Creativity and innovation seem to be the favoured words in the business world at the moment. There are tons of books, articles, conferences, and blog entries emphasizing that the key to success in business is the differentiation from competitors by innovation and creative thinking. The contemporary business world is indeed a highly competitive place where many people and companies are doing the same thing at the same time. The hottest companies such as Apple, Airbnb, Google, Netflix or Amazon.com – to mention just a few familiar names – have all realized that being fast and aggressive is not enough anymore; they also need to be different. This is the reason why many of the modern successful companies have incorporated into their workplaces and procedures new practices to promote and foster a higher level of creative behaviour among their employees. It seems that these organizations have become convinced by the idea, which creativity experts such as Edward de Bono had already launched several decades ago: that creativity is not an innate talent reserved for an elite of artists and scientific geniuses, but rather it is simply the ability to perceive the world in new ways and to generate solutions. This means that creativity is actually a skill that can be trained and improved by anyone.
The key question is, of course, how can we train and develop our creativity? As a solution, many leading companies have adjusted their physical work spaces to become comfortable and casual: a kind of play-and-relax-friendly place where the easy flow of information is facilitated. The idea is to promote a horizontal organizational structure where all team members feel confident to speak up and communicate their views on any issue.
In the contemporary business culture, creativity has also become a commodity. There is a growing army of creativity experts and consultants, who offer various solutions to companies who see innovation as the answer to the challenges they are facing and thus want to foster creativity among their workers. Among the numerous solutions offered by the creativity consultants that now crowd the market, an exceptionally interesting approach is that offered by the creators of Lego blocks. Their methodology, known as Lego Serious Play, consists of putting adults to play with Lego blocks with the conviction that such handiwork helps them to visualize and express abstract concepts. The sessions take place in workshops led by certified Lego Serious Play facilitators. The facilitator distributes kits of blocks to the participants and assigns them various tasks, such as “use the blocks to build a model that represents you inside the company” or “build a model that represents your nightmare boss.”
It seems that these models may end up showing new ideas and points of view that people are perhaps not able to think of in a conscious manner. Furthermore, when the participants explain their models to the others, they can verbally express details of which they were not even aware. Playing and using their hands also get people more actively involved in the activity than any traditional lecture or meeting, in which usually one person speaks while the others (supposedly) listen.
Sounds great, but how can my company take the advantage of this program? Or even better, how can I become a facilitator myself? The good news is that there are Lego Serious Play facilitators all over the world as well as training courses to become one of them. The bad news is that all this does not come cheap. A four-day training course for prospective facilitators costs 2500-3000 €, and certified facilitators will naturally charge hefty fees for the workshops.
So there is indeed lots of optimism in the air about innovative and creative business models. However, it should also be pointed out that this hype does not come without a price, for the tendency of contemporary business culture to emphasize innovation shows the other side of the coin. Thanks to the companies’ focus on creativity and innovative products, the market offers a wide variety of highly technological devices, which are developed by the “creative elite” and marketed to the “masses.” In my opinion, these devices make our life easier, our communication faster, our rest more comfortable, and our work less challenging. From this somewhat pessimistic perspective, this cult of creativity and innovation leads to a paradox: while a skilled (and well-paid) minority needs to become more and more creative to make their companies thrive in the competitive business world, the masses are in danger of becoming less and less creative because they are left with very few problems to solve in their everyday life.
Something to think of next time you are about to use the intelligent parking assist system in your car.
