by John Brooker | Mar 23, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 83 Creative Tension is something you must use if you are to be more creative … “I believe that working together is about institutionalizing tension so we can make breakthroughs” Jim Farley, Chief Marketing Officer at Ford Motor Company Do you have creative tensions? When you think of Venice, do you imagine riding in a gondola, cruising the sun dappled canals, an operatic gondolier at the helm? Wake up. The gondolas are still there (for the tourists), but if you go, you’ll notice the locals use water buses and taxis, vaporetti and motoscafi, in the local parlance. Riding a vaporetto on holiday last year, I noticed how fast they sped along the canal and the wash they caused. This wash erodes the very buildings the Venetians are striving to preserve, leading to tension between the preservationists and the boat owners. I reflected that this is a good example of what I call “Creative Tension”. You may be aware that Dr Peter Senge, Senior Lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, describes Creative Tension in this way: “Creative Tension comes from seeing clearly where we want to be, our “vision,” and telling the truth about where we are, our “current reality.” The gap between the two generates a natural tension.” Personally I consider this to be Strategic Tension. Creative Tension to me is: “Differing views on how something should be achieved lead to creative tension between the different parties, resulting in a better outcome”. This last point is important. Without the better outcome, we simply have tension that leads to stalemate or one party imposing their...
by John Brooker | Feb 16, 2012 | Innovate
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 48 We should reward those people who take risks in their career as well as those who take a more conventional route “Do we give the people we hire an enriching mix of experiences?” James A. Christiansen in “Building the Innovative Organisation” Do you encourage people to take on risky projects or job? Do you reward them? Like many people in England, I sat on the edge of my seat on Saturday evening as English players lined up to take penalties in the World Cup match against Portugal. My brain told me they were going to lose but my heart hoped and the adrenaline pumped. Portugal missed and the noise in our house was deafening (my son has a very high pitched scream that would bring down a cruise missile) but England missed three and we were very sad. Whilst out running this morning, I reflected on those penalty takers and wondered if the guys who take the penalties get a bonus for risking the wrath of a sizable part of the English nation. I wondered too if organisations reward adequately those people who take risks in their career. Let’s illustrate this with a couple of examples: a. A manager, after three successful years in his job, is bored and senior management allow him to set up a new department in a field in which he has no experience but lots of enthusiasm and ideas. At his pay review six months later, his boss tells him that “his performance hasn’t quite met objectives so his salary award will be average.” Our manager thinks “I...
