A.
Manie
Does
your organisation see ‘Innovation’
as a requirement for future success?
Is ‘Creative Problem Solving’
something that is valued in your
business?
If
so, what exactly is meant by these
terms?
The
Vision statement for Air Products in
Listening
to Dr. Kirton reminded me about the
difference between creative problem
solving style as measured by the KAI and
individuals’ capacity or ability to
solve problems creatively.
He alerted me to the pitfalls of
using the word innovation as we have
done, and I am sure we are not alone in
this.
One
of the selection criteria we have for
graduates is ‘Creative Problem
Solving’.
The same issue arises here.
What exactly are we looking for:
style or capacity?
As a result of being reminded of
the difference between the two, we have
asked a group of key managers involved
in graduate recruitment to explore
exactly what they mean by ‘creative
problem solving’.
We identified that they are in
fact talking about capacity – abstract
reasoning ability rather than style.
We
have previously used the KAI with a
number of groups such as R&D,
Quality Improvement Projects and the
like, to help them appreciate the
importance of style and the
contributions that both adaptors and
innovators can make. What I learned from
the KAI Advanced Workshop was not just
how to use the adaptors and innovators
scale more appropriately but also, with
even more clarity than before, how
important it is to be clearer in our use
of terms like ‘innovation’ and
‘creative problem solving’.
A. Manie, Human Resources, Air
Products plc
Originally
published in KAI News, 1994