INNOVATION and creativity has become one of the most important imperatives for today?s business organizations. We Filipinos pride ourselves as being creative and artistic people. Sadly, although we are great copycats but rarely innovators.
With Prof. Mark Escaler of the Communication Department and Mian Loja, Kat Lorenzo, Karla Mallari and Rome Jejo of the Department of Psychology, we studied five creative Filipino organizations. These included the School of Fashion and Arts (SoFA) the first educational institution focusing on fashion, Ateneo Java? Wireless Competency Center (AJWCC) that develops mobile and e-learning products, BBDO Guerrero the premier digital agency in the country, Jesuit Communications Foundation (JesCom) specializing in spirituality and inspirational media products and Pidrophil Trading International Corp. that produces garments reflecting Pinoy humor and culture.
Through interviews, observation and review of company documents, we sought to discover what Philippine organizations can do to encourage creativity and innovation.
Need for creativity and innovation
In our case studies, we saw the importance of articulating the need for creativity and innovation. For example, both SoFA and AJWCC?s mission statements stress the value of creativity.
Finding the right fit
People drive innovation. Other than technical expertise, these companies look for creativity, flexibility and adaptability when hiring new employees.
Recognize and reward
In addition, mechanisms to generate and reward novel ideas appear important to encourage employees to express their ideas more freely.
For example, BBDO regularly conducts in-house competitions where everyone in the organization, regardless of position, is qualified to join.
Creative environment
What appears unique in these creative organizations is their physical environment. SoFA has a pink facade and walls with writings. Jescom?s office is equally colorful with its many artwork and blue walls.
The BBDO office has no cubicles. The entire office space is painted in white with the company logo drawn across the main wall. Employees are allowed to decorate their work tables whichever way they want.
Flat structures
In BBDO, the absence of hierarchy is evident in its only having three layers. Paul Roebuck (CEO of BBDO) suggested that companies do away with dress codes and personal office spaces as well as honorific titles that would translate to hierarchy.
Flexi-time
Most of these organization operate on flexi-time. Work hours are often dependent on their project arrangements and client needs.
Role modeling of leaders
Beyond bringing in the right people, organizations need to ensure that these employees have leadership that will encourage them to take risks.
Apparent in these organizations is the use of participative leadership, absence of formal titles and accessibility of leaders.
Bucking a culture of conformity
Beyond the organization, however, interviewees also point to cultural pressure to conform as a barrier to innovation. Some also cite too much emphasis parents place on obedience as a possible barrier.
One interviewee suggested that when people are encouraged and inspired to express themselves more openly in their own household, then it becomes part of their being and it becomes evident in their work.
Another cites the timidity of workers to raise opposing views because it may appear disrespectful.
Although quite preliminary, our case studies suggest that there are a number of things organizations can do to enable creativity. Building creative environments, flexible structures, finding the right people, aligning rewards systems, providing mechanisms to elicit creative ideas and role modeling are all important aspects to building cultures of innovation. However, given that all of these are driven from the top, it may be important to start by educating managers. Leaders play a critical role in creating an environment where people are not afraid to take risks and commit mistakes. People will not stick their heads out when they live in fear of reprisal. This suggests the need to hone competencies of leaders in creativity and innovation as well as educating them on how to enable innovation among their employees.
On the other side of leadership, is the courage of employees to actually present their ideas. In cultures such as the Philippines, where power distance is high, employees may feel that raising different views may be disrespectful. Filipino employees avoid open debates where their boss may lose face and our communication tends to be indirect. The key here would be to teach employees how to express their ideas to their bosses in an assertive (and not) aggressive manner.
Because innovation requires rocking the boat, employees need to be empowered on how to deal with disagreements and conflicts in ways that are congruent with Filipino culture.
(Gina is a faculty of the Ateneo de Manila University and executive director of Ateneo CORD. For questions please e-mail: ateneocord@admu.edu.ph)
