As I have mentioned several times, during COVID I find myself relying more and more on trusted voices. In the area of creativity, there is no one I trust more than Phil Cooke. He’s produced TV and film programming in more than 60 countries around the world, and in the process, been shot at, survived two military coups, fallen out of a helicopter, and in Africa, been threatened with prison. And during that time – through his company Cooke Media Group in Los Angeles, California – he’s helped some of the largest Christian and nonprofit organizations in the world use the media to tell their story in a changing, disrupted culture.
Make sure you follow his outstanding blog HERE.
Recently, he wrote an article on designing creative cultures for Avail magazine. I found his thoughts practical and spot-on. The following are 10 Principles for Stimulating Innovation and Designing a Creative Culture I gleaned from the article:
- Cultivate Stability – You can never lead creatives with fear. Your most creative people will never release their best ideas amidst uncertainty and constant turnover.
- Provide Safety From Excessive Criticism – Because critics are so prevalent, leaders must build trust before criticizing. As Phil points out, “Leaders who can help their team move from bad ideas to legendary ideas are rare.”
- Make Sure Your Leaders Are All On The Same Page – For any initiative to be successful your leaders must be unified both publicly and privately. To establish a healthy creative culture your leaders must be answering questions, not asking them.
- Be Flexible – This is especially true with schedules, office design, and workflow processes.
- Get Them The Tools They Need – You want your creatives spending their time and energy solving problems and generating ideas, not fixing technical items.
- Push Them Out Of Their Comfort Zones – Counter-intuitive to what we have been led to believe, Phil says to provide creatives with deadlines. This will give your team perspective on their projects and ideas.
- Get Out Of Their Way – Once the process begins, do not micro-manage.
- Understand The Difference Between Organizational and Communication Structure – Organizational Structure is the org chart. This is about vertical relationships. Communication Structure should be setup to allow your creative team to get ideas from anyone in the organization. This is about horizontal relationships where ideas will flow more freely.
- Walk The Factory Floor – Creativity is the people business. The leaders who preside over the most creative cultures walk slowly through the crowd. They are constantly amongst their people. Also, it is important to realize a culture is always the length and shadow of a single individual. By spending time with your team, they will generate the ideas which will reflect you and make your vision become reality.
- Give Them Credit – Creative people thrive in environments where their accomplishments are recognized. The most respected leaders always take the blame while giving all the credit away.
These are wonderful thoughts. What is one thing you learned from the list above which will help you develop a more creative culture?
As I mentioned, if you are not a regular reader of Phil’s site, click HERE and sign up today.
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