The cost of Operations killing Creativity

A couple of years ago we did some leadership training

One exercise was to exchange cards with one another - whoever the card makes you think of, you give it to them

I’d have been livid if I didn’t get Energetic (I don’t drink double espressos for no reason!)

Hopeful, 100%.

Humorous… sometimes.

But the one that shocked me was Creative.

I’d never thought about myself as creative before

I’m logical, analytical, useless with a pen

Anything but creative

When given it, my colleague said, “you’re a creative problem solver”

Kind words. I appreciated it, I understood it, but I wasn’t conscious of the outsized impact of creativity in operations

Until now.

🔹🔹🔹

What's the antithesis to creativity?

Rigidity, constraint, predictability, certainty

So Process is the antithesis to Creativity?

Give people free reign and you get unstructured chaos.

Wind a process too tight and you starve an organisation of its creativity.

You crush any chance of finding it where you least expect it, from people you least expect it from.

An organisation’s potential is capped by the creativity of the person who creates the process.

Build agency into process though, giving people guardrails with the freedom to express themselves,

and you might find your business flourishing in ways you couldn’t predict.

🔸🔸🔸

This is an evolving thought, there’s more to come on this one 💭

Stoirm