Creativeship
Creativeship? You must mean leadership? No, no, it's really Creativeship!
What, exactly, is creativeship?
ASTD defines creativeship as "the creation of sustainable cultures and business models". Simply put, creativeship is a type of leadership which allows a business to thrive in our present environment of changing technology, globalization, unstable economies and evolving workforce demographics. It allows for adaptation and change so a business can continue to prosper no matter what happens around it. To do this, one must follow the following three principles:
1. Innovation - Your company culture must be structured in a way that allows for, and encourages, adaptation. Products, labeling, production methods, workforces and management styles must be constantly evolving in order for a company to remain competitive. As a leader, you need to foster an environment where innovation is not the solution to a problem, but the regular way you and your employees function.
2. Tri-Branding - The idea behind this principle is to appear as "an employer of choice". Employees should feel just as loyal to your employment brand as your most passionate consumers do towards the product.
3. Global Growth - Recognize that newer employees want to work for global companies, and people want to buy from globally recognized companies. To stay competitive, no matter how small the company is, always think as if the company's reach is further than it is at present: local companies should think regionally, regional companies think nationally and national companies think globally. This way, the company is constantly growing, and will be ready whenever an opportunity for growth presents itself.
What tools do employees need?
In order for a leader to be practicing true Creativeship, not simply leadership, they need to encourage innovation from all of their employees. For this to happen, a creativeship leader must recognize the following things:
- Innovation is built on the foundation of knowledge. The best creativity comes from confident employees who are knowledgeable and interested in their work.
- Employee's interests and talents need to be recognized and then developed. You can force work out of a person, but you can't force great work out of someone who is simply uninterested and unmotivated.
- To increase knowledge, employers need to offer learning opportunities.
- In order for a person to learn, neural connections need to be changed. For this to happen, a person needs active engagement. For example, simply having them read an article will not be enough to really inspire any learning.
- Humans have a core desire to avoid emotionally negative experiences and find emotionally positive ones. Since learning and emotion are connected, it's important that all learning has a positive emotional presence.
- Focus is important. Depending on your office environment, this can mean many things. Specific time to meditate may work in some environments, while others may simply need fixed quiet hours.
- In order for knowledge to work with creativity you'll also need to enhance memories. Structure learning sessions in a way to maximize what everyone remembers.
It's important to remember that while there are many advantages to be found in our constantly changing world of evolving technology and globalization, this also makes being an effective leader a challenge.
Creativeship is the best way for a leader to prepare their employees for the wide array of challenges they'll face. By providing them with a solid knowledge base, identifying their talents and interests and encouraging them to always think of the bigger picture you'll have made a creative and innovative team capable of handling any challenge.
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