How HR can play a big role in developing the 21st Century demand for Creativity.

In the globalisation era, to compete and sustain in the long run, a business establishment must be creative and foster the culture of creativity by tapping the competency of human resources. And in this business of uncertainty, risk and volatility, creativity plays an important function towards creating a competitive advantage for organizations. Many researchers have suggested that creativity makes an important contribution to organizational effectiveness for the long-term survival of organizations, because it enables organizations to remain competitive in a rapidly changing environment and achieve a competitive advantage. Thus, encouraging and fostering creativity is a strategic choice of every successful organization.

So the question is: How does HR improve the creativity competency of the people within the organisation and build a culture of creativity and innovation in the workplace on a systematic level? And how does HR play a critical role in fostering creativity?

Here are a some ideas that I am happy to share with you that can help cultivate a culture of creativity in your organisation.

1. Reward creativity via more engaging work and/or autonomy

Creative types aren’t always motivated by money — for them, the work is the reward. Allow those creative minds the flexibility and space to create.

2. Put in place a formalized or structured idea/innovation review process.

When the creative ideas come flowing in, the next step is to create gates that allow purposeful review of those ideas, so that budgets for new projects can be allocated correctly.

3. Provide internal training in creativity and innovation practices. ( This is where Goats2Unicorns comes in!)

Everyone has the ability to be creative. Unfortunately during our formative years in school we are educated out of our creativity according to Sir Ken Robinson. Creativity levels do vary from person to person, but that doesn’t mean those abilities can’t be improved. At Goats2Unicorns we empower every person with the skills to re-ignite their creativity muscle with a proven methodology developed by Goats2Unicorns called the Creativity CODE.

4. Have a formal program to find and promote creative/innovative programs, products, or ideas.

There’s creativity and innovation happening all the time at your organization — without a way to harness and showcase that creativity, much of it could be going to waste.

5. Include creativity as a major competency in leadership development plans.

Having creative and innovative leaders helps promote the commitment to creativity in your organization, but according to a recent survey done by ic4p -only 26% of responding companies include creativity and innovation as a key competency.

6. Define and promote organizational values related to innovation.

Having an explicit message that creativity and innovation is important creates a more robust environment for innovation, and can allow employees to feel safer when taking the risks necessary for successful innovation.

7. Use technology-enabled collaboration/social media tools to share knowledge.

By using forums, intranets, and other media for group efforts, top companies are able to gather ideas from a diverse group of employees and sometimes even customers and company outsiders. IBM did some research on their online communications and found that the more sources of diversity that were represented the more productive, engaged, and inter-communicative people were. Creating avenues for communication and championing policies that embrace more input from social media can help find those diverse viewpoints…growing creativity in your organisations.

In conclusion   – HR should be the model — This is the biggest leap needed in order for creativity to be “OK” within the company culture. HR should own this and not try to encapsulate and control it. Be the edgy, colorful, creative people who brings the essential human component to all that you do. It can be a weekly meeting which has become mundane, or it can be the annual strategic planning session. HR needs to bring a fresh dose of life to all it does. It starts with YOU.

by: Lana Leas-Roy

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