Creativity at Work

Although many leaders acknowledge and invest in creativity, we seldom see it hold a credible place in the business development process. Creativity at Work takes a practical approach to creativity, showing how to select practices to produce results and add value. The authors explain how to:
* Understand the creative preferences of organizations, departments, work groups, and individuals
* Identify and compare the different creativity profiles that describe specific purposes, practices, and people
* Produce the desired results by developing the right practices
* Blend creativity practices to meet the complex needs that characterize most work situations
o Develop required creative abilities in a team and in oneself

Series Foreword xiii

Preface xv

1 The Creativity Map: Discovering Your Best Practices for Creativity at Work 1

2 Assessing Your Creativity Situation: Mapping Where You Are and Where You Need to Go 21

3 Imagine Practices: Breakthrough Creativity Through Jump-Starting and Forecasting 55

4 Invest Practices: Profitable Creativity Through Partnering and Portfolios 81

5 Improve Practices: Incremental Creativity Through Modular Design and Development and Process Improvement Systems 111

6 Incubate Practices: Sustainable Creativity Through Talent Scouting and Idea Spaces 139

7 Putting It Together: Guiding, Managing, and Integrating Creativity 167

Notes 195

Additional Resources and Readings 205

The Authors 213

Index 215

“…the well presented ideas are relevant to us all…”(Professional Manager, January 2003)

Jeff DeGraff is professor of executive education at the University of Michigan Business School, where he teaches courses on creativity, innovation and change leadership, strategy, and organizational development. A founding partner of the Wholonics Leadership Group, a consulting firm specializing in value creation through innovation and change, he has consulted, taught, and lectured at leading firms around the world.

Katherine A. Lawrence is currently completing a Ph.D. in organizational behavior at the University of Michigan Business School. Her research interests include creativity, improvisation, managerial initiative, and learning, inspired by past work experience in filmmaking and educational technology.

Creativity has long been accepted as a core competence that can help a company create products, services, processes, or ideas that are better or new. Unfortunately, many companies and managers try to adopt a one-size-fits-all “best practice” for creativity, often leading to disappointing results—because each new creative endeavor needs a different approach. Creativity at Work provides a comprehensive guide that will help managers recognize their creative situation and then assess what practices and tools will work best for their circumstances.

Another stellar book in the University of Michigan Business School series, Creativity at Work offers a concise summary of practices that stimulate innovation in the organization, providing multiple creativity tools that have been field-tested in companies all over the world. Rather than simply targeting an organization’s “creative types,” the book integrates the perspectives of investors, strategists, organizational developers, and individual managers to provide a multilevel framework that reaches all parts of the organization.

The authors show how the creation of new ideas is just one of the valuable outcomes of creativity, and they reveal how creativity can occur at many stages in the process of generating, developing, making, and selling new products, services, and processes. The book demonstrates how creativity is most successful when organizational practices are tailored to the specific situation, and it offers a systematic approach to developing creativity competencies throughout the enterprise.

Whatever your level of responsibility, the framework detailed in this book can identify innovation and value creation opportunities while helping you guide, manage, and integrate creativity practices within your organization, division, department, or team.

"Jeff DeGraff is among the most creative thinkers on business today. The great benefit of Creativity at Work is that it actually sets out a framework and process for achieving innovation and applying it in real business contexts. This is great news for the rest of us who have an acute need to foster innovation in our enterprises."
-- Tom Glocer, CEO, Reuters Group

"Creativity at Work challenges the assumption that creativity is a random act of inspiration. The practices, profiles and tools provide insight for individuals and organizations alike to chart their own course to a more creative future."
-- Mark E. Jones, director, Leadership and Workforce Development, Pfizer Global Research and Development

"Here, at last, is a legible roadmap for the innovation journey. This is the book that can lead managers and executives to the spot marked, 'You are here,' as well as provide solid tools and practical advice for moving forward."
-- Michael Thompson, chair, Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy, Marriott School, Brigham Young University