Fire up your group’s creativity--or get fired

“When Sparks Fly”
By Dorothy Leonard
And Walter Swap
Harvard Business School Press, 1999



We’ve seen the “creative types” – or stereotypes: they are individuals working in bursts of energy, unpredictable, eccentric, flamboyant, spontaneous. Their renowned creativity is veiled in mystery – reputedly born of intuitive impulses or emanating from deep recesses of the subconscious. That is why their creative processes, a common notion says, cannot be subjected to rational analysis.

Author Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap in their book “When Sparks Fly” disagree. In fact, they have identified and shattered some myths about creativity.

First, they say, creativity is not a monopoly of individuals, since groups can be as creative – if not more. Second, creativity is not an unknowable process, because some “science” can lift the shroud of magic and make it manageable.

Third, creativity is not confined to the arts of to high-technology industries, because it is present – and can in fact be tapped – in all other organizations.

Only one thing is required: group creativity must be fired up – or ignited, as the book’s subtitled puts it.

Authors Leonard and Swap, who unmistakably belong to the category of those who believe in the utilitarian function of creativity, defines it as “a process of developing and expressing novel ideas that are likely to be useful.”

So, how can a group generate these “novel ideas”? The book advances a five-step creative process: preparation, innovation opportunity, divergence (generating options), incubation, and convergence (selecting options).

These are actually not new. Other books on creativity have discussed these from philosophical and psychological points of view. And yet, what makes the authors’ approach useful is their use of recent scientific findings, their retelling of familiar and not-so-familiar stories to illustrate a point, and their easy engaging style – that can only come from experience.

On preparation, for example, the authors point out: “Creativity blooms when the mental soil is deep, rich and well prepared.”

And to stress the edge of a creative group process, they say: “Groups have a potential advantage over an individual because multiple reservoirs of deep expertise can be tapped.”

If you have been an avid students of the creative process – from dealing with mental block of writers to trying Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” – you will virtually be “talking shop” with the authors.

Fortunately, they keep their side of the conversation very instructive since they are armed with a wealth of information tidbits, scientific findings and insights.

On the other hand, if you are somehow getting your feet wet in the field of igniting creativity, this book is a handy companion, especially its first four chapters, to light up your path to a hitherto unknown territory.

How does one assemble a creative team? The authors introduce the concept of “creative abrasion” which is made possible when one rounds up a healthy mix of people from various disciplines with divergent thinking styles.

How come some executives miss this one important step in stimulating the creative juices of their people?

“Creative abrasion is scary because we prefer those who think like us or those barbarians who have become tame somehow,” the authors say.

This kind of “abrasion: must start with you, the book says, “If you are a shoot-from-the-hip person, you need a cautious, detail orientated person; if you love the proven solution, you need that reckless think-from-the-gut type.”

But why is “abrasion” needed at all? First, one can mix the visionaries with the implementers. One gets several alternatives, and then is assured of moving from idea to action. Second, if precludes “group think,” which limits options to a certain fraternity driven by one mindset or bias.

The book illuminates its advice with a narrative of incidents with added insights thrown in. In a section on the value of “divergence” (narrowing choices of options), the book recounts one disaster that flowed from “premature convergence.”

Remember the space shuttle “Challenger” that exploded in mid-air 14 years ago? Investigations conducted afterwards revealed that decision-makers were under time pressure to firm up their decisions to launch, despite some dire warnings that something could go wrong. The “urge to merge” several options became imperative. Result: disaster.

The book’s discussion on “incubation” – the process of letting go and of allowing the subconscious to take over to sort out several ideas – is enlightening. Case in point is the design of Nissan’s “Pathfinder” (local version is Terrano), which proves the wisdom of “sleeping on it.”

As the story goes, the Nissan vice president took his design crew to a movine, when the crew just could no longer crank out any more new design ideas on a new 4 x 4 Nissan SUV. Well, when the team came back from the movie “Silence of the Lambs,” their creative alternative started flowing. Result: the best-selling Pathfinder was born!

From IBM Research, here’s a tip from its executive: “If you have a choice between planning and prototyping, choose the latter.” The prototype, as preliminary vision of an innovation, can be handled, viewed, experienced.” Don’t miss this section. It might even help you immediately with an idea you are fashioning right now – not in words – but in animation or in a scale model.

Overall, the book shall have done its job if, after reading it, you will have the confidence to expect creativity from your team, and not depend on only one “creative” individual. And this book shall have served its purpose well if you can say: “Merely working harder doesn’t always provide the best solution.”

And, expectedly, you are well on your way to fire up your team to creative heights. The contrary outcome is surely unacceptable: you might get fired.