Thesis

Most local governments pay lip service to creativity and innovation, but rarely are they a serious focus in our profession. It is easy to profess support for creativity and innovation, but significantly more challenging to actually implement creative and innovative programs.

Context

Let’s define the concepts of creativity and innovation. Creativity is the ability or skill—plus the freedom, motivation, and courage—to think differently to develop new programs and processes that differ significantly from the present. Innovation is the ability to take creative ideas and successfully implement them within an organization.

A good creative idea that does not get implemented leads to frustration. A bad idea that gets implemented leads to chaos. Innovation is about implementing good, creative ideas.

Too often, innovation is narrowly and mistakenly associated with technology and digital solutions. Technology may be the only area where many local governments have implemented technological innovations developed by the private sector.

Creativity is the foundation of innovation. Princeton University has attributed the following characteristics to creativity:

• Fluency: Ability to generate a large number of ideas.

• Flexibility: Ability to see a wide variety of approaches to a problem.

• Curiosity: Desire to change or improve things; “child-like” thinking.

• Persistence and Concentration: Capacity to face frustration or difficulties; sheer arduous work.

• Tolerance of Ambiguity: Fighting our desire for order and precision.

For organizations to be creative and innovative, they need to have a culture that fosters what I call “the freedom to think and the courage to act.”

Myths About Creativity

Unfortunately, most individuals and organizations do not believe they can be creative since they often fall victim to believing one or more false myths. They believe that creativity is:

• Positively correlated to I.Q.
• Something you either have or don’t have and that you can’t develop or improve it.
• Mostly relevant to the arts, social sciences, and technology.
• Not relevant or as practical for local government.
• A spontaneous act that does not involve arduous hard work and prolonged thinking.
• Driven only by organizations with money.

None of these myths is true for individuals or organizations. Well-researched studies debunk each of these myths.

Creativity/ Innovation Killers

The common culprit that kills creativity and innovation is an organizational culture where:

• No one is allowed to make mistakes.
• There is an aversion to taking risks.
• The “status quo” is the go-to option.
• The organization is driven by phases like “don’t rock the boat,” “go along to get along,” or “don’t speak truth to power.”
• Too many stupid rules, procedures, and bureaucratic barriers stifle change.
• There is lack of initiative or willingness to put in the hard work.

Without mistakes and failures, creativity and innovation are not possible. Unfortunately, elected officials and city/county managers profess to want innovation but sometimes contradict themselves by letting it be known that mistakes are not acceptable. The way around this contradiction is to use beta testing as a way to test new ideas, allow small smart mistakes, and learn before implementing organization wide. (See my previous article on beta testing, “Let’s Think Differently About... How We Implement Almost Everything!”).

The Key to Success in Creative and Innovative Organizations

The following are some guiding principles to move forward. The Organization of Economic Co-Operation and Development (OCED) surveyed what they defined as innovative governments. They categorize the most important factors that lead these governments to be creative and innovative as follows:

1. Support from top leadership.

2. A culture that fosters innovation.

3. A dedicated innovation team or a position responsible for pushing innovation within the organization.

4. Dedicated funding for innovation teams or money for small beta tests.

5. Partnerships with universities, NGOs, or think tanks, which provide leadership and other support from outside local government.

OCED summarized their work by identifying the three principles that help explain public sector innovation and creativity as follows:

Capacity to Innovate: Resources, skills, and knowledge.

Motivation to Innovate: Incentives, values, and leadership.

Opportunity to Innovate: Creative collaboration with others outside government.

What I Hear from Your Employees about Creativity and Innovation

I have conducted creativity training for years and have trained hundreds of local government employees. The following comments from participants are common and voiced in frustration:

• I am told not to make mistakes.
• People who make mistakes in my organization get crushed or lose credibility.
• Big and bold ideas and approaches are not welcome in my organization.
• Creativity sounds fine to you, but you don’t know my organization.
• My organization is too risk averse.
• We seem stuck in status quo thinking.
• No one encourages me to be creative.
• You don’t know my boss.

During the training I emphasize that everyone should spend at least 10% of their time trying to improve their job. One training participant responded by saying: “I have worked in local government for more than 15 years in several organizations, and no one has ever told me that part of my job is to improve my job.” That is sad to hear and reinforces my belief that local government has a long way to go.

A Case Study of Governments Not Being Creative

The first article I wrote in the PM series, “Let’s Think Differently About…,” dealt with performance evaluations. The article provided hard data showing that no one (not managers, not supervisors, not employees, and not unions) likes performance evaluations in the public or private sectors. Further, most HR professionals don’t think that performance evaluations are accurate. Most critically, the data showed that performance evaluations have a negative impact on organizations.

In that article, I offered free consulting to any local government willing to create a new performance evaluation system focused on employee development. No one has taken me up on this offer.

I now make a different offer. I will fund a young professional to attend a program devoted to innovation and creativity if 10 local governments within the United States have developed a performance evaluation system based on employee development. I used the number 10 as it represents only .04% of all local governments in the United States, which is a low bar to reach. Please let me know if you have done so and I will share your success with others. I am hopeful that local government can at least be innovative enough to change a process that doesn’t work and nobody likes.

How to Move Forward: A Six-step Program

Research shows that our brain works hard to develop habits and behavioral patterns in order to operate efficiently. This is good and necessary for daily living. However, the brain’s desire for habits and patterns causes us to not question our assumptions or past behaviors or challenge organizational norms. We also know that habits are very difficult to break. We cannot break a pattern or habit until we have acknowledged the habit. This is why most programs that deal with habits have a first step of someone saying, “Hi, my name is ____ and I….”

Step #1: The first step is to admit what is true: “My organization has developed habits and patterns of status quo, risk aversion, no mistakes, and playing it safe.” Until there is a cathartic admission by our profession, we will be unable to change our behaviors and build creative and innovative organizations.

Step #2: Develop a culture that supports and fosters creativity and innovation by:

• Allowing smart mistakes from beta tests so we can learn and innovate.
• Encouraging our employees and incentivizing them to challenge the status quo, attack sacred cows, and speak truth to power.
• Directing our employees to spend at least 10% of their time making their jobs better.
• Encouraging and rewarding beta tests.
• Eliminating stupid and bureaucratic rules.

Top managment must lead this effort and have the backs of those who are creative and innovative as they will make some mistakes.

Step #3: Hire and promote employees who have demonstrated or show the potential for creativity and innovation. In interviews, ask candidates for examples of how they have demonstrated creativity and innovation in previous roles.

Step #4: Train your workforce to be more creative. Creativity can be developed and trained.

Step #5: Reward, celebrate, incentivize, and expect creativity and innovation.

Step #6: Research and find resources that support and help your efforts, such as Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation, OCED, universities, think tanks, and others.

Closing Comments

Local governments often do more damage by pretending to support and encourage creativity and innovation than by just admitting they don’t do a good job at it. Start at Step 1: “Hi, my name is….” Changing the culture of an organization requires changing long-held beliefs and behaviors. An individual has to admit their weaknesses and flaws first in order to change. The same is true for organizations.

Beta test your creative ideas and learn from your mistakes before implementing your idea organization-wide. Don’t wait for someone to give you permission to be creative and innovative. It is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

I am ready to fund a young professional if I am proven wrong. I am also willing to assist any organization if they want help in being more creative and innovative. Good luck!

 

ED EVERETT, ICMA-CM (RETIRED), is a retired city manager (everetted@comcast.net).