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How to Foster Firm-Wide Creativity to Sustain Constant and Never-Ending Client Amazement
by Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan, Organisational Provocateur
People say we are living in the information age, so many service professionals end up on an endless journey of collecting more information. The problem is, however, that unless we turn this mess of information into structured knowledge, and by learning the knowledge we can eventually turn it into specific know-how, which is sought after in the marketplace, even the largest amount of information is useless.
However, there are several ways of turning information into knowledge and into know-how. The way we think about ourselves, our clients and our businesses will have a profound impact on how information becomes sellable know-how. So, let's see how we can better use our creativity to turn information into know-how.
Professional service firms talk about being creative in their ways of delivering value to their clients, but more often than not they use managerial practices that kill even the last shred of creativity among associates.
Let's just quickly summarise what firms do to destroy creativity. Note, that it is not individual managers that crush creative thinking, but the overall culture of the firm made up by several anti-creativity partners and managers. They get so busy pursuing higher productivity, more billable hours, better systems to gain control over people. As a result the culture slowly but surely kill the last piece of intrinsic motivation in people, and everything carries on “the way we do it here”.
And the result is yet another mediocre “me too”,
“ho-hum”,
“middle-of-the-road” firm where the meaning of life
is more billable
hours. Most of them would sell their own mothers for the right price.
And what happens next: All the creative people - who could add value to
the firm - leave frustrated and hope that the next firm will be more
sympathetic towards creativity.
Creativity has three core components:
2) Flexible thinking and
3) Motivation.
Expertise - is the intellectual understanding of how your subject operates. This is actually content knowledge, that is, law, fitness, information technology, etc.
Flexible thinking - is the imagination part of the business. Brian Tracy calls it blue sky thinking. This kind of thinking is also likely to raise the bar beyond the status quo. What is the use of engaging a certain service if all it does is fight fires? There must be an initiative to raise the bar above its original position.
Motivation - is something that must be intrinsic to the person. Motivation does not come from the outside, but either is or is not in the person. Well, it can come from outside - money, etc., - but have little impact.
And this is very often where the problem lies: Since so many firms operate on a “It’s about billable time, idiot” basis, they don’t even think of creativity. They just try to whore out as many billable hours as possible.
Managers have six ways to improve all three aspects of creativity:
2) Challenge
3) Resources
4) Team development
5) Managerial support
6) Organisational support
Each of these six ways are meant to ignite the hearts of team members, so they can be passionate and enthusiastic about what they actually do. Many managers mistakenly believe that if they can engage the head - intellect - then everything will be just splendid. However, until they can engage the heart (passion, enthusiasm, etc.), nothing significant will happen. Why do fitness, IT and engineering firms suffer from such enormous talent turnover? Many of them operate out of the head and overlook passion, enthusiasm and other emotional factors.
1) Freedom is about giving people the authority to decide how they achieve the project’s objectives. The strategy is given but the tactics are up to them. More often than not, managers make tow drastic mistakes about freedom:
Managers keep changing the strategies of the project: “People, forget everything you’ve done in the last two months and let’s start from scratch with new parameters.” Before we start carving a piece of wood we want to know whether we are making a totem pole or a toothpick, and it is pretty silly to change for a totem pole when you are almost done with the toothpick.
The other mistake managers often make is granting “false freedom”: “You are free to implement the project in any which way you want to, as long as the senior partners approve of it.” And since most senior partners became senior partner by conforming to the status quo long enough, the last thing they want to see is creativity at the workplace, the best ideas are highly likely to be lost. People must be given real freedom to think creatively.
2) Challenge can be proportional with the skills of team members? If members are underskilled for the challenge, they get frustrated. If members are overskilled, they get bored. In either case, motivation goes down the drain. Challenge must be kept at such a level that team members feel challenged enough to be excited about the project, but don’t get frustrated by not being able to solve the problem. One way to destroy creativity is by appointing the project leader on seniority in spite of lack of knowledge in the specific area.
3) Resources are time and money. Allotting both resources takes careful consideration. Too tight deadlines can enhance creativity but can also increase anxiety, which kills creativity. Increase in money can somewhat shrink deadlines, and a shortage of money often necessitates the extension of deadlines. When the deadlines are very tight, that can create burnout among team members. Managers must anticipate time for explorations, incubation of ideas and some screw-ups. There is no way to get it right the first time. The other typical mistake is to short-fund the project, so instead of focusing on the project itself, team members end up using their creativity to conjure up adequate resources for the project, while management is standing by with whips and chains ready to punish anyone who “overuses” this shortage of resources.
4) Team development has several hidden problems. One is the homogeneity of the team members just look at the overall stupidity of the fitness industry: "Every team member must be a personal trainer with a Master's degree in Exercise Science." Yes, and all they can do is fitness, but don't know how to run a profitable fitness business. Also, their solutions will be everything but creative. It is worth noting that Apple's design team consists of some 50% sculptors, musicians, painters, poets and other artists. They must know the value of diversity.
Most so-called project teams are really committees with lots of personal agendas, and a very faint joint agenda with a very low level of importance. People end up cooking their own personal stews at the team’s camp fire, but nobody is accountable for cooking a meal for the whole camp.
Team members must have three attributes in common:
2) Managers must be committed to assist members
3)Members must recognise each other’s unique talents and capabilities.
The synergy of these three attributes enhances both expertise, flexible thinking and motivation. Managers must know enough about their people, so they can build better and more diverse teams. If everyone comes to the table with the same mind-set, they will never develop something new, something innovative. They end up inhaling each other’s exhaust fumes.
5) Managerial support. Due to the incorrect recruiting criteria, most managers are incompetent. They call themselves busy, but the meaning is the same. The problem comes from the fact how managers get appointed. “If you win the billable hours contest, we will make you a manager.” And the result is that many professional service firms are flooded with managers who know IT, accounting, engineering, but have no idea how to manage a business that offers IT, accounting or engineering to its clients, or more importantly, have no idea how to lead people in a business that offers IT, accounting or engineering to its clients.
Many managers take ages to respond to associates’ ideas. They get so busy micromanaging and bossing around, that don’t have enough time left to do their own works. Many managers either totally fail to recognise creative efforts among staff members, or receive them with high level of scepticism. Comments like “I’ve been here for twice as long as you, but never heard about this” or “If it really worked, we would already be doing it.
Several psychological research studies indicate that people who are critical, cynical and sceptical by default appear to be more intelligent - thus better rewarded - to their bosses than people who are curious and open-minded. Many bosses tend to call the first group realists and the second group naive dreamers. As a result, many professional service firms, that are supposed to thrive on innovation, simply regurgitate conventional wisdom as a safe “play-not-to-lose” strategy.
People must feel that it is all right to fail, but it is a sin not to try. They must know that even their weirdest ideas are listened to and evaluated on their potential merits not on the fact that “if it were so good everyone would be doing it”. Managers also should be evaluated by partners on the merits of innovative ideas their teams have produced. It can also be useful to survey team members without their direct managers’ involvement, so partners could see what goes “missing” at management level.
6) Organisational support. Real support for creativity comes from the firm itself. Even if the managers are pro-innovation people, but the partners are pro-status quo, creativity goes down the drain. It is the senior partners’ job to build a creative environment in which people at all levels can freely express even the boldest, wildest ideas, knowing that management will listen to them. People should be rewarded for their ideas, but be careful with financial rewards, for people can perceive them as a bribe, as a way of controlling people.
Lack of recognition, however, can drive the firm into stagnation, which can make the firm slowly perish. Ono method of providing support is by bringing people together, so they can tell each other about their “war stories” and ideas. This way, ideas get evaluated almost instantly and the best ones can be worked on right away. Also, the more often people have the opportunity for this “intellectual intercourse”, the more knowledge they will have, and the more value they can offer to their clients at the appropriate fee. Arthur Andersen used to spend over 10% of its total revenues on educating its people and creating an environment that nurtures creativity. All right, the firm is virtually dead, but the 10% idea can work for any firm. Collaboration and information sharing always heightens people’s feeling of being appreciated, important and special.
The other issue is internal politics. It is very important to keep creativity and politics separate. We have already discussed many managers’ incentive to maintain the status quo. We have all heard comments like “I have 10 years to retirement, and I am not going to rock the boat now. If I survive the next 10 years in quiet desperation and boring mediocrity without making waves, I can look forward to a great retirement.” Yes, and I suppose if they are lucky enough to survive retirement, they can look forward to a nice comfortable coffin and a cosy plot on the hillside with a headstone: Here lies Joe “Coward” Manager who could have achieved amazing things if he had had the guts to do so.
If we understand that a firm’s greatest asset is its people and their ideas, senior partners must do their best to the atmosphere within the firm, so people enjoy working there and are excited about sharing their ideas with other for the firm’s advancement in its industry.
Copyright Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan. All rights reserved. You are free to use this article in whole or in part. One favour though: Can I ask you to you include complete attribution, including a live website link. Also, can you please let me know where you plan to publish the article.
The attribution: This article was written by Organisational Provocateur, Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan of Dynamic Innovations Squad, a firm specialising in helping consulting firms to sell their expertise at the highest margins. Get Tom's free Practice Management Black Paper when you sign up for his monthly newsletter, Commando Consulting: Lessons And Practices From The Ultimate Professional Service Firm, The Military. Visit Tom's website at http://www.di-squad.com.
Copyright 2007 Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan & Dynamic Innovations Squad, All rights reserved. Vancouver, BC, Canada
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