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Executive Summary
This course honed in on the information and integration of creativity in implementing effective teams. Everything starts from the top down. Awareness and innovation are created by leaders with innovation.
My eyes have been opened up to the ways of cultivating a culture of innovation in my current and future companies. The first assignment had me thinking of my creative thinking abilities through a profile, to every discussion, each assignment involved adding elements of the creative process which are: problem clarification, idea generation, potential solution development, and plan implementation (Puccio, n.d.). Looking at the interrelation of foresight, creativity, and innovation in the workplace; barriers to team creativity and the strategies created through diverse thinking styles, the organizational principles that foster creativity in the workplace, my creative process as a leader and manager, is challenging me to seek organizational success is based on diverse input (Grivas & Puccio, 2012;Brown, 2008).
Assignments and group discussions have opened my thought process to promoting creativity in the workplace. All the assignments and shared discussions have impacted my approach to promoting creativity in the workplace. The two subjects that are the most jaw-dropping are the Four sight preferences and Pixar’s principles of managing creatives. These subjects both highlighted complex problem-solving. Puccio talks about the stages of the creative strategy as a process of finding clarity which leads to problem-solving and actual development. Using one idea over another, Puccio says that clarifying, ideating, developing and implementing are useful approaches to figuring out complex processes. According to what the author said,This makes me as an Ideator, meaning that ideas come easily, my ideas generally lack strategy. I am an ideator and clarifier which sometimes puts me in trouble. As a clarifier, I tend to want to ask 100 questions to get to the point of something before I jump into it. This can be an issue when a project is needed to be implemented fast. Sometimes, as a clarifier and ideator, I think of tons of ideas that I want to be verified before I make one step.
This class opened my thought pattern to the need of being a manager and how diversity plays a role in creativity creation. As a Manager, I did not completely understand the reason for knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each team member and establishing a group alignment. This would alleviate workplace conflict as it relates to Change Management and introducing creativity and innovation into business processes(Puccio, Mance & Murdock, 2011). As a leader, I will come to interactions with my team with mindfulness. Being mindful of others’ opinions and ideas and providing an atmosphere of freedom can direct positive interactions and can minimize creative stifling according to Puccio et al (2011).
Within this point, I learned that diversity within a group creates a synergy and is an essential of the creative process (Prichard, n.d.). The class talked about the need to look at loopholes and open gaps in an organization that stifles creativity. The stifling of creativity hurts the developing and implementation phases. This class showed that I am a clarifier and ideator. The course revealed to me I always assume the role of clarifier when its ideas that were not mine. I do hold team members accountable to participate in the creative process as Grivas & Puccio (2012) recommends. With this practice, My team members may feel a need to follow my past team achievements from other teams. Creating a workplace environment that supports communication is the result of comfortableness in sharing ideas
Prichard, n.d.) The empathy maps of the four sight preferences can be helpful in helpful in allowing me to think of different career options I am thinking of. The Pixars principles bring up an approach based on the notions that employee contributions add to the overall creativity flow in the workplace. An organizational goal to be introduced is one of empowering creativity by creating a peer culture and learning environment that demonstrates open communication (Catmull, 2008). I try to keep business and family communication separate but it is sometimes really hard in this world of social media. Our past communication failures can be addressed by creating a safe and honest environment (Catmull,2008).
Keeping the main thing the main thing is always important to keep creative thinking on one accord. As this test proved, I am an Ideator and Clarifier this frustrated my last team at the time of implementation, I was on a team with a bunch of developers. As a team, I may have to look to an alternate way to make decisions to process the implementation phase of new and existing projects. Based on the Innovators DNA, transforming myself from being a good leader to a better leader involves developing the necessary skills that communicate and promote teamwork and cooperation (Dyer, Gregersen, & Christensen, 2009).
Weeks four, five and six recalibrated what I think of innovation. Adapting to work rather than changing my own creative style, conversations reminded me that work can be fun and productive in a relaxed setting. Finding that flexibility is important and risk- taking is essential and mistakes will occur, It is good to encourage a carefree work environment (Puccio, et al., 2011,p.4). In looking at this information, I have thought about creating a workspace for myself at this apartment. To enforce the concept of group togetherness as
Puccio, et al. (2011) suggests I will make my office accessible by moving it to another location. At the end of the day, I think this course will allow me to become an innovative leader. This class gave me an excellent understanding of how to sell my new ideas to my team and how to use theirs.
Strategy for Professional and Personal Life
To become an effective innovative leader, there are some grey areas in the life of every professional that crosses path with his personal life. These areas of intersection include Education.
Keeping maximum focus and concentration on my studies and education will convince my family that I’m competent and goal-driven towards having a successful career. Proceeding in my education to obtain an M.B.A degree will fortify me with necessary skills to make an effective leader. As with each course I take, I hope to utilize its knowledge in improving myself. I hope to improve my communication skills (oral and written) – as that has been my weakness. I’ll test my managerial skills and development by organizing team meetings regularly. The meetings will include a brainstorming session for all team members (weekly) that are engaged in customer/client services.
While utilizing the opportunity to grow and develop personally, I would recommend personal and professional development for our contractors and employers. As motivation can also improve creativity and productivity. As an innovative leader who has a keen eye for trending innovations, I am curious and interested in new product development and the next ‘big thing’ (Brown, 2008; Dyer et al., 2009). Having realized my strengths and weaknesses; knowing fully well that networking is one of my weaknesses, but my sisters’ strength. With the help of my leadership skills, I will be able to leverage on their strengths in gaining business relationships. I will continue to develop myself in this area till I master the art of networking. I won’t hesitate to look for opportunities to form business connections outside my comfort zone. As I have realized that; networking is an effective means of exhibiting the traits of any business or organization in revealing that it embraces teamwork, collaboration and also rewards creativity. Therefore, network building has become paramount in the process of becoming the innovative leader, community organizer and social change agent I craved for. According to (Zenger & Folkman, 2009), successful teams offers endless exchange of ideas and insights required to make a project successful.
The networking knowledge and skills developed will however, help me assess my progress – so that I can make the necessary adjustments wherever required. Dyer, et al., 2009, explained networking to be based on knowledge and a disciplined approach to effectively communicate with groups and individuals.
Networking
In my development process, the aspect that I would like to improve more is to develop my networking skills. Being more or less an introvert, trying to build my networking skills will require me to come out of the shell and talk to people. I selected this developmental goal having known that communication is not my forte. Unlike my two sisters, cold meetings are one of my worst networking moments. Based on my communication experience, I’ll honestly characterize myself as a speaker short of confidence.
As part of my development process, I have decided to take a communication classes in the summer, engage in women’s Retreat and Empowerment seminar. I will continue to seek improvement, take self-evaluation in my development areas of leadership communication and teamwork. As an entrepreneur and a leader, I have to keep improving myself – especially my networking and communication skills.
While struggling to cope with various communication and styles of creativity, I would like to be free from anxiety, stress, or frustration at work. To realize my goal of creating an explicitly creative work environment, I would still continue to develop professional confidence, business networking, leadership and communication skills. Also, to achieve my networking goals, I have stated my primary objective to be broad-minded and to embrace the possibility of floundering during the development process.
As the second goal is to improve my networking skills – through improving my communication skills while also encouraging interactions and business opportunities. As a leader and manager that welcomes creativity, I will consider setting up my office in an informal work setting. That is because I would like all my team members to be around those things that remind them of the value of teamwork (Amabile & Kramer, 2012). During meetings, sometimes I won’t hesitate to appoint the best supervisors to coordinate brainstorming meetings (Catmull,2008). Dyer et. al, 2009 define networking to be another method of finding and testing ideas and concepts. Meanwhile, Zenger & Folkman, 2009 sees networking to be a team approach that enables ideas to be presented in the course of the project without interfering in the daily work flow.
Ideas that are harmful or negative can appear to be challenged by the supervisor or team (Dyer et al.,2009).
Conclusion
Prior to my enrollment into the development program, I have taken some decisions out of ignorance which has hurt the organization and my personality. Having realized the impact, I’ll start promoting the principles of teamwork and eliminating all activities that do not foster team cooperation, positivity and communication. As a Creative leader therefore, it is important to learn, respect and network with various individuals or teams with similar or different creativity measures. The course readings offer various approaches and techniques that can be applied to deal with various complex working environments or innovation-driven organizations. This will assist in strategically accomplishing the goals of the organization. Lastly, I’ve come to the understanding that various business practices whose core values promotes respect, teamwork and understanding begins with great leadership understanding of different capacities of how each team member engage in the creative process.
References
- Brown, T. (2008). Design thinking. Harvard Business Review, 86(6), 8492. Retrieved from https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu
- Catmull, E. (2008). How Pixar fosters collective creativity. Harvard Business Review, 86(9), 64- 72. Retrieved from http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu
- Dyer, J. H., Gregersen, H. B., & Christensen, C. M. (2009). The innovator’s DNA.
- Grivas, C., & Puccio, G. J. (2012). The innovative team: Unleashing creative potential for breakthrough results. Retrieved from http://www.vitalsource.com
- Prichard, S. (n.d.) ‘What creative style are you?’ Retrieved October 5, 2013, from http://www.skipprichard.com/which-creative-style-are-you/
- Puccio, G. J. (n.d.). Tapping into our creative thinking skills to manage complex problems [PowerPoint. slides]. Retrieved October 14, 2013, from https://www2.rit.edu/fitl/presentations_2006/TappingIntoCreativeThinkingSkills.pdf
- Puccio,G.J., Mance, M., Switalski, L.B., & Reali, P.D. (2012). Principles for divergent and convergent thinking: becoming a better creative thinker. In Creativity Rising: Creative thinking and creative problem solving in the 21st century (pp.51-70). Buffalo, NY: ICSC Press
- Zenger, J. & Folkman, J. (2009). Ten flaws that derail leaders. Harvard Business Review, 87(6) 18. Retrieved from https://hbsp.harvard.edu/tu/f5047099
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