Is your Organization Authentic enough for Change?

Many organizations crave for more creative talent amongst employees. They wish their staff would come up with workable solutions for existing problems more often. They recruit new people with the hope for winning competitive advantage through external expertise and outsider experience. They urge for more brain power in form of resourcefulness and innovation in their work force, to gain and maintain more market share.
The reality often looks different. Hopeful appeals of managers and leaders for great and practical ideas from their employees are met by silence. It seems as if people would leave their creativity, positive spirits and ambitions at home and instead wait for instructions in plain language from their bosses. Where is their interest and imagination for new thought? Does an improved work strategy always have to come from the top?
Managers and leaders, who are faced with this challenge of a lack of creativity and willpower for change in their departments and organizations, need to ask themselves only one question:
Do we genuinely want our people to take part in any change process, or are we only paying lip service to the demand for more creativity? Or phrased differently: Is our Organization Authentic enough for Change?

Dear leaders: to get more out of your work associates, don’t just organize more workshops, team building events and think tank sessions. Look at your own philosophy of thought that guides everyone from top executives to shop floor supervisor. How open are you towards new ideas on a daily basis? Are you really interested in what your people have to say? Are you aware that when it comes down to actually implementing a different way of thinking, you might be hesitant to do so, because you are not only sharing resources but also a degree of power with your employees?
Businesses that embrace the notion of openness and exploration of new ideas have an organizational culture that is flexible and adaptable. Their employees are encouraged to get involved in the design of work processes on a daily basis, and their performance development exceeds the training of certain skill and behaviors. I admit to actually manage a creative mindset on a day-to-day basis can be enriching as well as arduous for leaders. First, it challenges one’s own ways of working and requires more time and communication with staff members. Second, it gets much harder to assess a person’s performance on behaviors that exceed a restricted list of competencies and key performance indicators. And, by the way, the creative talent you are looking for might just be hidden in your most rebellious employee or that walking question mark in your team. Meaning: they could be where you least expect it.
But if you would like others to follow, you need to be the one to lead. That goes also for opening up for new ways of thinking. Authentic leaders provide several pre-conditions to encourage creativity in their employees; if you are a leader, try those out:

Provide an example by leaving your own intellectual comfort zone sometimes.
Don’t just lean on to your expertise and let others be brave by experimenting with new ideas. Think outside the box yourself. Actively search for other people’s opinions and listen with an open heart.

Be open about professional success and failure.
Transparency will help your people see that it can be worth taking a plunge. Trying new things is risky, even if you only lose time. Talk about the benefits and risks by following a new lead. This will help to assess new projects responsibly.

Conduct Performance Review without the paperwork for once.
Go beyond your rating scales and actually look at your staff member’s individuality. Instead of aligning the person to a list of desired behaviors, focus on what you really value about them. This will be an encouragement to follow your lead for progressive change beyond the performance measures used at your organization.

Experience and Practice steps 1-3 on a daily basis.
Only your consistency can break old habits. Show them that you mean it.

Real and constant improvement of daily work procedures as well as long lasting change is no straightforward process. The genuine willingness to explore new ideas, learning and growing has to be embodied in leaders first before they can expect them in all others. Hence, for those of you who are looking for more creative people, I recommend to ‘authenticize’ your organization: be authentic in what your want from others yourself. The spirit will spread all by itself.