Creativity at CoolBurst

1. Creativity at CoolBurst • Why doesn’t creativity emerge at CoolBurst? • How would you lead the transformation of CoolBurst from it’s current culture to one of creativity? • What’s your strategy? Why this strategy? • What assumptions are you (inherently) making about people and creativity? • How might Kelleher’s experience at Southwest shed light on the issue? • What does this quote imply about the creative process and leading a creative company: “You can’t just lead by the numbers…We reflect, observe, debate --and we don’t use our calculators”--H. Kelleher .

2. Most Common Traits of Derailed Leaders • Rigidity • an unwillingness and an inability to adapt • an inability to work with different people at all (organizational) levels • Alienating in Relationship • insensitive, callously demanding, non-empathic, harshly critical Source: Working with emotional intelligence. Goleman, D.

3. Discuss relative to Leadership (for Creativity) • What is the relationship among joy in work, meaning in work, and innovativeness (creativity)? Consider the following quotes in addressing the issue. • “The important thing is to take the bricklayer and make him understand that he’s building a home, not just laying bricks”--People Dept. Mgr. @Southwest • “People want to be part of something that makes a difference, that transcends the ordinary”-- F. Hesselbein • “Core values are not something people ‘buy in’ to”--J. Collins • How do diversity and knowledge relate to innovation? Where does culture come in—what role does it play, if any? • What’s the formula for creativity? How do you turn “human resources” into “resourceful humans”?

4. What’s the significance of Meaning

5. Conceptualizing the Organization Individual Abilities & Skills Transactional Structure Desired Ends • Interlocked Behavior • Division of Labor • Hierarchy (of Authority)

6. System Types & Basis of the Employment Relationship • Exploitative System • “I get positive things from you and, in response, provide you a negative return” • Threatening System • “If you do something I don’t want you to do, then I will do something you don’t want me to do” • Exchange System • “If I do something you want me to do, then I will expect you to reciprocate and do something I want you to do” • Integrative System • “You and I join together and do something because we both seek to accomplish the same purpose” • Generative System • “You and I collaborate to create something that neither one of us at the outset could conceive”

7. The Dynamics of the Influence of Culture

8. Dual Nature of Organizations Organizing Pattern Organizing Structure

9. Organizing Pattern of an Organization • What connects decisions & actions • What rules (explicit or implicit) are followed • What are the governing variables or values that bring order to the collective • How (& in what respect) has the theory-in-use evolved • How (& in what respect) has the theory-in-use remained the same

10. Culture: A Clouded Issue • Invisible Pattern • Collective (Cause) Map • Common Stock of Shared Knowledge • Symbolic-Linguistic

11. Cultures are Multidimensional Embrace to Avoid Uncertainty Individualistic to Collectivistic Authoritarian to Egaletarian Aggressive to Nurturing

12. Subject Object What is my task? (How & How Much) Does it Work? The Empirical--Quantifiable What’s in it for me? Integrity. What does it mean to ME? How do I feel about it? I IT WE ITs CollectiveIndividual Inter-objective: (How) Do the Tasks/Activities Fit? The Structural Network. What’s the functional fit? Culture: The Inter-Subjective World I share with Others. Joint moral/ethical space we co-inhabit

13. Subject Object The Story of Leadership is is a Four Part Story Collective Individual

14. “If you want to be competitive, Then you need to make sure that you have Managers who Fully understand, live and teach The personal-side of leadership” P. Koestenbaum

15. Organizational Sustainability Structure supported by Culture ORDER If Order Aligns w/ Reality, then the Organization will be Sustainable

16. What Role does Vision Play? • Human Need • Motivational • Creative

17. “Man positively needs general ideas and convictions that will give meaning to his life and enable him to find a place for himself in the universe” --C.G.Jung, Man and His Symbols

18. "In the absence of visionpeople perish”-- Proverb "He who has a why to live can bear almost any how" -- Nietzche

19. "It is not what a vision is,It is what a vision does" What are the implications of this?

20. “If men cannot refer to a common value, recognized by all as existing in each one, then man is incomprehensible to man” -- Albert Camus, The Rebel

21. "I shut my eyes in order to see"-- Paul Gauguin Vision Requires Insight

22. (Abbreviated) Visioning Exercise: • “If you were to start a new organization tomorrow in a different line of work, what core values & what kinds of experiences would be the norm in the new organization, regardless of its activities/products/services?”

23. Co-Discovering Vision • Close your eyes, open your mind, let go • Envision in your mind’s eye, a clear picture -- see it or feel it-- of the experiences you’d like to have, the organization you’d enjoy being part of: See It , Feel It as If It Were Now • Describe what you see/feel through (value-based) descriptive words -- write them down: 5 to 10 will do • Share with each of your co-visionaries your descriptors • Collectively dialogue (freely, openly, without evaluation) and then agree on 10 or so descriptors that are common to all -- cluster the words • Generate phrases that describe the organization from these clusters • Draft a vision statement that embodies the feeling that these phrases represent/evoke

24. Group Visions • Our common goal is to create a pleasurable and dynamic environment for both employees and customers. We do this by encouraging an open atmosphere, fostering creative solutions to challenging problems. • Our vision is to establish a strong and adaptive environment that nurtures creativity, initiative and personal growth. We seek to develop relationships that foster trust and dedication that lead to commitment and loyalty to our mission. • People actively creating ingenious solutions to challenging problems in a supportive and compassionate environment earning trust through a high level of integrity and open communication.

25. Group Visions • We will exhibit a passion for excellence in all aspects of our jobs, relationships, and products by providing opportunities that are challenging, exciting, and meaningful to all employees. • Maintain an engaging, innovative, and nurturing workplace founded on accountability and appreciation.