Are you fostering creativity in your organization? What climate are you setting that impacts the creativity of those under your leadership?
Are the tactics you are employing as a leader stifling or fostering creativity and innovation?
Hard questions, but the ones that help us grow as leaders are usually the toughest.
At the end of this article, you will be able to download a free self-assessment checklist that will give you insight into these hard questions.
Creativity and Climate: Both Affected by the Leader
A recent article1 in the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies caught my eye. The authors provide primary research on the effects of scenario planning on people's perceptions of a creative organizational climate.
Basically the question is, "Does the task of scenario planning help people's perceptions of the creative climate in their organization?"
Scenario planning, for those of you not familiar, are activities designed to explore what can happen in an organization in the future. These exercises are said to foster a supportive climate because lots of opinions are sought, many diverse ideas are valued, and there is freedom to explore ideas and to be innovative in the utilization of the ideas.
An interesting question. Does a task like scenario planning improve creativity?
The Importance of the Task
The TASK. This is what caught my eye.
Can just doing an activity give birth to a creative climate in an organization?
I will spare you all the details and just get right to the point of the research. Here is what the authors conclude:
"While this study has found partial support for the hypothesis that scenario planning has an effect on creative organizational climate, specific expected dimensions of creative organizational climate did not show significant changes.”
The task itself did not impact creative organizational climate.
What is fascinating to me is that the task of scenario planning is designed to foster this creative environment but does not always.
Gut check time...
The question in my mind, if we are unsure about the task and its role in fostering a creative organizational climate, is what else could cultivate this type of environment?
It has been well documented for years by early researchers like Maslow, Herzberg, and Knowles that people will naturally seek challenges to expand their skills and expertise. Research has shown that when employees have increased opportunities to engage in activities like strategy and innovation, they have a greater sense of motivation and engagement (Meissner & Wulf, 2012). I am not saying that involving people in tasks like scenario planning is not important. IT IS. Giving people rich development experiences is always valuable in creating leaders in your organization.
Important Tasks Are Not Enough
The point of this research is that just engaging followers in the task, or giving them the developmental experience, is not enough.
What about the impact that YOU as the leader have? Could it be that it is YOU who is establishing the culture, and climate that have a direct effect on creativity?
Is it possible that your leadership has a direct influence on the creativity of those who follow you?
In a nutshell, the answer is yes!
The Leader and Innovation
In a three-way interaction of transformational leadership, employee identification with the leader, and innovative climate, Wang and Rode (2010) found that each of these elements is associated with employee creativity.
Leader, it is YOU!
1. How you lead (transformational leadership) 2. How you connect (employee identification with the leader) 3. How you set the climate for your team
These three elements together are vital to employee creativity.
Consider the tasks you involve people in, for sure. However, self-examination around the impact we are having on followers deserves as much attention as the tasks we involve followers in.
Questions For Self-Reflection
Here are three questions for reflection:
1. Leader, you matter in creating the climate in your organization. You set the pace. How are you doing? 2. Your relationship with your followers matters. You are responsible for them being able to identify with you. How are you doing? 3. Their creativity is influenced by the innovative climate you are creating. How are you doing?
Valuable Resource (and it is FREE)
Need a resource to assess if you are fostering creative employees? Click here for a free download of our Fostering Creative Employees Check-list.
If I can be of any service to you, or you want to chat, send me an email at info@DrScottLivingston.com and we will set up a time to connect.
Equip.Inspire.Grow.Lead.
1 Thomas J. Chermack, Laura M. Coons, Kim Nimon, Peggy Bradley, and Margaret B. Glick
The Effects of Scenario Planning on Participant Perceptions of Creative Organizational Climate Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 1548051815582225, first published on April 21, 2015 doi:10.1177/1548051815582225
Meissner, P., & Wulf, T. (2012). Cognitive benefits of scenario planning: Its impact on biases and decision quality. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 80, 801-814.
Peng Wang and Joseph C Rode.Transformational leadership and follower creativity: The moderating effects of identification with leader and organizational climate Human Relations August 2010 63: 1105-1128, doi:10.1177/0018726709354132