Why Management Kills Creativity

Ten or so years ago, an international consultant,
specializing in employee involvement and teammanuscripts aloud.
development, published a story relating to workplace
communication that is heartwarming and damning at
the same time.
But here the similarity between the two groups
ended, for the Wranglers would go out of their way
to say kind things about each other. Far from sowing
In 1981, Peter Grazer was working as the projectthe seeds of self-doubt, they actively
engineer on a construction project to modernize a
silicon manufacturing facility in St. Louis, Missouri. Asupported each other, and encouraged all literary
crew of ironworkers had been assigned a particularlyefforts, however feeble.
daunting task of erecting some structural steel in a
difficult to reach area of the plant.
And the payoff came about twenty years later.
Unfazed by the complexity of the assignment, the
ironworkers completed the work weeks ahead of
schedule, well under budget, and without safetyGordon asserts that for all the sparkling talent
problems.residing in the Stranglers at the time, not one
member of the band achieved any kind of literary
reputation. From the Wranglers, on the other hand,
Grazer and his colleagues of the management teamemerged a bevy of highly successful writers, led by
resolved to express their appreciation to the crew inMarjorie Kennan Rawlings who wrote The Yearling."
an unmistakable, tangible way.
Dr. Firestien adds that his experience in business
They sent letters to the homes of the workers,suggests that most organizations more closely follow
thanking them for their outstanding work and invitingthe Stranglers' pattern than the Wranglers'.
them and their wives to a dinner in their honor at a
fancy hotel in St. Louis.
"Why do we naturally gravitate towards the
negative?" he asks, and then answers his own
The dinner was a memorable occasion, enjoyed toquestion: "I think the primary reason may be that we
the full by both management and the workers in ahaven't been taught to look first at the strengths of
spirit of camaraderie. A couple of days later, Grazer
was walking around the site when he came upon onean idea."
of the crew members.
As if to prove his premise, Firestien shows
Jerry was in his fifties and was usually loud and jovial.participants in his seminars a picture of an odd-looking
Moreover, he was naturally hardened from his yearswheelbarrow with a very large hopper, a short
of working with steel, and not the type to gethandle, and a single wheel behind the hopper. He
unduly emotional over anything.
then calls for comments on its design.
The project engineer was a little taken aback to see
Jerry so quiet and deep in thought on this particularTypical comments include: "The hopper is too big",
morning, especially so soon after the dinner. He"The handle is too short", "The wheel's in the wrong
anxiously asked Jerry if anything was wrong.place", or "Go back to the drawing board, Roger!" Of
course, all these "comments" are
criticisms.
"You remember those letters you sent to our
homes?" he asked. "When I arrived home that dayIn real life, he then explains, this wheelbarrow is used
my wife was waiting for me at the door - with thefor high-rise construction, and there's an important
letter in her hands and tears in her eyes. And shereason for each design element.
said to me: 'Jerry, you've been an ironworker for 30
years, and nobody's ever thanked you for anything.' "
No thanks in 30 years?"Ah, but you set us up!" is the standard,indignant
response. "You didn't give us all the information on it."
Jerry paused, and both he and the project engineer
stood there quietly for a moment. "How is it
possible," thought Grazer, "that somebody could
work for thirty years and not be thanked forTo which the presenter politely replies by pointing out
that most new ideas look like that when they're first
anything he did?"proposed. Often, you don't have all the info on a
new idea on hand when you first see
it.
Dr. Roger Firestien, a noted expert on creative
problem solving techniques, quotes this article ofNot so fast, please!
Peter Grazer's in his book Leading on the Creative
Edge. The need to be recognized isBut why jump the gun by killing it on the spot?
Firestien contends that this is, in fact, the knee-jerk
clearly one of our most sophisticated drives and onereaction of many people to all new ideas.
of the most difficult to achieve. The problem is that
we are wholly dependent upon others for its
satisfaction.
What's the solution?
Let's say someone proposes an idea. (That
From a purely pragmatic standpoint, lack of"someone" could be another party: your boss, your
recognition can have a profoundly negative impact onsubordinate, your colleague, friend or spouse; but it
productivity. Studies show that encouragement andcould also be YOU - your inner, creative, "real"
recognition play a major role in stimulating
self!) If you're at all "normal", your natural urge will be
creativity in research and development organizations.to tear the concept to pieces.
In a magazine article a few years back, writer Arthur
Gordon gave an almost frightening example of how
far this can go.
But stop! Don't let your passions get the better of
you! If Dr. Firestien had redrawn his wheelbarrow to
fit in with all the comments he received, he would
At the University of Wisconsin, a group of buddinghave come back to the same wheelbarrow
writers, said to be brilliant boys with real literary
talent among them, once formed a club to discussthat has been in use for thousands of years.
their literary efforts.
Wranglers vs. Stranglers
Defer your judgment, just for a while.Has the idea no
At each meeting, one of them would read somethingstrengths at all? Focus on these first,and the
he had written and submit it to the criticism of thedrawbacks afterwards.
others.No one pulled any punches here; in fact, the
critiques were so brutal that the club
members dubbed themselves "The Stranglers".The fruits of your efforts may surprise you.
Azriel Winnett is creator of - Your Communication
Skills Portal. This popular free website helps you
Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, a group ofimprove your communication and relationship skills in
women had also come together for the sameyour business or professional life, in the family unit
purpose. The women called their little group "Theand on the social scene.
Wranglers." They also took turns to read their