The Creative Manager
Do you have an old problem that you just can’t seem
to solve? Believe it or not you have a multitude of
resources available to assist you in this quest. What
are these resources you’re asking? Well, look around.
It is your staff. Using your staff to solve old and new
problems lends credibility to you as a leader/manager
and builds cohesiveness within your team.
Quite often managers will avoid working on an issue because they think it is just too hard to solve. For these folks it is easy to simply keep doing business in the “status quo” mode. Never really growing or relinquishing the opportunity for someone else to be innovative. Your staff will view you as an ineffective manager. They know your problems and probably have a bank full of suggestions just waiting for you to solicit their input.
Within an organization you will find that everyone has something to contribute. It’s finding those attributes you need now and putting them
to work. Leaders must be open to accept the help of the staff without feeling like they are a failure. The creative juices of the team will flow openly when presented with the problem and an opportunity to provide input.
Here are my top ten tips to assist you on your journey to being more creative and effective:
1. Clearly state the problem and what you hope to accomplish.
2. Ask for unrestrained innovative ideas and strategies. You can always revise based upon available resources.
3. Be open to the wide range of ideas and suggestions that you will receive.
4. Never disregard any idea.
5. Realize that solutions may be as near as the television, internet or in a past study of the problem.
6. Assign a project manager to gather and organize all of the input you will receive.
7. Involve the staff in a review of the suggestions.
8. Implement those that seem most feasible to your situation for a trial period.
9. Provide a means to receive comments after implementation.
10. Thank the staff for their input.
The creative manager will foster an atmosphere of success and productivity
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