The leader does not have to be the most inventive person on the team. But as leader, you need to release the potential for generating ideas that exists in all individuals and teams. This will help in both achieving a vision and resolving day- to-day issues.

PROMOTING   CREATIVITY

Actively promote creativity by example, encouragement, rewards, training, procedures, budgeting processes, and promotion. Lower any creative barriers by tolerating failure and eccentricity, flattening organizational structures and removing blockages, and refusing to tolerate conception such as   ”not invented here”, “it will never work”, “if it was any good somebody else would have done it”, and their equivalents. Also, recognize that consensus can be the enemy of creativity, and do not allow the pursuit of agreement to kill creative initiatives. If a creative idea is proposed to you, always consider it.

STIMULATING   IDEAS

If you wait for ideas to come, they probably will not. A few rare people spout ideas all the time. But most of those attending an ideas meeting will be relatively dumb participants. To stop that happening, insist on two rules. First, everybody must come to the meeting with two or three genuinely new ideas, which can be as far- fetched as they like. Second, nobody is allowed to “shoot ideas down in flames” – rubbishing proposals without discussion. The important needs are to get ideas on the table and to encourage everybody to believe in their own powers of ideas generation.

BRAINSRORMING

Getting people together to generate ideas, or brainstorming, has sent many groups down the wrong path to creativity. Badly practiced, it encourages the belief that throwing ideas into the pot is itself creative. Organized creativity is far more effective. A simple procedure is to start by analyzing the situation and to end with a shortlist of strong ideas. At each stage of this process there should be a challenging session, in which people can challenge assumption. Often what is taken for granted should not be.