Harvard Business Review Online | Managing for Creativity
There is a great article on harvard business review entitled
[Managing for Creativity](http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbrsa/en/issue/0507/article/R0507L.jhtml?path=arc&pubDate=July%202005). It looks at SAS and how they manage creativity.
This really got my back into my creativity and knowledge management courses, which also made the point several time that for creative people to flourish, you need creative tension (different people working together on a common goal and pushing themselves upwards), abrasion (rubbing of on others) and requisite variety (variety in your people). To help that you should really reach out and talk to your customers and use them to get new ideas. The ideas are everywhere, they just need to happen.
Yes, creative people want to do good work, and if things hinder them doing that, they will leave. That’s also why Tom Peters term for a manager, a barrier removal professional, is really true and important to keep in your head.
Another important item is honesty and not making people feel as you are greedy or just using them. All this is very specific to a person, as each person is different. So you need to learn their traits inside out and give them what they want. SAS send their developers to conferences and training a lot so they get new information and knowledge, and, something that fell through the cracks a bit in the article, to get them connected to their community of practice. By now, we know that creativity, and knowledge creation works in interdisciplinary teams but also within your community of practice which extends far beyond the company.
The importance of people is why I think the term Human Resource Manager is flawed and outdated. People aren’t resources that are used up but assets that are leveraged. The name should be Human Resource Leverager. As SAS sees, outsourcing is a bad idea in this case, as you are taking away your option to leverage those assets.
Another important point coming out of the article, is that it’s not about what you push into something but what comes out at the other end. As an example, an employee should be able to see his kid at his first day at school. Do you think somebody will be more productive not being able to do that? If people are really motivated, and creative people are if they feel they can be creative, then they will pull their weight, even if they take a break to play tennis in the middle of the day!
On top of that, you need to respect your boss and he needs to really understand what you are doing. So Semco’s idea of letting employees choose their boss can be a very good one if handled correctly. Some very good points in the article and some people out there should really get their head around. If this is the age of the creatives, than managing better changes fast.