|
|
|
Business Innovation – Good Thinking Not Leadership
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.
There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be...
Failure is Not an Option
I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that online businesses -- just like brick and mortar businesses -- have a very high failure rate for startups. Ever wonder why that is? There are several business consultants, success...
Introduction to Marketing for 1st time business owners
Introduction to Marketing for 1st time business owners Copyright Ben Botes and My1stBusiness.com – 2003 – 2005 Marketing is determining which orders you would like to win. Selling is getting out there and winning orders once you have decided...
Low or No Cost Ways to Market Your Cleaning Business
It doesn't matter what a fantastic service your cleaning
business provides if no one knows that you exist. If you are
clever and motivated there are numerous ways to promote your
business that don't have to cost a bundle. Here are just a few:
...
New Ideas For Small Business Holiday Marketing
2 seconds after Halloween it seems that all the retail stores put up their Christmas decorations - trying to capture as much of the Holiday market as possible. Typical ways that retail stores use to capitalize on the holidays include extended...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Have You Put a Straightjacket on Your Business Potential?
When you mention the words structure, organizational system or
process, most business owners flee. The myth that a formal
structure will restrict creativity, kill flexibility, make the
company too impersonal and lead to bureaucracy is exactly the
opposite of what is possible with a well-designed structure.
"Personalities dictate how things are done around here" is not
far from the truth for too many companies that struggle.
The stigma of an organizational structure that has the
paralyzing effect of stability and consistency is far from the
truth. In reality, when you engage a system, you allow yourself
to structure your business around what you want your business to
achieve, enhance your employees' growth and learning, and build
a progressive learning system into the position, thereby
fostering change and improvement.
The results you get from your business are directly related to
the way you have your business organized. Surprisingly, most
leaders pay very little attention to structure, opting to stick
with their original structure, while others allow functions and
systems to evolve haphazardly and by chance. When leaders focus
on improving the structure with an eye toward change,
innovations, and environment, they can begin to eliminate the
bureaucratic tendencies of a company.
Vision and communication are essential during the creation of
your structure. The structure must direct the vision of the
individuals toward tomorrow, and it also must give employees
clarity on where they are, where they should be going to achieve
results, and what help the organization provides to get there.
This should all be built into the communication elements of the
structure, and is fundamental to continued success.
"We Were Successful Before Doing it This Way and will be Again"
All companies begin for specific reasons. At the outset,
activities and purpose are clear; energy and motivation is high.
Employees have a sense of hope for a better future. Everyone
point to the same direction, and you have great success with it
- for a brief time.
After the initial excitement, conditions change internally and
externally. This natural turn of events should rise to the
willing change of objectives. In spite of the logic of change,
modifying goals, and adding new skills, most companies do not
change, and instead defend the status quo.
The stark reality is that we do not know what we don't know. We
don't know that we're standing still as the world changes,
because we only see what's going on inside our business. We
don't realize the impact that structure has on moving the
company forward or backward, and we tend to not want to view our
structures in those terms. We sometimes don't even realize that
employees need structure to allow them to meet their own
personal needs, which is a prerequisite for
organizational
change and possibility. When you choose not to look at these
factors - these unknowns - you lead your business into
complacency.
Without the possibility of an update, your organization becomes
a straightjacket.
With no renewed purpose, work and systems become habitual and
ingrained. Energy usually created by expectations and
achievement drains; motivation is gone and performance suffers.
Employees identify more with work than results. Activity for
activity's sake becomes the norm. The process becomes more
important than the idea of the goal, the objectives, and the
vision. Even the boss gets caught up in activity and becomes
caught in the downward spiral. The organization's structure,
which allows no updating, has become a straightjacket.
Your structure is the vision of your company, and it must be
revised as the world changes. Take the time monthly to review
your structure and compare where you company is in terms of
overall goals, as this will help you decide if the structure is
suitable. When you are unwilling to upgrade your structure, you
welcome the birth of inflexibility within your business.
Your Vision - The Most Crucial Part of Your Structure
Remember that your vision plays the most important part in
determining what structure you need. Let the blended view of
your current reality and what your vision is to determine what
changes need to be made in the structure--how you are organized.
Use the following questions as a guide:
1. What was your original purpose? 2. What is your current
purpose? 3. How have recent changes impacted your vision? 4.
What are the key result areas that must succeed? 5. What
personal changes do you want in the organization? 6. What
obstacles do you anticipate? 7. How can you best arrange the
organization for responsiveness, results, people development and
growth?
Answering the above questions on a regular basis is the best way
to decide both purpose and organization. Having a clear purpose
and being structured to continually update and reach that
purpose enables you to attract and keep strong management and
productive personnel.
As you can see, these few simple questions will achieve great
results in a short amount of time. Once you have the system set
up to modify your structure, it no longer looks so stagnant.
You'll begin to realize your business organization is really
your vehicle for growth and innovation, therefore creating the
continual upward momentum your business needs.
About the author:
Richard L Reardon is the CEO of the Business Coaching Forum. He
has spent over 20 years as a consultant and executive coach who
helps businesses and professionals achieve what they want. Visit
http://www.TheBusinessCoachingForum.com, or email
Richard@RichardReardon.com to begin achieving today!
|
|
|
|
|
| Creativity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of ... Wallas considered creativity to be a legacy of the evolutionary process, ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Creativity For Life |
| An exploration of creativity in everyday life, with articles, quotes, reviews and other creative resources to awaken creativity in daily life. |
| www.creativityforlife.com |
|
| AdCritic.com: Commercial Ads |
| FROM CREATIVITY: Emerging Directors, Unite In the time it took to write this, three new directors popped up. Here are twenty to get acquainted with. ... |
| www.adcritic.com |
|
| National Curriculum in Action - Creativity - |
| Ordering Creativity packs: print and video materials. This website gives practical ideas on how to promote pupils' creative thinking and behaviour. ... |
| www.ncaction.org.uk |
|
| Ten Steps for Boosting Your Creativity |
| Experiments performed by the JPB Creative Laboratory show that watching TV causes your ... a weekly report on creativity, ideas, innovation and invention ... |
| www.jpb.com |
|
| Category:Creativity Techniques - Mycoted |
| This is a general category of Creativity and Innovation Techniques, ... I like to think of these creativity techniques as tools in a toolbox in much the ... |
| www.mycoted.com |
|
| Creativity at Work: The interplay of business, art and science |
| A resource for training and development in creativity and innovation in organizations. Has a newsletter, and some articles and essays by 'Corporate ... |
| www.creativityatwork.com |
|
| Crayola Creativity Central |
| Crayola Creativity Central offers kids arts and crafts ideas for rainy day fun. We also have coloring books and pages, art and craft projects, games, ... |
| www.crayola.com |
|
| Pages tagged with "creativity" on del.icio.us |
| All items tagged creativity ??? view popular ... Perspective for Creative Leaders · save this. by aromay to creativity business management ... 1 hour ago ... |
| del.icio.us |
|
| Creativity Web - Resources for Creativity and Innovation |
| Creativity Web Home Page Resources for Creativity and Innovation ... The Creative Process · Multiple Intelligences · Idea Recording · Your Creative Space ... |
| members.optusnet.com.au |
|
| gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards": how to ... |
| So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. ... Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion ... |
| www.gapingvoid.com |
|
| Creativity Quotes | Creativity Quotations | Creativity Sayings ... |
| Quotes on Creativity - part of a larger collection of Wisdom Quotes to challenge and inspire. Find Creativity quotations and links to quotes on other ... |
| www.wisdomquotes.com |
|
| Ideas by Creativity Pool |
| A free database with new ideas and possible inventions. Add your own, or bring an existing idea to life. |
| www.creativitypool.com |
|
| CREATIVITY |
| Creative problem solving depends on using the right tools, tricks, ... Search for the latest books on Creativity (or anything else) in the Quantum Books ... |
| www.quantumbooks.com |
|
| Creativity Tools, Creative Solutions & Creative Problem Solving ... |
| This page explains a wide range of techniques which can help you generate creative solutions to your problems. |
| www.mindtools.com |
|
| The 6 Myths Of Creativity |
| A new study will change how you generate ideas and decide who's really creative in your company. |
| www.fastcompany.com |
|
| CreativeClass.org |
| Richard Florida's "The Rise of the Creative Class" examines creativity and its effects on economic development. |
| www.creativeclass.org |
|
| TIP: Concepts |
| The relationship between creativity and intelligence has been always been a central concern of psychology ( Guilford , 1950). Much effort has been devoted ... |
| tip.psychology.org |
|
| American Creativity Association (ACA) |
| An incorporated non-profit organization promoting personal and professional creativity. Association membership is represented by four multidisciplinary ... |
| www.amcreativityassoc.org |
|
| CREAX - Portal for creativity and innovation |
| A resource for links on creativity and innovation on the web. A selection of 690 links is divided into 67 categories for the visitors convenience. |
| www.creax.net |
|
|