Published on March 15th, 2010

Creativity is always expressed through people. Peter Senge says: “Organisations learn only through people that learn.” My variant of this statement for this purpose of this article is “Organisations are only creative through their creative people.”
Corporate creativity is dependent on the type of employees hired. The nature of a company’s business should determine the type of employees it hires. An entertainment or media company will tend to recruit the maverick, out-of-box types. A professional services firm will be seeking the smart but regular species.
Corporate creativity is also a function of the scope employees are given to express their individual abilities. Let’s get a sense of how employee type and scope influence corporate creativity.

Elements of Corporate Creativity – 3
REGULAR readers will be aware that we’ve been exploring the relationship between the Creation Story and business strategy. This exploration led to the concept of corporate creativity. In the past two editions, I I’ve highlighted five elements of corporate creativity namely:
• Innovation
• Appetite for risk
• Creating customer demand
• Investing in research
• Collaborations and alliances
Two other elements of corporate creativity are:
• Employees type and scope
• Culture and environment
Employee type and scope
Creativity is always expressed through people. Peter Senge says: “Organisations learn only through people that learn.” My variant of this statement for this purpose of this article is “Organisations are only creative through their creative people.”
Corporate creativity is dependent on the type of employees hired. The nature of a company’s business should determine the type of employees it hires. An entertainment or media company will tend to recruit the maverick, out-of-box types. A professional services firm will be seeking the smart but regular species.
Corporate creativity is also a function of the scope employees are given to express their individual abilities. Let’s get a sense of how employee type and scope influence corporate creativity. Google for our case study:
Google has ranked in the top 5 of Fortune’s Best Places to Work survey for three consecutive years. These are excerpts from the responses of employees to the question “Why do you like working at Google?” “I get to work on the entire Google product suite. I’ve had opportunities I don’t think I would have had anywhere else and I am part of a great team. The work is always interesting, challenging, and fun. I have been able to stretch myself and learn new things almost daily.
“...most of the projects I work on have huge market potential. This keeps me very interested and excited since I know my work will make an impact on how people use the Internet and also on the company’s growth.” “But what inspires me the most is the potential to impact millions of people through the work I do.”
“Google is a great place to grow professionally as a manager or an individual contributor. I have the opportunity to code and grow technically and manage a team. I learn new things everyday and I enjoy that. There is an endless list of projects to explore.”
“Consider the underlined words – opportunities, interesting, challenging, impact, learn new things, individual contributor, etc. All these will positively impact the personal productivity of each respondent. Multiply these responses by majority of the employees and what you get is enormous creativity across the organisation. No wonder, it’s in the top five in Fortune’s Best Places to Work... and a top company in its industry.
The most significant point in all this is the strong alignment of personal and corporate aspirations.
Culture and environment
How can I be at work and have access to haircuts, massages, laundry and carwashes? Well, let’s stay with Google to understand how culture and environment enable the release of creative juices.
These are the words of Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt:
“The goal is to strip away everything that gets in our employees’ way. We provide a standard package of fringe benefits, but on top of that are first-class dining facilities, gyms, laundry rooms, massage rooms, haircuts, carwashes, dry cleaning, commuting buses – just about anything a hardworking employee might want. Let’s face it: programmers want to program, they don’t want to do their laundry. So we make it easy for them to do both.”
Google employees concur with their CEO:
“I feel that the Google environment and culture are unlike anywhere else, and I am very happy that I made the decision to join. I absolutely love being here and can’t imagine working anywhere else at this point” “The people, the opportunity, and the environment.”
“I am surrounded by some of the smartest and nicest (yet most humble) engineers – of course it’s easier to stay nice when you are well-fed, can get massages on campus, and can grab a beer on Friday afternoons.”
“There is an enormous amount of positive energy that keeps me going and growing. I just love the work environment. We respect each other and value each other’s contributions. My voice is heard irrespective of my position in the company.”
Once again, we see how Google blends the corporate with the personal. These employees are captivated by their environment and the excitement it provides. Google’s mix of employee attraction and retention factors is worth studying by HR managers and researchers. Environments like the one Google has created make it difficult for the employee to distinguish home from work or leisure from work. When Google employees are at work, they are also having their leisure time. Other perks at Google that engage the personal side of employees include on-site doctor, free shuttle services, financial planning classes and tuition reimbursement. For parents or parents-in-waiting, add to the list, back-up child care and...yes, adoption assistance! Surely, even the least creative person will become creative in such an environment!