronted with a problem, I merely need to manage the problem I’ve been given to solve. If, however, this problem lies outside my ability to solve, I will need to ask for help. If you agree to help me, we now have two problems to manage: • The problem we have agreed to solve collectively • The problem that lies between us because of the gap in our creative styles The ultimate goal of managing creative diversity is to minimize the problem that lies between us, so we can focus our energy on solving the problem before us. Here are some tips for managing creative diversity within your organization: – Perform a creative diversity audit on your organization. – Ask members how diversity can be immediately used – Ask members what can be used in the future and how – Train them to accept and welcome creative diversity – Ask members to consider the costs of failing to accommodate creative diversity – Train them in creative thinking techniques to simulate different creative styles Sandy Cormack is a consultant specializing in personal development, organizational development, and strategic planning. His personal mission is to help individuals understand their own personalities and creativity, help them better understand others, and show them how to collaborate effectively. His focuses are creativity, problem solving, innovation, organizational strategy development and change management. He is certified to administer the MBTI (personality typing) and KAI (creative style) to individuals and organizations. Creative Diversity – How Do I Manage It In My Organization? © 2010

Creative Diversity How Do I Manage It In My Organization

by Sandy Cormack on Jan 28, 2010

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

Creative Diversity How Do I Manage It In My Organization — Document Transcript