The Analysis: Getting Creatives on Board

Kelly won over his R&D team by taking the time to meet his scientists and encouraging all to speak up, says consultant Charles Warner

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To get employees, particularly those in creative roles, to embrace a new innovation agenda, be sure to get their input every step of the way, says Charles Warner, consultant and author of the paper "How to Manage Creative People."

How did John Kelly persuade his global team of 3,200 scientists and researchers—a creative and opinionated group—to move in a new direction with him? First, Kelly didn't make hasty decisions, says Warner, who's also adjunct professor of media management at the New School University in New York. Kelly spent several months visiting IBM's (IBM) eight research labs around the world and got input from the people he was counting on for innovations. "People use the words 'creativity' and 'innovation' together frequently, and they are effectively two sides of the same coin," says Warner. "Creativity is a process that solves a problem, and innovation is the result of creativity. It's the product or the working solution."

John Kelly understood this creative process. Given his 27-year tenure within IBM, he also understood the existing company culture—and having worked for many of those years in management and technical positions developing and manufacturing IBM's advanced semiconductor technologies, he knew exactly how creative people can be a little different. Creative types pay particular attention to the intrinsic satisfactions in their work, says Warner. They view work as an end in itself and love doing it, looking for interesting, stimulating, challenging, and creative projects to work on. "Google clearly recognizes this by insisting people spend 20% of their time working on innovative projects of their own choosing," he adds. "Creative people typically have an uncommon capacity for self-instruction, and they dislike being bossed or policed."

Let Them Blossom

Creative people are also self-motivators. This can cause challenges for managers, who need to provide an environment in which such workers can blossom—and then get out of their way for fear of transparent attempts at "motivation" being shot down for being intrusive, ineffective, and insulting.

This can be a real challenge for most command-and-control managers, but Kelly appreciated and embraced his creative people. He understood IBM's culture and history, and he knew that praise would work better than criticism. His inclusive meeting calling for all the labs' input was crucial. This was not his meeting; there were no stars here. Rather, scientists from all eight of IBM's global labs appeared together at a virtual, online meeting in which everyone could see everyone else. Open communication was encouraged.

Tellingly, Sam Palmisano, chairman and president of IBM, completely supported Kelly's efforts. Palmisano believes that innovation and R&D are what will differentiate IBM from its competition. Most companies could use this case study as a way to learn more about the creative process, concludes Warner, not to mention getting an insight into how to manage creative people effectively. It's not an option. It's a matter of survival.

McConnon is a staff editor for BusinessWeek in New York.