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- O r g a n i z a t i o n a l _ I n n o v a t i o n -

From Creativity Fringes (January, 1995) the USDA Forest Service's internal creativity newsletter. Thanks to David McCauley for making these tips available.

• Make certain your risks are in compliance with personal values and goals.
• Focus on what you want to accomplish, not what you want to avoid.
• Take advantage of seminars and other educational opportunities. View them as laboratories in which you can discover and experiment with new ideas.
• Treat risks as adventures aimed at creating greatness.
• Use communications hardware and software -- such as fax machine, e-mail, the Internet, modems and cellular phones -- to facilitate dialogue among employees.
• Reduce pressures that are not being created out of the reality of competition.
• Always be on the lookout for cost-saving or income-producing projects.
• Consider the possibility of a career change. You may have interests and talents that can be applied to a more fulfilling or lucrative occupation.
• "Conscious effort is both able and necessary to pursue new directions. Perspiration is, in fact, an excellent investment." -- John Adams.
• Don't push for consensus too early.
• Train people in creative confrontation or healthy disagreement. Divergent thinking stimulates creative potential.
• Watch the competition and closely assess your own operations in comparisons.
• Prevent complacency by continuously raising goals and expectations.
• Let people know that "mistakes" are necessary and part of the creative process.
• Call upon impartial yet informed outsiders for periodic reviews.
• Since people usually perform at the level they are expected to perform, raise expectations
• Don't ignore deadlines, but give yourself certain time frames where the object is only to "play" with certain ideas that aren't related to problem solving situations at hand.
• While maintaining high standards for performance, do not limit ways in which people can succeed.
• Show willingness to take on longer- term, more complex projects or initiate more substantial change than usual.
• Consult, collaborate and participate with people who are excellent at what they do.
• Recognize that incremental changes can be as important as major breakthroughs. Don't overlook the significance of small improvements.
• Within reasonable boundaries, share power and increase autonomy throughout your organization. Enable people at all levels to exercise judgment, arrive at conclusions, come to decisions and act accordingly.
• Be receptive to good ideas from unexpected sources.
• Ask employees whether they think their work contributes to what the business does. Then ask how they might contribute more. Involve employees in strategic planning for the business's future.
• Assign employees, particularly those not in the mainstream of the business, to committees or task forces engaged in meaningful projects.

David McCauley can be reached at 510-825-9800.