8 Be a creative leader

YES! AND…blog # 8   “You have the capability to lead. Even if others are not yet ready to follow you can still lead yourself. You can be a leader of one.”    John Brooker inspired by the words of Tony Robbins Do you want to be a creative leader? I once attended an Anthony Robbins weekend “seminar”. It was an awesome event. I can best describe it as a self development rock concert, so may I suggest before you read on, you put on the music that most makes you want to dance round the room screaming “Yes”. Tony is a motivational coach. He has a lot of thoughtful information to impart, delivering it with an enthusiasm that fires up 12000 people (and that’s before the fire walk). One point he made that resonated with me I have written as the quotation above. Read it again. Does this ring true with those of you trying to enhance creativity and innovation in your organisation but finding it a challenge?   At times, that challenge can daunt you, especially if others are not yet ready to follow. If others are unwilling, there is still something you can do. You can focus on you leading you to be consistently creative, to build your own creative climate and to lead by example. Here are six ideas to be your own creative leader. You might like to develop this list to suit you. Develop a vision for what your work place or home life will be like when YOU are being truly creative and innovative. What will it look, feel, sound, taste and...

51 Inspiring Leadership

YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 51 The key role of a creative leader is to inspire others. To inspire others we can express ourselves, alternatively our tacit behaviour may inspire more. “Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation not intimidation” William Arthur Wood (An earthenware manufacturer)   Who has quietly inspired you recently?   You may have seen a story (click here if you haven’t) about Buster Martin, a man who celebrated his 100th birthday at work, having worked almost every day of his life since the age of ten. There’s an inspiration for others. Or you may have seen the deeply uninspiring leadership debate in the UK Government (Please click here to read it). These and recent events in my life led me to reflect on the whole issue of inspiration. Riding my bike around my favourite lake, letting my mind ramble, I concluded that to inspire others (to encourage people into greater efforts or greater enthusiasm or creativity) is the crux of creative leadership, something which appears to be sadly lacking in much of the world’s political leadership. How might we inspire others? What do you think? It’s not difficult to recognise two ways; one is to be expressive, using inspiring words, (e.g. Henry V to his men at Harfleur courtesy of Shakespeare, , or Martin Luther King’s 1963 speech titled “I Have a Dream”). The other is through behaviour, e.g. the expressive behaviour of the football team captain, inspiring his team by fighting for every ball, his energy infecting others. As I rode I decided that words can only truly inspire if one has...

13 Encourage Transformation

 YES! AND… Facilitate. Innovate. Transform – Gorilla # 13 If you treat staff as consumers rather than as human resources, might you effect change better…? “We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses. “ Carl Jung Psychologist When you are faced with a change programme at work, would you rather be treated as a consumer or a human resource? I read somewhere that 80% of change programmes don’t achieve objectives, (if you know the source please let me know). Why might this happen? Could it be because so many change programmes treat those involved as resources to be controlled by using e.g. “bogus consultations”, “traffic light” project tracking, name and shame progress reports and “copy all” e-mails to managers who are slipping deadlines. It is little surprise that people revert to previous behaviours once the controls are released. Some years ago I took responsibility for a company change programme, to implement and document all processes. There were a few challenges because the company was not process oriented outside of computer operations, people were change fatigued after three company change programmes and the day job was keeping them busy! Had I accepted a poison chalice or a G & T on the patio? It depends how you frame the problem and reframing a problem in a different way is a powerful creative technique. “What if,” I mused, “we treat the staff as consumers rather than human resources? Would that make them more responsive?” So we did, and they were. We ran the change programme as a consumer campaign. We held optional consultation sessions (over a third...