How important is creativity as a corporate value, when should it be used and how can you use this information in your career? Creativity: "we encourage initiatives where solutions, approaches can be different than the current ones."

A disadvantage of using creativity as a corporate value is that one could ask: why was it necessary to add this as a value? Wasn't it valued before the implementation of the values? Was the company not creative enough?

Creativity is therefore one of the risky value like "customer oriented" or "innovation".

Creativity is fundamental for growth. Literally, in order to grow one must create things like: new products, new features, new teams, projects, solutions for problems, etc, etc. And what if there is no growth? Would creativity diminish or stop? It is often the case that there is an urgency to be creative when the means or limited. Finding a solution with limited resources (money, budget) is a challenge. Large organizations often have enough means to foster new developments but the incentive create a culture where creativity is fundamental is something else. In many cases the large organization is experience market competition by small firms that have less means but creative solutions.

Another problem with large firms and creativity is the number of structures that "obstruct" creativity. Sometimes to create something it is important to destroy what has built before. Small companies have little overhead, small structures and employees have tasks that are not detailed until the last action. Large companies work with "procedures" and formalities that kill creativity and initiatives.

Some large organizations - in response to an innovation in the market - give freedom to a project group, or a task-group to come up with a creative answer. So far so good, but it is an isolated case that must be "integrated" in the operational structure of the company.

This shows that creativity is not something that can be compelled by introducing a simple corporate value.

H.J.B.