They’ve been called soft skills, people skills and power skills. Whatever the name, creativity and innovation are among the top qualities employers want in their managers. The Avila University Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in Management online program presents an ideal opportunity to gain insights into those and other critical leadership proficiencies.
Students in the accredited curriculum build an impressive business foundation and can tailor their concentration studies to reflect their interests. Innovation and Creativity, for instance, explores the nexus of those skills and how they are related to problem-solving, decision-making and organizational effectiveness.
Before it can succeed or fail, however, innovation begins with creativity. They are closely related but distinct concepts. Creativity is inspiration, while innovation is execution. Creative thinking is a cognitive exercise, while innovation turns ideation into tangible results. Successful businesses create a culture where creative thinking and innovative growth are nurtured. “Decision makers must make deliberate choices that support both processes,” Digital Leadership advises.
What Are Examples of Creative Leadership in Diverse Business Contexts?
Creativity involves traits such as curiosity, information gathering and exploration of diverse perspectives to generate new ideas. Innovation is the result of turning those ideas into practical solutions, products and processes that deliver value. The Avila MBA/Management course Innovation and Creativity examines fundamental questions about the role of leadership and organizational development. Examples in various contexts include:
- Human Resources: When Google began thinking about ways to protect the recruiting and training investment in its top performers, an idea it calls “people analytics” emerged. By leveraging data-driven insights and predictive analytics in its HR processes, it reduced turnover by 25% and boosted employee morale.
- Finance: The online banking platform Chime saw an opportunity to disrupt the retail financial market by appealing to the technology-native segment of the market. By thinking outside the box of traditional personal banking, it launched a no-fee model accessed through an innovative customer-centric app that incorporated automatic savings features. Launched in 2013, it now has millions of younger, tech-savvy customers.
- International Business: Zurich Insurance Group took a novel approach to accelerating the digital transformation of global commerce. It broke entirely with the idea of competition fueling growth and instead created an open-source market for creative thinking and collaboration among start-ups and established businesses. The result: cultivating communication and trust within leadership teams opened the way to creativity, innovation and success.
- Healthcare Administration: Oregon Science and Health University leveraged a business process, human-centered design, to expand access to digital health services in underserved areas. Brainstorming, rapid prototyping and iterative adaptation produced solutions that dismantled organizational silos and fostered cross-team collaboration, ultimately making patient-centric virtual care more accessible and effective.
- Project Management: When Westfield Insurance Co. wanted to modernize its IT infrastructure to accelerate its business development, it reinvented its project management model. Instead of relying completely on in-house resources, it collaborated with IBM and increased developer productivity by 20%, reduced discovery and documentation timelines and saved $120 million annually in licensing fees.
An enduring model for nurturing creative management is 3M Company’s 15% Culture. Established by former chairman William McKnight about 80 years ago, the policy allows employees to dedicate 15% of their work time to projects that they are passionate about but that fall outside their everyday responsibilities. It challenges employees to think creatively and collaborate across teams. Empowering its people to challenge the status quo has contributed to the development of countless innovations and patented products, including the ubiquitous Post-It Notes.
How Do Business Professionals Enrich Decision-making, Problem-solving and Creative-thinking Skills?
“Hire good people and leave them alone. Delegate responsibility and encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative. And it’s essential that we have many people with initiative if we are to continue to grow,” McKnight said describing the general outline of the 15% Culture.
Whether launching a new venture or seeking a role that drives innovation within an organization, you need a solid business foundation. Avila University’s online MBA equips graduates with the expertise and insights to emerge as a creative leader in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
Learn more about Avila University’s online MBA.
