Toward an Innovative Workplace

The lack of resources forces us to innovate. § Tough times help us adapt. § Tough times force us to think outside the box or even eliminate the box. § Everything changes—people, products, companies; men, materials, machines, methods, markets and money (the six Ms). § Creativity is the spark and innovation the fire in the fireplace, which cooks and bakes. § Creativity involves four components—the Creative Person, the Creative Process, the Creative Product and the Creative Climate or environment. § An environment replete with the positive emotions of love, peace, bravery and compassion provides a positive climate, which nurtures creativity. § Creativity training at IBM, whose motto is ‘Think’ resulted in producing the largest number of patented inventions. § Innovation should be part of everyone’s job description. § Vision and leadership are necessary to inspire a widespread commitment to innovation. § The lack of collaboration between departments stifles innovation. § Motivation of employees and innovation complement one another. § Team work drives innovation. § The ability to thrive in an environment of rapid change is essential. § Money and resources are essential lubricants of the innovation process. § Conformism and stereotypes hinder creative problem solving. § Innovation should be focused on specific business goals. § An open atmosphere ensures greater productivity. § Efficient meetings are a trademark of innovative organisations § Innovation centres drive innovation.  

Learn to Deal with Others and their Feelings

A drug addict once explained the difference between sympathy and empathy. He said, ‘You can never feel anything but sympathy for me and what I need is empathy.’ The he said, ‘Empathy is the capacity to feel my pain in your heart.’ To be ‘socially tone deaf’ * can lead to a life littered with broken relationships. Develop the capacity to pick up subtle verbal, tonal and non-verbal signals from others. Learn also the ability to send out soothing, nurturing signals to others, thus creating a positive interpersonal field. Unlike in a magnetic field, where positive attracts negative and vice versa, a positive, emotional and spiritual field, attracts positive people and events and, in addition, transforms even a normally negative person into a positive one. ‘How can I develop this skill?’ I ask. ‘Practice working with people and listening to them with the same attitude as you would towards a beloved child, or respected parent. Your word, tone, your very glance should be completely focused on the person. Don’t dilute the interaction by playing with your Blackberry, talking on your cellphone or fiddling with your laptop. When you are with someone, pay complete attention. Anything less will only elicit a lukewarm response. Those who can create positive fields around themselves attract and build lifetime relationships.’

Nurturing work place

Many of us spend most of our time at work. If we do not enjoy our work, if we feel overwhelmed by it, it will surely damage us. The constant pressure of negative emotions causes inescapable damage to our arteries and other delicate tissues. It also slows down the body’s capacity to repair this damage. To work at something you love, to be ‘self-actualized’ in Maslow’s terms, is to protect yourself against dying young. As Khalil Gibran wrote, ‘What is it to work with love?... It is to weave the cloth from the strings of your heart, as though your beloved were to wear it.’ Politics can make the blood boil with suppressed rage and unexpressed anxiety. ‘Fast tracking,’ being a corporate star, will extract the inevitable price of damage to arteries if you are not ‘mindful’, if you are not aware of the impact of everything you do on your system. Reisman speaks of the ‘lonely crowd’. Loneliness, a sense of exclusion, is a poison that can cause illness as easily as a virus or bacteria. Loneliness is the most lethal of modern diseases. For example, newly widowed women have a higher rate of breast cancer than married or single women.