Featuring:

Ted Schadler, VP, Principal Analyst and Jay Pattisall, Principal Analyst

Show Notes:

How can business leaders activate and elevate creativity across the entire organization? That’s the question that Principal Analyst Jay Pattisall and VP, Principal Analyst Ted Schadler set out to answer in their latest research. Hear the two discuss their findings and draw some conclusions on this week’s What It Means.

The episode starts by defining what creativity actually means in the context of a broader business organization. Too often, creativity is limited to certain roles and organizations that conform to traditional definitions or preconceptions: designers or the “innovation team” within a company, for example. Pattisall says that can be a mistake.

“We see it as something that’s much broader and more of a collective energy that can be tapped in the organization,” he says. “Everyone has the capacity to be creative. You can find it everywhere.” Pattisall then goes on to define the differences between creativity, design, and innovation and the roles each play within a business.

While creativity can be found anywhere, the challenge for organizations is how to leverage those pockets to expand the creative mindset across the organization. To address that, the analysts provide some examples of firms that dialed up their creativity during the pandemic. Pattisall also outlines three key factors that can institutionalize creativity within an organization: mindset, conditions, and practices.

Schadler defines the role creativity plays in a future fit technology strategy and describes some of the specific qualities and practices that separate truly creative organizations from their competitors.

Be sure to listen to the end of the episode when each analyst provides his most practical and actionable advice to organizations that don’t have creativity in their DNA.

If you want to learn more about putting creativity to work in your organization, be sure to check out the upcoming Technology & Innovation North America event Nov. 2-3. At the event, Pattisall and Schadler will be co-presenting a keynote entitled “The Creativity Boom Ushers In New Growth”.