Professional blog

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Closing Thoughts

In a short 5 years, Rife transformed her career and now contributes significantly to the success of her company. She has clearly demonstrated her value and the value of CPS throughout Rich’s. She receives requests for her services from all levels of the company. Rife has also played a part in the creation of numerous new product concepts, process redesigns, and customer innovations.

In the face of worldwide change and competition, Rich’s continues to lead its industry and is known for being innovative. When asked why the demand of CPS facilitation has increased, Rife simply states, “It has increased because it works.”

As for the others who participated in the intense CPS training, most have seen their careers advance. “CPS skills are critical management and leadership skills that can enhance a person’s career,” says Rife, whose overarching goal is to insure everyone applies these skills “every day in every way.” Shari’s story highlights both the personal transformation that can be realized through CPS and the positive organizational effects it has on groups. Shari Rife epitomizes what it means to be a Creative Change Leader.

CREATING A CREATIVE CULTURE

    A TURNAROUND STORY: HOW CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING AND CREATIVE LEADERSHIP REVIVED A THEATER COMPANY

Challenge

In 1972, two college theater instructors, with passion for inspiring youth, founded Theatre of Youth (TOY) in Buffalo, New York. Their mission was to create a company dedicated to meaningful theater experiences for young people. TOY filled a need in the Buffalo community. Within 4 years, international guest directors, funding from a variety of sources, and a reputation for producing quality professional theater combined to make TOY a significant arts organization. In 1976, TOY received the national Zeta Phi Eta-Winifred Outstanding Children’s Theatre Award.

By 1992, however, the theater was in trouble for a variety of reasons. TOY had begun producing plays for adult audiences and fewer productions for children (a project that eventually took over the company’s resources and creative energies). A cycle of public funding cuts had begun. The company’s artistic director abruptly resigned. The remaining staff was left to face growing financial obligations. TOY was disconnected from its true audience, and the public perception was that the company had compromised its artistic identity. It was failing fast. With only a few weeks before the beginning of the next theater season, TOY was without an artistic director and a season of plays. The organization was in crisis. Would TOY close or find a way to rebuild?

Using Creative Problem Solving to Get Theatre of Youth Back on Track

Meg Quinn had been a founding member of TOY and had returned to the organization for a few years as marketing director. However, by 1992, she had left the theater again to complete work on a master’s degree in creativity. As the crisis unfolded, Meg offered to assist the company as a CPS facilitator.

The situation was complex. The fundamental questions were whether the company could be saved and rebuilt and who would be willing to make the commitment? Quinn suggested that CPS was a productive way of understanding and exploring the situation. The board of directors, managing director, and staff were very supportive of a CPS initiative to analyze the company’s challenges, opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses.

Quinn involved two other facilitators from her class, and they planned a series of three CPS sessions. The resource group involved TOY staff, community members, board members, and other people familiar with TOY (including the media).

The first session concentrated on the Clarification Stage of CPS. The group identified organizational strengths, weakness, and key challenges. Community members were asked to describe their past and present perceptions of TOY. The theater’s founding mission and production history were reviewed. Opportunities and resources were listed. Energy and optimism were high after the first CPS session. Quinn noted, “Using the CPS process gave people a sense that we weren’t just spinning around in a storm. It was possible to get control of the situation.”

Over the course of the three CPS sessions, it was clear that, although the organization had drifted away from its original purpose, the staff and the community believed in the value of a children’s theater. Ultimately, there was a strong consensus that the theater should reorganize and create an action plan for the future. The board of directors would focus on taking a stronger decision-making role.Co

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Therefore, the last formal CPS session shifted to idea generation and action planning. Brainstorming and other idea generation techniques where used to explore solutions to a variety of challenges. According to Quinn, “CPS clarified how we were going to handle a complex task. We were able to use CPS to take hold of our problems, sort them out, and deal with them head-on in a constructive way.” Because the CPS sessions were highly interactive and required everyone’s input, there was a sense of ownership and accountability. Participants became vested in the change ahead and rallied around the refocused mission. The CPS sessions demonstrated to funders and the public that TOY was serious about getting back on track. CPS provided the road map that guided action steps.

Creative Leadership Promotes a Creative Culture that Leads to Ongoing Success

The CPS sessions carried out by Quinn built confidence, support, and significant momentum, but this was only the beginning of the story. Shortly after the conclusion of these sessions, Meg was asked to take on the role of artistic director. A business plan was in place, but the company needed an artistic vision.

The CPS sessions helped get TOY back on course, but it has been Quinn’s ability to embody the principles of creativity in her leadership style as artistic director that transformed the culture at TOY. As a consequence, over the past 14 years, TOY has achieved new heights artistically, culturally, and financially. When asked why TOY has been so successful, Quinn is quick to respond, “Because of the people who work there.” Collaboration and teamwork are highly valued at TOY. People help and support one another. You won’t hear people at TOY say, “That’s not my job.” People are comfortable giving ideas and taking risks. They have learned that trusting each other, trying many ideas, and building on ideas is essential to ongoing success. Members of this organization constantly challenge accepted practice, searching for innovative ways of carrying out business both in terms of play production and operations. According to Production Manager Chester Popiolkowski, “People from other theater groups marvel at what we accomplish considering the financial resources we have.” Through the years, the culture of TOY has come to embody the principles of creativity and CPS. Creativity principles have become so well entrenched that staff have developed hand signals to communicate things like “this is just an off-the-top-of-my-head idea, so defer judgment” or “follow my thinking over here for a moment!” Problem solving can be a robust activity at TOY, so the nonverbal signals help everyone to keep track of active conversations.

The development of a creative culture is no accident. Quinn’s ability to explicitly employ creativity principles and procedures on a regular basis has been infectious. Quinn values other people’s ideas and input. She uses a facilitative style of leadership, embraces individual styles, and models creative behavior. These four intertwining leadership characteristics positively impact the organization artistically and administratively. As Ken Shaw, head of design at TOY, observed, “Meg is a strong facilitator who doesn’t shut off ideas until they have a chance to be explored. This is one reason why she is a creative leader.” When she assumed the role of artistic director of TOY, instead of taking the challenge head-on solo, she saw the value of many minds working together. She chose to use a process that tapped into people’s imaginations and involved them in the decision-making process. These early actions set the stage for a culture of creativity to bloom.

Quinn directs most of the plays that TOY produces. Her knowledge of creativity has had an impact on how she directs. “I think that I am able to get stronger performances from actors because I can recognize individual creative styles. I can better understand how each actor needs to work through the rehearsal process.” As a director, she guides a play toward a definite interpretation and vision. But, at TOY, time is allowed for playing with ideas and risk taking. For instance, in “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” there was a scene where a large copy machine broke down and rapidly ejected volumes of paper. Quinn decided to build the machine by having everyone physically enact all of the moving parts. Chester Popiolkowski composed a sound track of electronic music that sounded like a machine that was working well at first but eventually overheated and exploded with paper. Quinn and the cast discussed the movable parts of a copy machine. Then, the cast began improvising a moving copier machine along to the recorded sound track. The rehearsal became a physical Brainstorming session. One idea built on another idea until the machine became an innovative interpretation of the script. Allowing each actor to contribute to staging the copier made the outcome far more energized and interesting than if it had been preconceived and directed into place.

Whether Quinn is directing a play or working on an everyday challenge, she keeps tuned into the creative needs of the organization and its employees. She notes that actors are inspired by the creative climate at TOY and the opportunity to explore scripts in new ways.

Quinn’s ability to lead creatively shows in the strong working relationships among the employees. Personal styles are embraced at TOY. People have gained an understanding of why people do what they do and how to best utilize each other’s talents and habits. To leverage style differences even more, she had her entire team take FourSight, (see ).Chapter 13

FourSight results showed how every member of the team was a unique part of a balance of skills and competencies. The TOY team works because the range of individual preferences and strengths compliment and support the whole group. The information gathered through this instrument helped individuals to strengthen their own problem-solving abilities and to recognize in what ways the diversity of preferences influenced communication and interpersonal relationships. As Quinn observed, “Theoretical and practical knowledge of different creativity styles saves wear and tear on relationships and helps to get the job done.”

Operating a not-for-profit theater requires inventive approaches to problem solving on many levels. Deliberate creativity was essential in helping TOY to rediscover its mission, rebuild its reputation, and reinvent its business operation. Quinn’s style of leadership, along with the creative imagination of a talented staff, resulted in new successes for TOY and the establishment of a secure theater dedicated to children.

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Results: What Does It All Mean?

Now located in Buffalo’s historic, $3.5-million, renovated Allendale Theatre, TOY is a viable theater business. Since December 1999, TOY has produced 34 shows, employed 300 actors, and welcomed over 300,000 children and adults to its performances. TOY has also carried on truly paradigm-breaking work, such as their recent venture with a major pharmaceutical company to develop and perform a play to help Buffalo public school children become more aware of the signs of stroke. TOY receives many letters from students, foundation and corporate support is growing, and employees are delighted to be part of the organization.

The turnaround is even more impressive on the financial side. Earned income accounts for 75% of TOY’s operating budget. This is a complete turnaround from 15 years ago when less than 60% of total operating income was earned. Corporate sponsors, such as Rite Aid, Wendy’s, BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, and Fisher-Price, help to make up the other portion of operating income.

What really drove this great turnaround story? Director Quinn firmly believes it stems from respecting the creative potential of each person and creating an environment where people are proud and happy to do their best work.

CREATIVE CLIMATE

    WORK ENVIRONMENT ALLOWS IDEO TO DELIVER PROMISE OF INNOVATION

The Challenge

Pepsi, Nike, Prada, and other outstanding companies knock on your door when they are in need of an innovative product. Apple calls on you when they are stuck on a challenge and need a breakthrough. Your services promise the creation of breakthrough solutions, and your entire existence as a company rests on your ability to deliver innovation on demand. Are you up for the challenge, and what will it take to succeed?

The Company

Who could meet the challenges above, and how do they do it? IDEO, the now-famous design firm headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, has created innovative products and solutions for over 20 years. Because he disliked corporate rules and was motivated to create a company that was fun to work for, David Kelly started what is now IDEO in 1978 under the name David Kelley Design. In 1991, Kelley’s company was renamed IDEO, with a focus on industrial design. Today, IDEO helps companies design innovative products, services, and processes, employing approximately 350 people worldwide.

Since ABC’s news show reported on IDEO’s innovation process firsthand, the world has become familiar with theirNightline impressive achievements. magazine described their visit to IDEO as “a day at Innovation U.” The Fortune Wall Street Journal called IDEO “imagination’s playground.” There is consensus in the business and organizational world that IDEO is a leader in the area of innovation. What is that enables them to consistently produce innovative solutions? Do they have more creative talent? Is it a charismatic leader? Do they have a secret formula?

Cultivating Creative Consistency

If you take a close look at IDEO and examine how they have consistently produced well-known innovations, such as Crest’s Neat stand-up toothpaste tube, you won’t find any magic bullet. What you will find is a combination of effective leadershipSqueeze

behaviors, creative work environment practices, and a variety of processes that work synergistically together to produce a culture that exemplifies creativity.

Leadership

One of the first clients Kelley worked for was Steve Jobs of Apple. The lessons he learned from this experience were more valuable than the paycheck he earned. He was inspired by Apple’s dynamic culture, and the atmosphere there reinforced his belief that having fun while working could be productive.

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EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) – printed on 5/6/2024 4:18 AM via AMRIDGE UNIVERSITY AN: 1236032 ; Gerard J. Puccio, Marie Mance, Mary C. Murdock.; Creative Leadership : Skills That Drive Change Account: s1124214