Content area
Full Text
Peter Cook: Management Consultant and Principal of Human Dynamics, Gillingham, Kent, UK
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The author is grateful for the use of case study materials from the forthcoming book Best Practice Creativity, especially to Charles Davis, Psion computers plc, Siobhan Edwards, First Direct Bank, David O'Brien, 3D Integration.
Introduction
Creativity is no longer a "nice to have" quality within a few "cranky" individuals - it is mentioned in the contexts of business survival and the need to stay ahead of the game within leading organizations. It is particularly mentioned as a source of competitive strength within organizations that face discontinuous or chaotic environments or where there is little or nothing to differentiate the product or service from competitors.
In "Corporate strategies of the top 100 UK companies of the future", the Corporate Research Foundation lists six key drivers of future success:
- (1) Structural flexibility;
- (2) Innovative power;
- (3) International orientation;
- (4) Human resources;
- (5) Growth markets;
- (6) Quality of management.
Creativity is at the heart of structural flexibility and innovative power. This strategic capability can be seen within leading creative organizations, such as Hewlett Packard, The Body Shop, Psion, First Direct Bank and 3M. These organizations harness the ability to think and act differently in ways that make sense to their current and future customers. In other words, organizational creativity is about being different and appropriate. It therefore differs from traditional viewpoints on creativity, which tend to consider ideas for their own value, independent of any commercial application.
An example of the exceptional performances that can be achieved by thinking and acting differently is that of First Direct Bank, which has shown consistent rapid growth as the UK's first telephone banking service. This is especially impressive since First Direct was started by a traditional banking organization. Some key milestones illustrate the rapid progress made by the organization:
June 1988 Project team initiated, code named Project Raincloud.
October 1989 First Direct is officially opened.
December 1990 50,000th customer joins First Direct.
May 1991 100,000th customer joins First Direct.
March 1993 250,000th customer joins First Direct.
December 1993 First Direct moves into operating profit for the first time.
December 1994 Achieves break-even for the financial year.
April 1995 500,000th customer joins First...