Creativity is the project manager’s greatest asset, but withers without exercise

These days, there is hardly a mission statement that does not herald creativity, or a chief executive officer who does not laud it. In a recent IBM poll, the overall viewpoint of 1 500 CEOs was that creativity is the number-one leadership competency of the future.

Forty years ago, Dr Paul Torrance, the most important pioneer in the study of creativity, already said: “The genius of the future will be the creative mind adapting itself to the shape of things to come. This will require bursts of insight.

“The skills of creative thinking must be recognised as mankind’s most important adaptability skill.”

And yet, despite all the attention that business creativity has won over the past few years, far too little is known about day-to-day creativity in the workplace.

Where do breakthrough ideas come from? What kind of work environment allows them to flourish?

What can leaders do to sustain the stimulants to creativity and break through the barriers?

And, for purposes of this article, how does it apply to a project management environment?

A few pointers indicate where the project manager as an individual can start:

Know the baseline

Creativity is a vast and complex concept that is still largely misunderstood and shrouded in many myths. Common ones are that creativity is reserved for a “lucky few”; “It can’t be learnt”; “One has to be a bit crazy to be creative”; and “It belongs in the arts”.

Wrong. Creativity is a natural human ability and anyone with normal intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work. It can be learnt and practised in any human activity or situation.

From the simplest to the most complex problem and challenge that the project manager faces and which threaten the in-time, in-scope and quality of project delivery, can be dealt with more effectively and efficiently when creative problem-solving principles are applied.

Examples are those problems that crop up daily in projects, ranging from managing stress, team project conflict, large-scale process improvement programmes, restructuring initiatives, maximising cost reductions, to motivating a team to heights of performance.

Why the misconceptions? Formal education is one of the culprits. It still largely excludes the deliberate teaching and development of creativity in curricula. The focus is mainly on a standardised curriculum, a heavy emphasis on authority and conformity, rote memorisation and eventually standardised exams.

In May last year, Kyung Hee Kim at the College of William and Mary in the United States discovered that this neglect resulted in a significant decline in the creativity test scores of children since 1990. Potentially dangerous, should this trend continue.

The results of this is that the majority of enterprises have employees of whom most are not anywhere near to realising their creative potential. This, of course, includes project managers and their teams.

It is like having a state-of-the-art tool for a DIY job and not knowing it, let alone becoming skilled at using it.

This is particularly relevant in a project environment where there is usually limited time and resources available; where any additional innate advantage available to the project manager or team could make a difference between project success or failure.

Understand what it is

Creativity can be defined as the ability to find new and useful solutions.

According to Torrance, the creative individual has the ability to identify the ‘gaps’, shortcomings or inadequacies in knowledge, and searches for answers and solutions through generating, exploring, manipulating and adjusting ideas.
It is thinking beyond what is familiar and obvious.

In the extremely complex world of projects, one of the key principles is that projects are usually created to solve some difficult problem encountered by an organisation.

Alternatively, projects aim to improve or grow certain competencies or capacities within an organisation, but the overarching principle is that the projects are embarked on to solve a challenge that cannot be addressed by “business-as-usual”.

It therefore follows that the ability of the project manager and team should be to be able to come up with creative solutions; it is a core skill in the best practice toolbox and inherent in successful projects. It can make a significant difference to the high failure rate of projects.

The “useful” in the definition of creativity implies that evaluation is a crucial part of any creative problem-solving process.

Ideas do not come full blown and ready to be accepted and rejected. They need to be explored, modified and tailored before anyone can make a fair decision about their worth. Is this better than that, and if so, is it sufficiently better to justify quitting the search for an ideal?

This resonates with the relatively standard project practice in software projects of joint application design sessions,
for instance.

The listing and exploration of ideas, challenging, modifying and the sophistication with which this can be done in any project has a direct impact on the end solution.

Learn the skills

At its most basic, creativity revolves around cultivating fluency in terms of idea generation around a specific challenge. It should ideally be an on-the-job, ongoing process throughout all the phases of a project, from defining a problem, elaborating on ideas as well as combining and transforming old information into new ideas that are helpful.

With idea generation, the emphasis is on quantity rather than quality.

Interestingly, research shows that the more ideas there are on the table, from the bizarre to the more mundane, the greater the likelihood of an original idea occurring – what the project team is eventually reaching for.

Idea generation is a skill that can be learnt and practised through creativity techniques. Sometimes, simply phrasing a problem differently can stimulate idea generation. Instead of starting out with “We have a problem with the rollout phase”, changing this sentence to “How might we solve…” can already set more constructive idea generation going.

The oldest technique to do this is brainstorming, which was first developed by Alex Osborn. In most cases, the application of ‘good old brainstorming’ is in itself mostly a watered down version of the original one by most of those applying it.

Sometimes the word “brainstorming” is used to describe a discussion or even an argument.

A brainstorming session becomes a ‘meeting’ where the most eloquent and forceful team member dominates.

An open-ended strategy for idea generation should be the primary focus, looking at a challenge or problem from all possible perspectives and angles rather than getting stuck and frustrated by personal agendas and restricted viewpoints.

A vital team member may display a general tendency to be negative and sceptical: Any new idea is straight away blocked with the proverbial “Yes, but...” and then all the reasons it would not work instead of first exploring the possibilities.

Another one is being overly rigid and hanging on for dear life to the existing ways of doing this, irrespective of whether they worked or not. This wastes time and energy, which projects in general cannot afford.

In the rush-rush-too-little-time of projects, premature judgement often ‘closes’ the process of idea generation far too quickly. A reason we often simply run out of ideas is because we do not know how to stimulate idea generation.

One of Osborn’s original guidelines, “freewheeling”, was designed with this specifically in mind, but is overlooked in general.

“Freewheeling” refers to deliberately stimulating the idea-generation process by learning to make mental connections or associations between unrelated matters, which is core to creativity.

To do this effectively, it is necessary to look for stimuli in different places, literally all over; from a cartoon, to a single, random word or an arbitrary object.

Nature is an invaluable source.

I often use a technique called “forced relationships” as part of “freewheeling”. I ask project teams in creativity workshops to imagine how something in nature – an animal, plant or insect – can spark ideas to solve a specific problem.

I first request them to write down all the possible characteristics of the chosen object as well as their specific associations.

After the individual possibilities have been collated, the group effort is written on a flip chart for all to see. The team then has to do idea generation in terms of looking for how these ideas can be related to the problem.

If one stimulant does not provide the desired outcome, we simply move on to another.

I once watched a project manager at a design firm use the word “magic” as a stimulant for a project team during an idea-generation session. Their problem was implementing an enhancement to an end-of-life production line without incurring significant costs.

Each team member was requested to make a list of all the associations that the word sparked.

“Magic” did the trick, and the solution was to shorten certain sections of the production line that were not necessary and reuse components to fine-tune performance on the remaining one.

The larger the personal frame of reference of the individual team members, the more information from which to draw.

Associations that happened randomly in minds well-versed in creativity led to profound inventions and end products.

The man who invented Velcro walked in the woods and picked up a burr on his pants. He made a new connection when he invented Velcro by replicating the burr.

The modern way of opening cans was stimulated by a vegetable from nature – the weak seam in a pea pod!

Jorn Utzon, the architect of the Sydney Opera House, did some idea generation to find inspiration. The sails in Sydney Harbour became his inspiration.

There are literally thousands of such examples.

Project management does not necessarily have new inventions as a goal, but the principle of “freewheeling” applies to any situation where creative ideas are necessary.

Since “brainstorming” was conceptualised, many simple tools as well as advanced creativity procedures have been developed to improve idea generation – far too many to mention in the short span of this article.

I have to emphasise once again, however, that to make real good use of them, they not only have to be learnt, but practised consistently in the same way as one would a muscle.

Creative outcomes in idea generation can be vastly enhanced by the creativity procedures that are used.

Cultivate the character

Idea generation and the ability to make connections between unrelated matters are difficult tasks for the untrained mind.

What blocks idea generation is that humans are creatures of habit. This goes for our thinking as well.

As is the case with all habits, some of our thinking habits are destructive for creativity, such as pessimism or negativity.

To a large extent, creativity means the destruction of rigid sets of assumptions about what can and cannot be done in a particular place, situation or circumstance.

Basically, assumptions inhibit the making of vital connections that are the pathway to creative output.

William James, father of modern psychology, once wrote: “A great many people think they are thinking merely when they are rearranging their prejudices!”

Along a similar line, author Bob Proctor says that, “What passes for thinking in general is really just the faculty of memory, playing old movies and rehashing past events.”

Art Kleiner, editor-in-chief of strategy + business magazine, wrote that: “Success depends on the quality of thinking”; in this case, creative thinking.

Many personality traits have been associated with creativity. Some of the most important ones are openness, flexibility, imagination, curiosity, passion, independence, a positive self-esteem, playfulness, humour as well as perseverance.

It is the ingredients to have us experiment, inquire, ask questions and scratch our heads and ponder.

The latter challenges the constraints of old perspectives and narrow viewpoints; ‘pioneers’ continuously prospecting for new possibilities and approaches.

These ‘creatively fit’ qualities can be cultivated by every project manager and team member. It starts with self-awareness and personal development; challenging personal sets of assumptions or ‘mind funnels’ about what can and cannot be done in a particular place, situation or circumstance. We can even call them “toxic” thinking habits that work completely against creativity.

Examples are rigidity, negativity, seeing things in either black and white, blaming when things go wrong or extreme fear of change, doing things differently, as well as failure.

I once ran a three-day workshop that illustrated the powerful force of creativity in this respect. I combined two groups of students from different races and from two extreme political orientations.

My aim was to shift their perspectives about the opposite group, with the purpose of cultivating more tolerance.

I applied a powerful creativity technique – paradoxical thinking. It subtly forced students to look at their specific assumptions from a variety of perspectives.

The workshop was a huge success; the groups learnt the limitations of only looking at a problem from a personal perspective.

Lead your team

Creativity does not happen in a vacuum.It is the task of the project manager to encourage and nurture the creativity of team members. This entails cultivating a creative climate on a project. A vast topic on its own.

Overall, climate is defined as the common collection of behaviours and expectations.

Elements in a project climate that can hinder creativity are restrictive rules, values, traditions and micro-management.

These can foster personal insecurities or social ridicule, which in turn lead to habitual ways of thinking and intellectual conformity.

A quote by Grace McGarvie fits. She said that, “Tradition is an explanation for acting without thinking.”

From a project perspective, a climate where team members are engaged, passionate and continuously stretching themselves is crucial for the success of a project.

Very often, it is highly skilled and talented individuals who make up project teams; and if a climate or environment described above does not exist, it compromises project deliverables.

Professor Teresa Amabile, an expert in the field at Harvard University, recently came up with some research findings in this respect.

She showed that people put far more value on a work environment where creativity is supported, valued and recognised. People want the opportunity to deeply engage in their work and make real progress.

So it is critical for leaders to match people to projects not only on the basis of their experience, but also in terms of where their interests lie.

Another finding was that team members are most creative when they care about their work and they are stretching their skills.

If the challenge is far beyond their skill level, they tend to get frustrated; if it is far below their skill level, they tend to get bored. Leaders need to strike the correct balance.

Furthermore, this encourages intrinsic motivation, which is the more important of the motivations to be present in an individual and company, as extrinsic motivation – driven by rewards – has finite value.

A third result showed that creativity takes a hit when people in a work team compete instead of collaborate. The most creative teams are the ones that have the confidence to share as well as debate ideas.

But when people compete for recognition, they stop sharing information. And that is destructive because no one in an organisation has all the information required to put together all the pieces of the puzzle.

A few tips for action

Start a small interest group with team members and perhaps other parties in the organisation around the topic. What about devoting an hour per week simply for this purpose?

To address the need for increased creative thinking, a core group of seven Du Pont employees started meeting regularly in the late 1980s.

With input and mentoring from outside experts, they became knowledgeable in the field of creativity.

This group grew steadily to more than 600 members by the mid-1990s, and is called the Du Pont Creative Thinking Network! A small start had a powerful ripple effect throughout the organisation.

Build time that is formally allocated to developing creativity into the initial time planning for a project. Even consider devoting the first 10 minutes of every day by giving your team practice in idea generation.

For instance, ask them to write down as many questions about anything you can think of: a specific project-related task, a news headline or even an object as described in “freewheeling.” Perhaps set a goal, such as: “See if you can think of at least 15 questions…”. Afterward, these can be shared.

Creativity literature offers many alternative suggestions.

Consider administering the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking (TTCT) to your core team members and doing a creativity survey. This is taking stock of their current creativity competencies; it creates a benchmark, and progress can be measured at regular intervals.

Worldwide, the TTCT is the gold standard in creativity assessment.

Torrance measured youngsters 50 years ago. Their progress was tracked by him, and later his colleagues, over a period of 50 years.

The results have just been published and there is a direct link between high creativity scores in the initial test and later career success – from entrepreneurs, inventors and scientists to software developers.

As an adult student of creativity, I was subjected to the test and initially obtained a dismal score. The reason being that my own creativity was severely suppressed up to being a mature adult. I do not think the word even featured in my vocabulary!

Apart from not learning how to ‘do’ creativity at school, inhibiting phrases such as “What will others say if you do this?” and “This is not done” were familiar sayings in my childhood home.

I learnt that any action that would possibly be out of line with what was commonly accepted as the “proper”, was to be avoided.

Fortunately, I persevered in my pursuit for creativity and, after a number of years of dedicated effort, my second attempt at the test was a different story.

Creativity involves much more than can be captured in a short article.

Neuroscientists are starting to make crucial discoveries that suggest the development of creative competence can increase brain functioning in general.

This simply adds to the growing body of evidence which shows that organisations, social and political structures, and projects in particular can only benefit from incorporating creative practices in everyday functioning.

Projects have a more controllable environment. Project managers are therefore ultimately perfectly positioned to introduce some of the practices mentioned and experience the value it adds to their project and working environment firsthand. 

Dr Sonia Joubert

Chief executive officer: Thinkingfit