We live and work in an era of rapidly accelerating change with frequent upheavals and interruptions. Everywhere we look, traditional structures are abruptly being reshaped or falling down. Many organizations that prospered during more stable times – times that rewarded routinized efficiency – now find themselves poorly adapted to today’s new economic and social realities.
Organizations around the globe are thirsting for a blueprint to follow to increase performance in these uncertain times. They are finding this a difficult task because things are not what they used to be. They are finding that how they provide value to consumers is no longer clear nor linear, but much more elusive and ambiguous. Many are turning their attention to attempting to become more innovative. One of the major challenges is to transition their business culture into one that engages employees at all levels in using their creative problem solving skills to making things better. The good news is that there is a proven and readily available method to enable this transition.
Many leaders are frustrated by their inability to motivate people. In some cases, it is because they are using the overly simplistic “scientific management” concept made popular in the early 20th century by Frederick Taylor, who believed that employees are motivated only by money.
Organizations must develop new ways of thinking and behaving in order to succeed in a turbulent world. While many organizations possess ample efficiency and analytical capability, successful organizations must also learn to integrate adaptability and innovative capability into their repertoires. Creative problem solving attitudes, behaviors, thinking skills and processes must be learned and developed to the extent that they become second nature. Organizations that adopt this approach will discover that creativity competency serves to complement analytical capability in building a highly effective operation that can thrive in today’s demanding business environment.
Many things will be different by the time we hit the middle of this century. Managers will be leading, thinking and problem solving at much deeper and more innovative levels. As technological advances in social networking, Big Data and artificial intelligence provide more insightful information and more reliable evaluative analytical tools, tomorrow’s managers will differentiate themselves through their generative and conceptualizing abilities.
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Here’s the scenario: Following a conference or workshop, you return to your office brimming with enthusiasm for a new strategy or skill that you are certain will help make you faster, smarter, more efficient or more innovative. G=
