Creativity + Innovation
When I train leaders on how to increase the creative potential of their teams, we often get into a discussion around the differences between creativity and innovation.
To some, the lines between being creative and being innovative are very blurred and these two processes are viewed as essentially the same.
To others, there are real, if not subtle, differences between the acts of being creative and being innovative. Here’s how I see the distinction.
Creativity often is associated more with the process of coming up with new ideas, processes, products or services and experiences.
To foster creativity we must provide an environment where employees feel safe challenging the status quo and are unafraid to push back on the ideas of others.
Techniques like SCAMPER or Six Thinking Hats can be useful in helping us think out of the box as we invent and generate new ways of doing things.
Innovation, on the other hand, often is associated more with taking new ideas generated by the creative process and making them actionable.
By integrating new and creative approaches, organizations are able to produce new results for themselves and for their customers.
I know many leaders and organizations that seem to come up with great new ideas, using the creative process, that have little to show for their time spent creating because of their difficulty implementing and integrating those ideas.
Innovation requires a clear process for funding ideas (even when they occur outside of the annual planning process), the presence of executive sponsors or champions and metrics-based accountability that tracks the number of new ideas actually put into play.
In a recent conversation with a client, I was introduced to another interesting perspective on the differences between creativity and innovation.
At a global innovation conference, this client was taught to think of creativity as the process of converting cash into ideas, and to think of innovation as the process of converting ideas back into cash. An interesting perspective!
Bottom line, world-class leaders and organizations need a healthy balance between creativity and innovation. One without the other is unlikely to create the sustainability we seek as stewards for the future.
Happy Thanksgiving to our readers in the U.S.