Are you a creative leader?

The key to creative leadership and developing a culture of innovation is engaging others. We all have innate, untapped talents that are just waiting to be discovered. Yet very often organizations are restrictive and inflexible and there is too little communication between different areas.
Employees in silos feel disengaged and do not feel a sense of belonging to the “whole”. Organisations that create a culture where every voice matters unlock far more of their employees’ creative talents and this, of course, leads to greater productivity, well-being and success.
The more that we can give the people who work for us discretion and freedom to take initiatives and reward them for doing so, the more they will evolve to become creative. They need to be given a chance to try and prototype new ideas quickly, given permission to fail and then be encouraged to try again.
Rather than the typical ‘command and control’ management styles of the past, organizations need to foster collaboration and communication across departments and celebrate diversity. If you are seeking creativity and innovation then it’s essential to connect regularly across the organization (and ideally across sectors), and tap into people’s senses, perceptions, ideas and passions.
The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas: it’s to create a culture where everyone can have ideas and feel that they’re valued. That being said, there does need to be a pipeline to capture all ideas, test them out and eventually prototype and create something new or improved. And don’t forget to develop a rewards system that gives incentives to everybody.
These extremely volatile times and the challenging financial environment mean that being creative is becoming more urgent. Being creative in arts organisations isn’t an added extra. It’s an imperative. To improve your organisation’s impact and performance you need to look of any not just about the work you produce but also in products, processes and services.
Creativity should never be an afterthought and should always be a key part of an organization’s core purposes, not just in words but in deeds. You need to create a culture of creativity and innovation, celebrate diversity and ensure that every voice matters.
Creative leaders continually meet new challenges, and recognize and pursue new opportunities through bold thinking and innovations.
Creative leaders: