Creativity Theory - TRaining MAterial in Creativity and InnovaTion ...

A. ESSENTIALS
that supports innovation and creativity:
it seems reasonable to suppose that
individuals will engage in more creative
processes if they perceive strong creative
support from their work group. It is
certainly true that employees who have
innovation and creativity potential are
more likely to practice innovation and
creativity when they perceive strong work
group support than employees who perceive
weak work group support. Also the
manager’s role is very important in order
to improve creativity in organizations: they
have to direct interventions at the subsystems
1 . The interventions should aim at
sensitizing the organization to its change
dynamics and should suggest ways of
working. If successfully implemented, the
intervention will help cultivate creativity.
Then, in order to cultivate innovation and
creativity in the workplace, certain leadership
behaviours should be practised. The
main practices that leaders should embrace
in order to support and encourage innovation
and creativity in the workplace include:
• Encouraging employees to challenge
the status quo;
• Having an open attitude towards risk
taking;
• Being able to use mistakes as learning
opportunities;
• Using and sharing knowledge and
information;
• Focusing on continuous learning;
• Conducting fair and informative
evaluations;
• Rewarding creative performance;
• Practising participatory management;
and
• Being self-reflective
All of these interventions are directed
at the people and management of the
organizations. Intuitively, organizations
recognize the importance of training
employees in creative skills in order to enhance
creativity. However, creativity skills,
without the necessary technical competence
will not help individuals or groups
to arrive at creative solutions to job-related
problems. Finally, there is a need for human
relations training. For example, employees
should be trained on basic communication
skills such as active listening, giving and
receiving feedback, or, since people will
inevitably have to work in groups, team
building programmes will also be helpful.
In contrast, a focus on maintaining the
status quo fosters an unwillingness to
change the way in which things are normally
done and which can inhibit creativity
and minimize original thinking and new
ideas. Effective leaders must also be willing
to take risk and encourage risk taking
amongst their employees. Furthermore,
the practice of involving the workforce
in decision-making can be a very effective
way to increase employee feelings
of belongingness, commitment and job
satisfaction leading to enhanced creativity.