Creating Systems to Reinforce Creativity

By Kenneth Kumiega

Originally appeared in the International Creativity Network Newsletter, volume 2, number 2, 1992, pages 3-4.

Imagine a beautiful fall day with big puffy gray and white clouds floating against a crisp blue sky. Gazing at the clouds while you walk leisurely through the pines and down the old washed-stone roads, your imagination runs wild with different images as the clouds take form. It's enjoyable as the forms appear and take familiar shapes with increasing detail. Perhaps when you were younger a child, excitement would take hold as you point. "Look at that one! It looks like a shipš or a faceš or a dinosaur. . . " Remember how, at that time, it felt like an original discovery. Our creativity is somewhat the same. When we have a new thought an idea, the excitement rises and the interest is limitless. We begin to quickly expand on the idea with applications, detail, and uses. And, it is difficult to stop thinking about it.

Companies across the country are trying earnestly to bring that excitement and interest into the workplace. The hope is for gains in performance, productivity or improvements. Since the early 80's interest in creativity and training in creativity techniques have flourished. Many companies are whole-heartedly training everyone in creativity techniques. The training is usually well received and people leave fired-up; then, they begin to generate ideas. But the idea, like the cloud, has no substance. We cannot capture a cloud and put it to use because there is literally nothing there. And, likewise with the idea: it is only an image in someone's mind, unseen and unusable.

Once we enable ideas to flow through creativity training, we must have a support system ready to take the "clouds" and transform them into something tangible and usable. Effective use of creativity can be expressed as an equation. For analytical practitioners, the following equation has proven to be effective: (1) CREATIVITY + (2) ENVIRONMENT + (3) SUPPORT PROCESSES = (4) CREATIVE OUTPUT.

The equation represents the overall company system that controls or regulates creative contributions that improve company effectiveness. The first part of the equation, (1) CREATIVITY, represents the ability of people to generate ideas. This is regulated by peoples skill or proficiency with techniques. If they can apply many techniques, such as brainstorming, forced relationships, using categories, lateral and vertical thinking, they can be very significant producers of creative ideas.

The next part, (2) ENVIRONMENT, represents the atmosphere or climate people work within. This is evident in how people are generally treated and involved. If people are not valued or involved in daily problem solving, or if cutting dialog is used that lowers a person's sense of worth, ideas will not surface, regardless of how creative they may be.

Part (3), SUPPORT PROCESSES, represents methods to carry the idea forward so it can be understood and strengthened to its full merit for possible use. Support processes guide efforts to shape, direct and weigh an idea's potential for real implementation, and provide reinforcement for people through incentives to maintain the effort.

Finally, (4) CREATIVE OUTPUT, or the measure of actual benefit to the company. It demonstrates the effectiveness of overall company systems to nurture the involvement and ideas contributed by its members. Obviously, any shortcoming in items on the left side of the equation will directly affect the amount of useful output the company realizes.

Environment is crucial. This is the first gate through which the idea passes. The climate of the workplace may stifle, crush, or nurture creativity. Simple comments and interpersonal styles can make all the difference. Encouragement, positive reinforcement and mutual respect are the basic needs to create a positive climate. An interpersonal style of supporting involvement, patience with human development, allowing people to make mistakes and ideas to fail builds security for people to take the risk of venturing forward with an idea.

Do you remember the profound comments from "Leave it to Beaver?" The Beaver said, "I wish you would have hit us Dad, because it goes away quickly. But when you called us stupid, it didn't go away for a long time. " Ward, in his usual manner, apologized for making a mistake and said, "I didn't mean you were stupid, I just would have done it in a different way. " Motivation to contribute creatively hangs on every word that is said regarding a persons precious idea. People understand what is said, not necessarily what is meant. Our interactions with others create the climate crucial to creativity.

Support processes are equally as important. This is the next gate the idea must pass through before if can be utilized. Support processes make the idea real and reinforce the effort. Processes need to be developed that define how to bring ideas forward and whether there are any boundaries. For example: if a certain company policy is not open for collective development, it should be known to avoid wasted effort and dissatisfaction when sound ideas are rejected. When suggestions are encouraged, ideas should be presented in consistent format and terminology that supports the creativity principles and structure the company is attempting to foster. If the PPC strategy (Positives, Potentials, Concerns) is used, then all recommendations should be prepared in that format, to reinforce its use. In addition, it is important to consider what recognition and rewards will be used for improvement ideas that actually find their way into work practices. "Suggestion Programs", for example, can help to provide a structure for idea submission, evaluation, implementation and rewards.

While working with Mazda and studying state-of-the-art Japanese organizations, constant improve-ment through intense idea generation clearly surfaced as a key cornerstone. These organizations typically rely on sophisticated suggestion programs to provide incentives, harness and harvest ideas. The programs rely on defined areas of contribution, pre-established criteria and point systems to weigh an ideas potential worth. Responsible functional areas or teams weigh ideas and assign a point value, and determine if the idea should be considered for implementation. Implementation plans are prepared if the idea is a sizable change. If the idea is smaller, it has usually been implemented already and results are available to aid point assignment. Point awards range from an encouragement amount, like a soft drink, for unusable ideas to hundreds of dollars, with milestone awards reaching into thousands of dollars. Milestone awards accumulate points throughout the year and over several years to provide on-going incentives.

Other means of reward include incentive bonus compensation related to the overall profit of the company. These incentives can be paid to teams, departments, or divisions, based on tangible ideas or overall performance leading to improved results. In yet other cases, discretionary rewards can be given by the area manager; they may include lunch, dinner for a member and their spouse, use of a company car for a month, or theater/ball game tickets. These programs should be developed by cross functional groups to establish truly meaningful incentives and structures that organization members can relate to, and that provide sufficient reinforcement and reward. The purposes of the group would be to define areas that are (or are not) open for suggestion, how members can contribute ideas, and how to evaluate, implement, and reward ideas with potential.

Effective systems to reinforce creativity must consider three important factors: training in creativity techniques; establishing the proper environment; and developing support processes to transform ideas into usable applications while providing incentive to maintain the effort. In these ways, our clouds will have substance and can provide for real productivity, performance, and quality improvements.

Kenneth Kumiega is founder of World Class Business, a training and development firm, based in Lancaster, New York. He specializes in designing state-of-the-art systems and structures to direct daily practices toward constant improvement, quality management, and customer driven requirements. His work has been recognized by the American Society for Training and Development as a case study in support of their national research for Best Practices. For further information, he can be reached at 716-681-0811.