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Leading creativity and talent

Leading creativity and talent
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We recently surveyed over 100 senior business leaders from across our global network.

In sharing the analysis and conclusions from this work we hope we can contribute to the wider conversation about where businesses go from here and how their leaders might take them there.

You can find the full survey report. We also asked senior leaders and consultants at Impact to provide their perspective on some of they key trends that emerged from the research. 

Qudsia Karim, Head of Consulting Impact UK on leading creativity

When change is constantly accelerating, what are the implications for an organisation’s capacity for creativity? 

Business leaders now find themselves sliding between mobilising, stabilising and strategising. Is there any space for creativity – the key ingredient for any organisation to adapt and innovate? Research shows that creativity flourishes when leaders purposefully create an environment in which teams can experiment, fail and explore new ways of doing things... or as Walt Disney put it, ‘where there is play, there is creativity’.   

So where is the 'play'? And how does it happen in organisations right now, when the main objective for leaders is to provide security, safety and stability?  

This is where leaders must be the new constant, and if leadership means anything in this unprecedented moment in time, it's balancing the dilemmas and paradoxes associated with creativity and maintaining stability.  

How will you develop your leadership style to flex between the stability and decisiveness needed, whilst creating an environment ripe for creativity and necessary play? 

Dave Andrews, Impact Associate on leading talent

CEOs clearly recognise the need for change in the post Covid-19 era. And there are lots of change processes that consultancies will do for you, and to you. The transformational change that organisations will need to make involves creating cultures that are agile, adaptable, and that have the courage and skill to challenge themselves about what, how and where they operate.  

The CEO’s genuine involvement in the talent process can play a significant role in creating that culture. Some CEOs we work with are focusing up to 20% of their time on strategic talent initiatives, with a particular emphasis on engaging their emerging leaders/high potentials in shaping the business for the future.  

Using tried and tested processes, these talented, culturally tuned-in colleagues can add insight, challenge and potential solutions that are directly focused on the needs of the business. They can be empowered to challenge the executive team's strategy and mindset, and they can unlock the organisation’s potential. So, here are a couple of post Covid-19 questions: 

  • Are you ready to open yourself and your executive team to intelligent internal challenge? 

  • Are you really mobilising the potential of your talent?