Stop being creative!
Yes you’re reading it right. Stop being creative. Creativity is bad for organisations. It generates too many ideas that rarely get implemented and everyone is tired of that. No one, especially C-level managers, wants to listen to creative people when there is a ton of work to be done and other problems to be solved. So, what to do?
1/3 Stop being creative and start being innovative. What’s the difference? Creativity means ideas. Innovation means implementation.
2/3 Every time you have an idea, think of what are the first three experiments you want to make to test it. Innovation means iteration.
3/3 Study your organisation inside out. This will give you clues who and how can help you. Innovation means team.
Remember, anyone could be creative, but not anyone can be innovative. Creativity means ideas. Innovation means bringing in real value though hard work and courage.
This is a series of experimental short posts. Read the previous one:
About the author:
Elina Zheleva is Managing Partner and Director at launchlabs Sofia — a business redesign studio with an international network of offices. Elina is a design thinking evangelist trained at the HPI School of Design Thinking and Stanford d.school. Together with her team she works around the world with organizations to help them transform into more customer-centred and innovative workplaces.
