CREATIVITY How to Foster Creativity in the Workplace

PORTRAIT DRAWING Portraits in 30 seconds

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

Novel ideas that:  Are useful  Solve problems and/or   Improve service to our patrons

Creative ideas MUST create value.

Google: 20% employee time dedicated to personal projects = most of Google product ideas

WHY CREATIVITY?

It’s just more profitable.

HOW DO I GET SOME?

Trust and Collaboration

HOW CAN YOU GET TRUST?

Managers can: 1.  Hire Talented People 2.  Open the Lines of Communication 3.  Encourage collaboration

“If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up; if you give a mediocre idea to a great team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something that works.”

Ed Catmull, Pixar

NEXT INGREDIENT FOR CREATIVITY: COLLABORATION

We are more creative when we collaborate!

Examples include: C.S. Lewis & J.R.R Tokien were

members of a weekly literary group. Thomas Edison had a group of

assistants.

COLLABORATIVE CULTURE

 Teamwork  Open communication  Differing ideas  Respect for each other

GOOGLE ON COLLABORATION

Google eliminates rigid structure that often chokes creativity.

CREATIVITY CAN’T EXIST WITHOUT TRUST AND COLLABORATION

RANGANATHAN’S FIFTH LAW “The Library is a Growing Organism.”

Managers should: • Be brave • Seek talent • Collaborate • Be creative!

Creativity is: • More profitable • More effective • More valuable • More fun!

2 Google images: Time.com Life in the Googleplex: Inside Google Headquarters Photo by Eros Hoahland, (2006, February 16) Retrieved November 9, 2012 http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2006/inside_google/google/01.jpg

Black and white photo of two children sharing a drink www.smarter.com Retrieved November 9, 2012 http://www.smarter.com/babies-kids/cl--ch-42.html

Photo of parent catching child (Trust) www.conversiondiary.com Retrieved November 9, 2012 http://www.conversiondiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/iStock_000005012679XSmall.jpg

Pixar photo http://collider.com Retrieved November 9, 2012 http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/pixar-animation-studios.jpg

Photo Credits

Photo of Pixar meeting http://pixarcorner.blogspot.com Retrieved November 9, 2012 http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zt2wKYIRfGY/TrtxkT4-ODI/AAAAAAAABJs/x3ys3X-QMsc/s1600/Pixar_Canada5.jpg

Photo of Pixar’s Ken and Barbie http://pixar.wikia.com Retrieved November 9, 2012 http://pixar.wikia.com/Ken

Photo of lightbulb http://inventors.about.com Retrieved November 9, 2012 http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison.htm

Photo of hands http://www.nearsoft.eu.com Retrieved November 9, 2012 http://www.nearsoft.eu/images/partners.jpg

Number 5 http://www.dextersinister.org Retrieved November 9, 2012 http://www.dextersinister.org/library.html?id=168

WORKS CITED   Barczak, G. &. (2010). Antecedents of Team Creativity: An Examination

of Team Emotional Intelligence, Team Trust and Collaborative Culture. Creativity and Innovation Management , 19 (4), 332-345.

  Black, L. &. (1999). Humor in the Academic Library: You Must be Joking! or, How Many Academic Librarians Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb? College & Research Libraries , 60 (2), 165-172.

  Brown, T. (2008, May). TED Talks, Tim Brown Tales on Creativity and Play. Retrieved November 8, 2012, from www.ted.com: http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play.html

  Catmull, E. (2008). How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity. Harvard Business Rview , 86 (9), 64-72.

  Ewers, J. &. (2007). No Ideas? You're Not Alone. U.S. News & World Report , 142 (22), 50-52.

  Kurt, L. &. (2010). The Power of Play: Fostering Creativity and Innovation in Libraries. Journal of Library Innovation , 1 (1), 8-23.