How to Harness Organizational Creativity

Leadership lessons can come from the most unexpected places.

Burning Man is a great example of this. Fast Company recently wrote an article about this eight day “festival” of sorts. Except the way that Burning Man is framed, it’s not a festival – it’s more of a town. As the author explains, “Once a year, tens of thousands of participants gather in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert to create Black Rock City, dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance. They depart one week later, having left no trace whatsoever.”

If you’ve never been to Burning Man, you might wonder how the organizers entice nearly 50,000 people to pay $300 to drive or fly out to the desert with only a vague notion of what to expect.  Furthermore, how does this event encourage participants to contribute their own exhibits and experiences free of charge for other attendees, and leave them satisfied and yearning to return year after year?

The Burning Man attendees are endlessly creative, respectful to each other and their environment – and they receive little direction to do so from the organizers. It’s clear from this example that micromanagement has no place in fostering that spirit.

An organizer explains, “The organization simply sets a few guidelines, mainly for safety purposes, and then gives attendees permission to let their imaginations run wild. This is a secret that organizations that successfully harness the imaginations of their creative people have long known: You can’t order creativity.”

In fact, one commenter states, “…many of the greatest minds in Science and the Arts are regular attendees of Burning Man, including the founders of Google, Paypal and Tesla Motors, as well as Sting for example.”

So how does a leader foster creativity while watching the bottom line in today’s economy? Here are a few ideas:

1. Find your version of the Google 20% time. According to Google’s materials, Google offers its engineers “20-percent time” so that they’re free to work on what they’re really passionate about. Google Suggest, AdSense for Content, and Orkut are among the many products of this perk. How can your organization create your version of the Google 20% time?

2. Create a creative friendly environment with music, artwork on walls, design magazines. Allow teams to decorate their department and offer other creative competitions.

3. Find the right mix. An organization needs the right mix of dreamers and do-ers to find creative success. Too many dreamers without action will create a myriad of ideas that are not executed, creating frustration. Too many do-ers without the vision will just duplicate previous ideas. So find the right balance of both types of people on your team.

Why is creativity so important? It births innovative products, new business models and collaborative teams. Start little by little, with simple ideas. And remember…you can’t force creativity; you can only create the space and climate for it to grow within individuals.