Too creative to work:

All these books and seminars and training videos on creativity and innovation at work really annoy me.  Creativity and innovation are a complete waste of time.  Unless . . .
But first, have you ever watched a production line in motion?  A worker does his thing in a couple of seconds, the product moves on, the next worker who does her thing in a couple of seconds, and so on.  Imagine if one of those workers had a new idea, a ‘what if I tried it this way’ moment.  What would happen?  Chaos.  A supervisor’s nightmare.

Most businesses are not designed to deal with creativity and innovation because they don’t need it.  They need smooth execution of what has already been created, tried and tested.  Unless your business is the art of the new, it is better to teach focused action rather than free association.

Not convinced?  Well, would you fly with a ‘let’s try this’ sort of pilot?

I’m James McIntosh at nonsenseatwork.com

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© 2010 James Henry McIntosh