By Ed Avella
Campus Director & Dean of IT Programs
Anyone that’s worked for me can tell you that right from the first interview, I expect them to be thoughtful and creative. My rationale is the same in every case: If I am the only one responsible for good ideas, we are in a world of trouble.
No two people find their muse in exactly the same way. I feed off the impressions of others and do my best work in brainstorming sessions – I literally talk myself through an idea in a social environment where I receive instant feedback. Others prefer solitude and quiet contemplation to formulate their designs. How each of us finds inspiration for creativity and inventive thinking is likely less important than feeling supported in our endeavor to make things better, or more efficient, or even revolutionary.
There are a myriad of ways we can accomplish this as managers, but this past week I was struck by how technology, and I am not just talking about our office intranets and hardware, is a huge vehicle for today’s generation of up-and-comers to conduct their own brainstorming sessions, virtually.
Social websites like Facebook and Twitter, along with new entrants Pinterest and Instagram, are the modern tools for how people are staying connected with the world around them. Not just what friends and family are doing and not just to share pictures of this past weekend, but also to evaluate how others perceive their likes and dislikes. This is where users get a sense of themselves; they absorb what is trending around them and cultivate their own ideas amidst this constantly changing sea of “stuff” that is built around individual interests. They are given feedback in the forms of followers and “likes” and continually to develop their eye and style based on that feedback.
I am not suggesting that managers simply cut loose all constraints and allow their charges to plagiarize every idea that pops up on their daily feeds. What I am suggesting is that these environments can be managed and framed in a context that is conducive to creativity in a way that your charges are familiar with and frankly, enjoy.
To what degree does your office engage these types of instruments as a mechanism to inspire innoventive thinking?
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