HOW TO LEAD YOUR CREATIVE PEOPLE Why thats important and what to do about it By Nigel Collin Leading Creatives

Being Creative is Sexy Being creave is sexy. Everybody is talking about it and everybody is doing it. Being creave is the new black. And in business, being creave is even sexier. Why Because being creave drives business. It adds real value to a business. Value to its people, value to its customers, and value to its boBom line. Log onto any business website, such as

The Creativity Gap But there is a problem because there is a gap. Theres a gap between the value an organizaon places on being creave and its ability to tap into its creave resources to fully use the talents of its creave people. How do we know this Because we asked. Recently, we conducted a survey of both business leaders and creave people2. One of the quesons we

The Challenge The answer lies in the challenge that faces creave organizaons. The challenge is not actually to find creave people and its not to teach your people how to be more creave. The real challenge facing creave organizaons is knowing how to lead your creave people and your innovave thinkers. It is knowing how to tap into their talents, harness their genius,

Monkeys, Zoos, and Ducks To do that, you need to consider 3 things. 1. Leadership Leading creave people is a completely different game. Its like herding monkeys. 2. A Crea0ve Environment. You need to build an environment that supports and smulates creavity. You need to build a Creave Zoo. 3. The Right Crea0ve Process You need to have a process in place where coming up with

Herding Monkeys Leadership Leading creave people is like herding monkeys. Creaves oien appear to be all over the place, off in a world of their own, but theyre also very communal and enjoy hanging out with other creave types. Theyre brilliant at slinging stuff theyre always throwing ideas, designs, and concepts around. They are incredibly smart. And we need them. They think,

need to know what the task at hand is. Robert Davis of Davis Adversing Inc3 put this beaufully when he said, My job is to develop and communicate my vision. You need to be a mentor and a coach. You need to know how to empower them, guide them, earn their respect... the last thing you want to be is their boss Creaves love having clear direcon, knowin

Creating Zoos Environment You also need to provide your creatives with the right environment that will support and stimulate their creativity. You need to create the Zoo. A good Creative Zoo is a place where creative people love to hang out. Its where they feel they belong and can interact with other creative people. Its a place where they feel inspired and are free to

Time Lets face it the creave process doesnt work 9 to 5. It needs me to do its thing. So leaders need to harness its potenal by providing environments that let their creave people be flexible with me. Am I saying come and go as you please No, but there needs to be a certain amount of flexibility to harness me to your creave advantage. Resources Whatever you

Shooting Ducks Process Lastly, you need a process in place where coming up with ideas is like shoong ducks at a carnival. Because, when you think about it, theres no shortage of ducks. They just keep on coming. The trick the art is knowing how to hit the ducks, and even more importantly, hit the ducks that will pay you the really big prize. As a young lad, I

The issue is not coming up with ideas, its coming up with ideas that make a difference. Thats another maBer altogether. Yes, you need to set the ducks in moon, but the real talent lies in hipng the right ones and hipng them consistently. To do that, you need to have the right processes in place. Alarmingly, most organizaons dont When asked in our survey, Does y

Hitting the Creative Sweet Spot Heres the excing bit. If you get each of those three things working together and in harmony, what youll discover is a beauful, creave sweet spot. When you hit the sweet spot, everything just clicks and works synchroniscally. This is where everything falls into place. Where being creave, seeing possibilies, and coming up with really good ideas is s

About Nigel Collin Nigel helps businesses and people lead their creave people. He has a knack for creang synergy between creave people and business outcomes a knack which, happily, he is able to teach to others. With genuine knowledge and experience on the front line of working with both creave people and business leaders, Nigel understands how to use the creave talents a

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