Articles

Synopsis:

I have always loved innovation and creativity. I’m not certain when this started, but this passion continues to this day. The good news is that there are companies like Apple that seem to thrive and grow based on their dedication to innovation. The bad news is that Apple is a rare entity – most organizations are pretty conservative and fearful of creative change. However, I am encouraged by the work that I have done with project managers around the world – who are far more creative than they give themselves credit for. I have learned that creativity and innovation can be taught and can be learned. And when it is, projects become more creative and more successful.

Our evening program will focus on rediscovering our creativity that may have been stolen from us by well-intentioned teachers during the second grade – a time when we were taught to color in between the lines (thankfully it appears that Picasso skipped the second grade!). We will unlearn some old habits and think of creative ways of thinking that will allow us to rediscover that which was stolen from us as kids. Our time together will be focused on interactive exercises – exercises that are based on good theory, but that can be applied in a practical manner as soon as the program is over. I encourage participants to come to the program with chronic project problems they are facing today because the workshop will help alleviate, and perhaps even solve, these chronic issues so they are solved for good!

HBS professor Clayton Christensen wrote in the Harvard Business Review (The Innovator’s Dilemma) “…companies fail not because managers are dumb but because the system doesn’t allow them to succeed.” This program will have us investigate and improve our own thinking and the structures that underlie this thinking. Participants will leave knowing that innovation and creativity create immeasurable value to project managers in creating successful projects.