Creativity for More Productive Teamwork

In addition to the major drivers of Organizational Prosperity, leaders who want more creativity in their organizations need to pay attention to special challenges facing teams in their organization.

Contrary to popular press articles, managing for more creativity in teams is not all about letting go. Teams that produce extraordinary results take advantage of the intellectual capital possessed by all employees. They do so by having processes and an environment designed to recognize these individual differences and apply them to creatively solving problems, effectively resolving challenges, making great decisions, and successfully implementing solutions. As Peter Drucker has said, "Most of what happens in successful innovations is not the happy occurrence of a blind flash of insight but, rather, the careful implementation of an unspectacular but systematic management discipline."

The critical success factors that promote more creativity in teams include:

1.	A climate of trust and mutual commitment to learning and development;
2.	Open, honest communication;
3.	Clarity around goals and objectives, roles and responsibilities so that teams don't flounder and can be more effective and creative;
4.	Creative problem solving processes, tools and techniques; and
5.	A flexible project management process.

The factors that promote creativity and innovation on a team will also drive outstanding profitability, customer service, employee retention and organizational growth. They are the same factors that, according to several researchers, help certain companies outperform others by 30% to 40%. That's because they are the same factors that contribute to building an organization — at the company and the team levels — where people matter and an environment that is truly a wonderful place to work. By making sure that the right structure and processes are in place to channel and focus the team's efforts and to appreciate each other's talents, your team can maximize their creative contributions and use their strengths as building blocks for extraordinary performance.

For more information, see Chapter 11 in Breakthrough Creativity: Achieving Top Performance Using the Eight Creative Talents. Order the book.

For tools to develop your team's talents, see Breakthrough Creativity Profile.