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y what the organization values and how
commitment to those values is communicated
to the workforce. This creates a significant
leadership responsibility to make sure that, as
Jones (1995: 199) points out, the elements of
corporate ‘winning behaviour’ are unambiguously
defined, and that creative thinking is
seen to be one of those elements.
A corporate vision that depends on and
articulates the need for creative effort from all
members of the workforce would be an essential
starting point. Moreover, the vision would
need to be one with which the workforce is
able to identify, which they own, and which
they feel instrumental in constantly reinforcing
and recreating. Instilling this sense of
empowerment requires understanding of the
link between information and creative effort.
When employees are kept informed they
are more likely to feel trusted and respected,
and this in itself encourages the self-confidence
necessary for risking the exposure of
new ideas. Furthermore, the more informed
all employees are about organizational functions,
processes and systems, the greater their
sense of ownership is likely to be and the
better equipped they will be to engage imaginatively
with and participate in the pursuit
and (where necessary) reinvention of corporate
goals and aspirations. Indeed, merely providing
information about where creative
thinking is needed would improve the likelihood
of it occurring. Lastly, from a purely
practical perspective, the creative ability to
make associations, apply unusual perspectives
and synthesize knowledge would naturally
increase relative to the breadth and depth of
employees’ information base.
In addition to promoting and requiring the
informed participation and initiative of all
members of the organization, a corporate
vision that values creative thinking needs to
be reinforced by congruent control structures,
operating procedures, reward systems and
resources. For example, the most creative of
corporate visions will be undermined and
nullified by authoritarian leadership, bureaucratic
procedures, reward systems that encourage
maintenance of the status quo and
short-term, bottom-line outcomes, and lack of
practical resources such as money and time.
Conversely, the identification and definition
of creative thinking as ‘winning behaviour’
would be communicated by corporate
leaders through, for example:
• modelling creative thinking techniques in
their everyday management routines
(such as during meetings);
• providing examples and stories that reinforce
creative values;
• replacing hierarchical and rules-orientated
control structures with flatter and
more flexible ones that emphasize individual
initiative as well as freedom to
determine how objectives are met;
• developing problem-solving procedures
that make it possible to resist the organizational
survival instinct towards immediate
solutions, and to tolerate ambiguity
while pieces fall into place or links emerge
from unexpected sources;
• providing feedback that reinforces and
further stimulates creative thinking initiatives.
The part played by feedback and
reward in communicating the value of
creative thinking to a corporate workforce
is much debated, not least because studies
have suggested that external rewards
which motivate employees to be more
productive may under certain circumstances
negatively influence creative
performance. These issues are discussed in
more detail in the following section.
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors