CTO - Chief Creative Officer- Latest Trend

Is there room in the IT organization for corporate creativity? Jeff Mauzy, the author of Creativity, Inc.: Building an Inventive Organization, thinks so. (62)

Mauzy believes that we need creativity in today's business-technology environment. He says that

"We tend to look at what I call "big C" creativity-like, have we invented the new G4 lately, or are we knocking the socks off our competitors in the market with something new and exciting. Everybody's looking for the big breakthrough. Meanwhile, they're going about their lives, making up each day as they go along, as the market shifts, as the office environment shifts, as the politics in the office shifts. And they're applying "little C" creativity all the time. But they look at this "big C" breakthrough and think, "I've never done that; I'm not very creative," and they lose heart. Instead, if people can learn to focus on the small stuff, they'll recognize themselves as creative beings and creativity as being a part of everything. If we recognize that, just like fitness, this is all the time, everyday, then when it comes time to apply creativity toward major change, we're more fit and able to do it." (62)

In his book, Mauzy distinguish between creativity and innovation.

"Creativity is the ability to get ideas and to be flexible and open to your environment. Innovation, on the other hand, is the application of creativity. It's trying to change the world, whether it's a little world or a big world, or simply a change in your office. Change and action come from the act of innovating. So innovation is one of those things that gets into the world and the world accepts. Creativity doesn't necessarily mean you have to innovate, but it's from creativity that ideas are born before you can begin to think of innovation."

It seems all the energy in IT for the last year or so has been less focused on innovation than on simply cutting costs. Mauzy believes that creativity is important, and is occurring all the time.

"On the small level, creativity is going on all the time. We're looking for ideas on how to cut costs, and that takes creativity. Getting the company to embrace them is going to take the collective processes and constant application of creative new ideas and actions that build up into innovation, even to make a cost-cutting measure. So creativity is embedded in all of those. When we're trying to get an innovation and change the world, we're talking about an innovation that we all recognize and that the market recognizes. Sometimes there's a lot of creativity involved. All of these things are important; all are innovations, but some require more risks, and some take a collection of many more creative frameworks being broken all at the same time."

Business goals may change, but the need for creativity remains constant. Mauzy says that

"For example, if a company realizes its strategy isn't working or that its cost structure isn't profitable, then we have to create ideas that might change things, try them out, experiment to find out if something will work. If it doesn't, we create an alternate solution, whether a small change or big change. Then we work on that. So we are constantly looking at our environment and trying to understand how it works and how we can respond to it. That's the process of, on the one hand, creating these new possible solutions and, on the other, increasing your learning. The more flexible you are, the easier it is for you to say, 'I can get a solution. Let me spread my attention and look at this from different perspectives. Let me tolerate the ambiguity of not knowing something a little longer,' rather than having to get a quick answer. These are all psychological operations that underpin what we call creativity."

There are several things that business-technology executives can do today to start making their groups more creative. (62)

• Take risks yourself. Serve as a model. When you think of how cultures change—because that's what you're doing if you want people to increase their own creativity—you have to change the climate, the risk, and the perceptions of people. By beginning to take your own risks, you say, "I am ready to take a risk in front of you."

• Listen to the staff. I mean everyone on the staff, not just your favorite people or the people who report to you. If someone comes in with an idea, let them know you hear it, that you understand their idea. Paraphrase the idea as you understand it. Talk about why it might be a good idea. Every idea has positive aspects, so acknowledge them:

• Increase the autonomy of the people in your department. Instead, little by little, start giving more freedom to your people. Let them take on the whole problem. Instead of saying, "Here's the problem, and this is how I want you to address it," say, "Here's the problem. Can you get a solution for me?" This challenges people to bring out their own creativity. It will also challenge you to hear their solutions and accept them more.

• Recognize the risks people are taking. Recognize that people are doing good work and they're taking risks and wrestling with the unknown.

• Failure could be acceptable.