Articles - Training, Development and Retention

Imagine growing up in a world that does not value mathematics. Sure, math is around; people can tell time and make change, but most folks carry calculators and digital time pieces, and the thinking skills BEHIND mathematical concepts are not widely taught, understood or considered. In such a world, individuals who are mathematically inclined are considered “flaky,”

seen as renegades, even geniuses, but, however they are categorized, they function outside of the mainstream. Successful people in this world are often overheard confessing, “oh, I’m not mathematical. I wish I were.” Such people get their math during occasional visits to museums, or at rare performances of underpaid mathematicians.

In this fictional world, language, philosophy, ideas and concepts are not only valued, but even taken for granted as necessary to functioning. Only individuals who think in big ideas and possess deep people skills make it into top positions. A popular business truism: “You manage what you imagine.”

Now, what if into this world a new trend emerges in business and management thought: “metrics.” Suddenly, the most widely read business journals print article after article on the importance of metrics, how metrics are the new business imperative, how global cultures of metrics are the only way to stay competitive. “Measure or die” is the latest advice. Best-sellers are published, speaking careers launched, and consultancies spawned, all to help business leaders implement metrics initiatives in their companies.

Most companies would create distinct “metrics departments,” populated by mathematical types working together to think up the best metrics for their firms. Their road is a tough one, because few people within the firm respect the importance of metrics, nor can they discuss how metrics work, or are derived, because they’ve never learned anything beyond the most rudimentary math concepts. And, of course, metrics are based on math. Even top managers don’t really understand what their metrics department is trying to do, or how the metrics experts go about doing it. Whenever the metrics specialists attempt to gain data from another department in the firm, they are looked at quizzically. They are treated, at best, as mysterious “mathematicians” possessing knowledge that cannot be understood by most mortals. At worst, they find themselves the butt of jokes about useless expenditures of corporate funds or “passing fads,” and are urged to “get their heads out of the clouds and their feet back down on the ground.”

This fictional, math-less world illustrates the current “innovation imperative” we find ourselves in today. Since the manufacturing economy began, the basic concepts needed to discover innovations have been dropped out of public and private education, removed from admissions tests for institutes of higher learning, absent from on-the-job training and seldom discussed in business writing. Furthermore, these underlying KSAs (knowledge, skills and abilities) for innovation have been devalued within our culture to such an extent that those individuals who possess them are marginalized, undercompensated and even laughed at. These skills, of course, comprise creativity. “Oh, I’m not creative. I wish I were.” Ever hear that phrase? Ever say it?

R & D departments and innovation initiatives are destined to fail, or at least fall short, in a society that refuses to teach creative processes or creative problem solving, and that devalues divergent thinking. Students applying to MBA programs take the GMATS, tests that leave out, entirely, any measure of divergent thinking — the starting point of creativity. Our MBA grads are the perfect products of our educational system: pure convergent thinkers, in contrast to MFA grads (Masters of Fine Arts) who must integrate both divergent and convergent thinking abilities. IQ tests fail to measure creative thinking skills as well, illustrating our cultural belief that creativity does not indicate intelligence. According to payscale.com, MBA’s earn an average of $54K – $220K, depending on position; MFA’s earnings, on the other hand, range from $38K to $128K. Which degree do we value more, the convergent thinking degree, or the divergent thinking one? Yet we are asking our business leaders — convergent thinking specialists — to “innovate or die.” They must feel terrified!

Innovation is the successful implementation of a new idea. It entails two distinct sets of processes: 1) ideation, a creative process and 2) implementation. Successful innovation calls upon our whole brain – the convergent, analytical side, as well as the divergent, creative side. Unfortunately, we are not learning how to use the latter.

So, aren’t we living in a world a bit like the no-math world, where everyone must measure or die but where few possess the underlying capacity to derive and use measurement systems? How are we to rise to the innovation imperative when we haven’t been given even the most rudimentary education in creative thinking?  According to Democracy Journal, the US is rapidly losing its position as an innovation leader. If American firms hope to regain and retain global competitiveness in the conceptual economy, mass remediation in creative thinking will be required. No amount of time spent reading endless articles and books on “innovation” can replace training in creative thinking and ideation. It’s time to stop treating our creative thinkers like kooky grown-up children and start respecting the deep practice and education they bring to their work.  It’s time to become one of them.

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Biography

Julia Fischer Baumgartner, PsyD

Julia is an expert in divergent thinking and creativity coaching. Her background in the fine arts affords her particular respect for the creative aspirations of business leaders. Working with them, she digs through and questions absolutely everything in order to get to the heart of their vision. Then she helps make their vision ubiquitous, resonating at every level of the organization. She understands the kinds of thinking and management approaches that drive organizations to sustainable competitive advantage when innovation counts. Doctor of Psychology in Organizational Consulting, Julia has more than 20 years of experience in both management and the arts. She’s a former free-lance director (she holds a MFA degree in Directing), and served as the co-artistic director of the critically acclaimed 15 Head – a theatre lab, in Minneapolis, MN.

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