Get Your Strategy On
How the Creative Stay Creative
Jun282008 Filed under: Leadership Author: tonyBrewster pointed me to this article earlier this month. Inc.com has a story called “Innovation: How the Creative Stay Creative.” They recommend:
- Get multicultural. - You need to get around people that are different than you.
- Provide lots of free time to think. - Give staff freedom with their schedules, and encourage them to be “off” and dream big.
- Encourage risky behavior. - Maybe my wife will let me ride a scooter. :-)
- Write it down. - Encourage your team to write and share their lives with others. (More blogging!)
- Hire smart. - Hire risk-takers. You need people that are willing to embrace change.
- Bring in outsiders. - Bring in outside perspective to expand your thinking. (That’s how we arrived at our live-streaming technology for multi-site.)
- Be flexible. Very flexible. - The same strategy doesn’t work for every situation.
- Do it for free. - Give your team the ability to give their work away and serve others.
- Mix up your people. - Let people step into new team environments for a season.
I would rank NewSpring very strong with numbers 4, 6 and 8. I think we need to work on 1 and 2. Do you NewSpringers agree?
How would you rate your organization? Do you see these characteristics on your team?
- Tags: Innovation
12 Responses to “How the Creative Stay Creative”
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Tony Morgan is a pastor and the Chief Strategic Officer at NewSpring Church where he develops creative solutions for communications, technology and NewSpring Ministries--the church's ministry that equips other church leaders.
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Chris Moncus
June 28th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Great list. Thanks for posting it. Being more creative is something I’ve been striving toward.
Brook Sarver
June 28th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
We struggle with anything that involves “free time”. Maybe someone would have some suggestions on how to best work on that. I pastor at a 700 member church in Indiana and we are trying to become more innovative and creative…but “free time” to dream big is hard to come by. By trying to be more we’ve only added more things to do and we haven’t added any new staff. It is something that we need to work through for sure…and I bet we’re not the only church out there struggling with this also…
Brook Sarver
http://www.two10eleven.com
How the Creative Stay Creative | ChrisMoncus.com
June 28th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
[...] those of us with short attention spans… here’s Tony Morgan’s summary. If you’re interested in the full version, read [...]
Erika Chapman
June 28th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
From my observations and the friends I know on staff, I think you guys do a good job with #9 too. You mix people up and have them fill new positions as fits there giftedness, to grow them and as the needs within the church change and shift. I love that, it appears that you refuse to get pegged and like to think outside the box. Kudos!
inWorship
June 29th, 2008 at 1:29 am
My biggest issue in finding creativity is #2. I need space , but I am my own enemy, cause I don’t give myself space or time think or dream. When I dream I create. I have to create space.
Web Round Up | Christian Music Sucks
June 30th, 2008 at 2:46 am
[...] Get creative and stay creative in Ton Morgans world. Lets start a series on getting Tony to change his picture to a cooler one, we know he’s got it in him. ;) [...]
Jared Christensen
June 30th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
As a NewSpring member (but not a staff member), I’m not qualified to meaningfully address many of those. However, I agree that Number 1 needs some serious work. Our church’s staff and leadership is pretty homogeneous and not representative of the surrounding community… yet.
J. Cardinell
June 30th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
that is great…..if your staff and church is already creative…but what do you do when your staff used to be creative but have over the past few years become comfortable….what can you do to recreated creativity?
tony
June 30th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
jared, i agree. though, you have to admit, it’s pretty cool that perry had the guts to hire an italian like me. :-)
tony
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July 11th, 2008 at 9:01 am
[...] How To Stay Creative - Good thoughts here! [...]
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July 11th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
[...] the rest of the article here (HT:MC). [...]
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July 12th, 2008 at 11:55 am
[...] How the creative stay creative… [...]