Creatives

When something is not right, the proposed plan is not going to work, the management decisions are slit and drowned in the throats, the first signs of revolt will be from creatives. The pen-down strikes is famous and will be in the form of key thought provocators to leave for greener pastures than to fight a battle losing their age and time in what could be used in more fruitful creative pursuits.

Creative people are not ones who always start from clean canvas and start from scratch. Nor are creatives who always yearn to create everything new everytime. That is a bad attribute and such individuals never can get close to being a creative. Creatives are an inspired gang who go beyond social prophecies and exist to live for their spirits and create their self satisfaction boundaries. The boundaries that are truly personal. It is not that they do not need social attention (as in Maslow social layer). Their cravings are for their belonging within environment that allows them to contribute their own ways. Creatives find places more viable where they can take up existing chaos and are able to thrive in seeing the path within.

Organizations looking at managing Human Capital programs for creatives need to go beyond compensation, training programs and creating their growth paths towards creating opportunities for networking, interactions and empowering them with resources to allow the creatives to explore themselves.

Creatives need empowering managers.Managers who allow 360 degrees freedom to move themselves around as long as ideas, thoughts and deliverables are harmonious in existence within an individual. This is because creatives are self-managed with their time, are conscious of the efforts and are controlled in executing their ideas. Creatives look towards shipping their work often and are eager lot in seeking feedback. Hence managers practicing frequent positive toned feedback and holisitic examples towards honing their character is a desired way for managing creatives. Many times, managers give feedback for homogenizing creatives within their groups for ease of appraisals. This works against creatives in continuing their work.

Creatives are idea fountains who don't pass on fads and jump into every visible opportunity. They need time to sink and sync up with relative environments. When they take the first step and mind it, it shouldn't be a management mandate, they are sure to see it to their fructification.

"Half creatives" look up and around for taking up their work and seeing it executed by others. But it is not the completely developed individual who has the creative abilities to network, seek, inspire, work around and get their desired results. Self and all-round developed creatives always and always will be the first to see their results. It is an insult to present their ideas to them and make them a second recipient.

Creatives are inspired by work. Not that they need to see their titles and select the work that is assigned in their job description. Creatives job description is simple: Get the job done. Run till the last mile. Seek and see the satisfaction and glee in the customer.

Are you a creative ?

Be Cranky, be Bold, be Risky: Digress to Initiate is a success habit

Often, I had realized (thanks to my boss for pointing it out) that the team which signs up for a bold new initiative or idea, digresses a bit to get the mojo to make the initiative a success. I deliberately follow what my mentors taught me: "Be cranky, be bold, be risky". It was too personal a learning that I didn't pass it along. But when I observed my teams who are ready to take up new ventures, I realized that they have taken these lessons onto themselves.

Be it a new productivity tool, a process change initiative, a team wide initiative like Knowledge Management, a New Product Implementation, an over-committed project, deadlines that are in past, initiative takers do not follow the path of management, existing processes or rules of organization. They need to digress, they need to create fun, they want to find  doing something out of realm, each one have to find out the personal connection, and they need to reinvent new methods for the initiative to succeed.

While lots of books have been written on how innovations, new products happen with top-down evangelism and many celebrated failures before a great hit and a sustainable model is evolved, I think often overlooked fact is how many times digressions has taken place by individuals and how it helps initiatives thrive in organizations and particularly when it is driven bottom-up and has created blue-oceans across industries.

At least my team seems to find their mojo from this and hence almost any new initiative often has a tangible and good end signalling start of a new phase. How has initiatives been shaping in your workplace ?

Confidence and discomfort for better Thinking

Once we know we are on the path free of traffic, we put on cruise control and hold the steering wheel just to navigate.
This is comfort zone that devours us from thinking and is boring to our spirits. We are controlled with a switch and no longer live our way.

In traffic, we get uncomfortable, navigate our way, think to get our way out faster, change gears, calculate probabilities of lanes for fast movement and importantly make choices all the time.

In both instances, we are confident of our riding abilities. It is just that thinking, evaluating choices  and making decisions, makes us alert, responsible and responsive in uncomfortable situations. It is in making continous decisions and evaluations that allows every one in traffic to bring out their best abilities to get their way faster.

Hence it is confidence and discomfort that makes us agile and better professionals than use confidence to slip in comfort zones.

What say ?

Convergence Marketing

Peter Drucker wisely said that there are only two critical tasks for an organization - Marketing and Innovation. Only Visionaries can mean it so true.

A project is a delivery that brings in top line to the organization. However the true bottom line is recognized through the innovation that brings about the freshness in the current as well as future projects. Creation of various product/service mix at various price points enable the benefits of the organization multifold and beyond the transient nature of projects.

At the same time, any task or activity that is done to get a sale, can be considered a marketing effort. For example, cold call can be argued as the first sales step. Widening the perspective, we can consider it a marketing program, since it is the first touch point in getting a feel and setting an expectation with a prospect. To get a sale, you need to go further in creating needs/desires, gain confidence on solution, may be give a sample POC, get to convince stakeholders on the investment and then seek permission to make a sale.

Since till the time a sale is made and closed, the main task is to get the prospect closer to us. This requires creating/understanding the desire, configuring a product/service that best addresses the needs and show a working model, based on which a sales person can ask for the sale and discuss the commercials.

So more and more I read the statement of Peter Drucker, the more I am convinced that be it delivery, support, sales, administration; innovation and marketing are the key catalysts in division or organization sustenance.

Related Posts:
1. A Best Marketing Program
2. Make it Visible
3. The way to market an IT solution
4. Brand building by Project Manager
5. The best Marketing Tool - Projects
6. Evolution Story - Power of Need

References:
* I took the Drucker quote from Marketing practice blog.

The way to market an IT solution - Look at the storyline and how they build it.

Was digging thru my mail archives and found this one addressed to my team during the release of Google Wave. Felt good again about the email, that I am sharing....

You must now have realized that work alone is not going to get you places. You need to talk, evangelize, support, energize, and invigorate the work.

As usual, Google guys have got it right with their latest offering.

http://wave.google.com/

My suggestion: Create a group and watch it together. You will have lot of lessons and insights to change your work practices.

Note: It is the developer guy who speaks, types fast (uses spell checker in right way) and yea dances too. The PM just prompts.