Creativity

Innovation Culture Hand Space

toolkit

Phase im Innovationsprozess

"Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things" – Theodore Levitt

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This toolkit provides insight into Creativity, one of the six elements that the we, in the LIH, explore in depth in our "Innovation Culture" training.

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Here you'll learn what it's all about and why this element is particularly important in terms of innovation culture.Below, in the download section, you will find external as well as LIH resources that will give you a deeper understanding of the element and provide opportunities for application.If you want to experience this and more of the 5 elements it takes to create and sustain a culture of innovation in an immersive learning experience, sign up for Innovation Culture now.

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Creativity is often described in a kind of mystical manner, to conjecture that some of us are born creative while others are not. However, creativity is not an inherent quality but a skill, a way of thinking which we can refine and improve on. Perhaps even more importantly, creativity doesn’t mean drawing brilliant ideas from thin air. More commonly it refers to combining existing ideas, elements or resources to create something that has never existed before. In this sense, we at LIH consider creativity solving problems or finding new ways to improve things, often through a recombination of ideas.

Why is this Warum ist das für Innovation wichtig? for innovation

Research conducted by IBM highlighted creativity as the most crucial leadership competency for future success and identified it as the key driver of innovation). As a creative leader, it’s important for you to find ways to replenish and restore your own creativity, as well as to provide an environment which provides your team with creative freedom in having the courage to explore. Creative leaders not only focus on managing day-to-day operations but also inspire and guide individuals to generate and implement new ideas, solutions, and approaches.

There is clear theoretical and empirical evidence demonstrating that leadership is an important variable that can enhance or hinder workplace creativity and innovation. For creativity to take place, leaders must actively implement strategies that encourage it. Here we will explore factors which nurture creativity including collaboration, creative freedom and the power of rituals.

Collaboration | Creativity thrives in a collaborative setting where people and ideas can collide. Studies suggest a higher degree of creativity and information processing in heterogeneous teams; bringing diversity of thought, perspectives and backgrounds allows each team member to be an “expert” in a different role. However, team members may at times find it difficult to be their true selves at work. It is the leader’s responsibility to facilitate a working environment in which diversity is celebrated and managed in a way that employees can feel a sense of belonging and authenticity at work.‍
Creative Freedom | Creativity that leads to breakthrough innovations often doesn’t look like work, let alone efficient work. The old cliché that ideas come when you’re in the shower has its merit. Our minds just do not make new synaptic connections when we’re deliberately trying to do so. This is why good ideas are likely to strike when we’re daydreaming on a train, taking a bike ride, or washing the dishes, and our mind unconsciously processes and pairs entirely new variables. We need to make space to allow our minds to wander.“Innovation teams need enough freedom and creative space to focus on disruptive innovations from different horizons.” – Trend One Leadership Report 2023‍
The Power of Rituals | Cognitive neuroscience has found evidence of a positive correlation between rituals and creativity: “ritual promotes thought suppression – tuning out the inner critic, dampening brain chatter, centering and focusing the mind, and decreasing anxiety before executing complex tasks” (Forbes, 2018).

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Was dich in diesem Toolkit erwartet

Tools & Methods:

Manual of Me A quick 10-minute exercise in which each team member writes a personal "user manual" describing how they like to work, what they need, and what bugs them, so diverse teams can collaborate more smoothly.
Hero Ideation Game: A 30-minute creativity game in which you list companies and people you admire, brainstorm their "superpowers," and then ask how you could "steal" those strengths to generate fresh ideas for your own work.
BEAN: A 30-minute framework, based on work by Innosight's Scott D. Anthony, for designing Behavioral Enablers, Artefacts, and Nudges that break the daily routines holding back innovation and help new, more innovative habits stick.
Retrospective Toolkit: Everything you need to start running team retrospectives, including the basic retro structure, facilitation tips and checklists, 13 methods for designing your own retro, and three ready-to-copy Miro templates.‍
From Coffee Houses to Creative Teams (Reflection): A short read, with no canvas, that draws on history from 17th-century coffee houses to the Bauhaus to show leaders how diverse teams, psychological safety, flexible work, and shared reflection time create the conditions for innovation.
Introduction to LEGO SERIOUS PLAY: The LEGO Group's official open-source guide explains the principles behind LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, a facilitated method where teams "think with their hands" by building models to share ideas, and walks you through its three-phase process, ground rules, skills-building exercises, and a sample full-day team workshop.

Read:

5 Rituals that Spark Creativity at Pinterest, Flipboard, and Amazon: Stanford d.school instructors share five workplace rituals, from Idea Parties and Fixathons to Failure Wake Parties, Surprise Ride Alongs, and SkillShare Fests, that help teams switch into a creative mindset and build a culture of experimentation.
Why AI will surpass the Human Creativity by Jeremy Utley: Stanford innovation expert Jeremy Utley argues that AI will soon out-experiment humans by testing ideas at massive scale, and that our unique role will shift toward deciding which ideas truly matter based on what we care about.

Watch:

Creative Thinking: How to Get Out of the Box and Generate Ideas by Giovanni Corazza: Creativity researcher Giovanni Corazza explains why thinking outside the box means daring to leave the comfort of familiar answers and staying longer in uncertainty, and why this kind of "long thinking" is essential for generating truly original ideas in a fast-changing world.

Listen:

A Deeper Understanding of Creativity at Work: This HBR IdeaCast episode explores how creativity helps you solve problems, stand out from AI and competitors, and support your own well-being, and what managers can do to build a culture where creative thinking thrives.