INTHEBLACK December - January 2022 - Magazine - Page 60
ELEVATE BUSINESS AS USUAL
Everyday creativity
AT A GLANCE
60
DEC 2022
JAN 2023
INTHEBLACK CAREER, ELEVATED SPECIAL EDITION
Creativity is fast becoming
one of the most valuable
and sought after workplace
skills.
Creativity and innovation are
not exclusive to the creative
professions – all employees
can explore their creativity.
Encouraging creativity is now
a priority for organisations that
have identified an innovative
culture as key to developing
competitive advantage.
STORY AMANDA WOODARD
CREATIVE
MINDSET
Creativity is embedded in all areas of business and is no longer the
exclusive domain of professions such as design or performing arts.
Our work increasingly involves stepping outside our day-to-day
role to devise novel solutions to challenges old and new.
Innovation and analytical thinking will
be the top skills needed to thrive in the
world of work by 2025, according to the
World Economic Forum. Aligned with
these skills, creativity and initiative also
feature in its top five.
Mykel Dixon, author of Everyday
Creative: A Dangerous Guide for Making
Magic at Work, advises companies on how
to unlock creativity among their ranks.
Dixon would argue that these skills are
already in demand right now.
“The world we live in used to value those
who could ace the test – the ones who could
memorise information, master instructions.
Now we have machines for that, and they
don’t need to be fed or need a break. What
the world values now are those of us who can
dream – who can reinterpret and reinvent the
world in new and exciting ways,” he says.
Unhelpful stereotypes portraying artists
and creatives as flaky and self-absorbed,
coupled with reductionist myths about
people having either left-brained or rightbrained capabilities, have only encouraged
a dysfunctional relationship with our latent
creativity, says Dixon.
He is not the only one who believes that
creativity and innovation can be cultivated.
“It used to be that innovation was the
task of a small development team in the
corner of an office, but now innovation
happens in an environment that taps the
entire workforce,” says Christy Forest,
CEO and executive director of LiveHire
and special adviser to the Business Council
of Australia Innovation Taskforce. “You
have to harness soft skills and hard skills,
and have a lot of precision around process
and reward.”
