Foster Critical Thinking

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www.pARTnershipMovement.org THE TAKEAWAYS Whether you send employees to learn from artists (as at the Innovation Institute) or bring artists into the workplace (as Kohler Co. has done), either way businesses are creating myriad opportunities for the sort of ‘creative abrasion’ that illuminates new perspectives, stimulates innovation, and fosters creativity. By observing and participating in artistic processes, businesspeople can learn that ‘failures’ are not only acceptable, they may be essential to exploring multiple possibilities and approaches before ultimately achieving a triumphant breakthrough. By learning from professional artists, employees can perhaps recognize the artistic value in their own work and realize that building a fine bathtub is not so far removed from building a sculpture, that writing a compelling report bears some kinship to writing a novel, that art and business are in fact interlinked on many levels. THE QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER n How important is creativity to the success of your company? n How do you measure creativity when recruiting employees? How important is creativity in your hiring decisions? n If you do have employees with strong artistic background/skills, does their job performance or abilities differ in any way from the performance or abilities of non-artistic employees? n How does your company track and/or reward innovation internally? Does your company have any existing programs designed to boost creativity and/or innovation? n Are there informal or less-formal steps you could take in the short-term to expose your employees to artistic processes and thereby stimulate creative thinking? For example, how about asking a local artist whether you could visit his or her studio? Or what about contacting your local theater or dance company to see if you can sit in on a studio rehearsal? The pARTnership Movement n Innovation can lead to breakthroughs, but doing something in a new and different way inherently carries more risk that taking the tried-and-true approach. Do you penalize failure so severely that employees are discouraged from pursuing innovative 12 FOSTER CRITICAL THINKING www.AmericansForTheArts.org
ut untested solutions to business problems? If so, how can you change that mentality and encourage the sort of risk-taking that leads to major innovations? n According to the CultureWorks survey, artistic pursuits can help executives become more energetic, creative, and open to new ideas. How could your company encourage its managers and leaders to begin or deepen their involvement in artistic activities?
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