NPPMagSims

36 / 40

36 I NonprofitProfessionalPerformance Magazine
False Leadership
“We don’t have Time for Creativity.”
The idea that people don’t have time
for creativity is both laughable and
saddening. You don’t have time not to
seek creativity. Daily things can assist
in this growth. Design boards bring
together the things you find appealing, to see
how they might intersect in new and valuable
ways. For those less visually inclined, there is
the “commonplace” book. Before handheld
computers and smartphones, many brilliant
thinkers kept a book on hand and, when they
encountered an idea, a quote, etc., they would
write it in the commonplace book. Then
when they needed to come up with things,
there was a physical book to reference.
It doesn’t take much time to increase your
creativity with the visuals of a design board
or a commonplace book. I use Evernote to
dump anything intriguing. Ideas stem from a
pre-existing framework, so exposing yourself
to new ideas and saving them for future use
will provide you with the framework for
creativity.
False Archetypes
“I am not a Creative —They Are.”
This is one of the most dangerous statements
and biggest myths about creativity. It is
dangerous, from a leadership standpoint,
to think that only certain people have the
ability to generate ideas on demand. People
who think they are NOT part of that group
discount themselves and their ability to come
up with ideas. There is a confirmation bias
here: if you think you don’t have it,you won
is also dangerous for those we call “creatives,”
because it says, “Never mind your skills and
talent and all of the work that you have put
in to become as good as you are, it came from
a certain ‘genetic code’ or something.” Thus,
it undermines the leader, the supposed “non-
creatives,” and the supposed “creatives.”
Every great groundbreaking innovation
stems from the combination of pre-existing
ideas. People tend to grow expertise in one
deep level area. However, creativity often
emerges for those taking a T-shaped path.
These individuals are deep in a specific area,
but cultivate knowledge and exposure across
a wider variety of exposed areas, giving a
more diverse and broader perspective to
utilize as the raw material for new ideas. It
simply involves talking to people you don’t
normally talk to, pursuing experiences you
don’t normally pursue, reading things you
don’t normally read, and learning things that
are out of your area of expertise. That isn’t
easy, but it is simple. We love doing what
we find comforting, which is what we have
always done.
False Framework
“We don’t have Room for Creativity and
Innovation. We are a Nonprofit.”
I encourage social benefit leaders to
examine Clayton Christensen’s The
Innovator’s Dilemma. This framework
that, because we are social benefit
organizations we don’t have room for
innovation, can be damaging. Too
often, we just assume that we should
continue the way things are, within the
comfort of sameness. Usually people
look at new opportunities and believe that
it makes more sense to maintain the present
course. It usually takes an “upstart” who is
ahead of the change curve to examine that
niche, engage it, and grow it exponentially.
Steve Jobs believed that the best way to move
forward was to cannibalize Apple to change
for growth. This functions the same way in
the nonprofit world (though you have to
stay true to your core mission and values).
Organizations that play around with new
concepts and ideas are more likely to thrive
than those that don’t.
There is a continuum between being reactive
and being planners. Wherever you are, take
a small step toward being reactive. There
is value in saying, “Here is where we are
going, but we are willing to be wrong.” As
we progress, if data contradicts our plan, we
can modify and change. Peter Sims calls this
“little bets.” The far end of the continuum,
at planning, is where we place a lot of little
bets. As we learn more about what works
(and doesn’t) we’ll move farther down the
continuum toward the reactive end.This gives
people the freedom to be wrong.That fear of
being wrong typically stands in the way of a
lot of people’s creative abilities. Most ideas
don’t come out fully formed.Most great ideas
start out terrible, but as you revise and react
to feedback, they get better and better. This
idea of little bets gives people permission
The Myth Buster
Recognizing the Creativity in All of Us!
david burkus