Hugo Van Veghel CRINSS 2012 Creative Industries Conference, Novi Sad, Serbia Konferencija kreativnih industrija

1. Creativity develops through a permissive environment.
Prof.dr. Hugo A.M. van Veghel
MA,MSc Biljana van Veghel Kondić
Abstract
For a few decades now we are screaming for innovation to save our economies. The reason for that is
because we have lost our creativity and without creativity no innovation. Creative industries have
inspired and contributed too many important innovative developments. A primary condition for
creativity however is a permissive environment, in which creativity can flourish, where creators are
allowed to experiment, can get involved in the process. Engagement and involvement are keywords for
bringing innovation to life. In this presentation we look at the importance of three important creative
learning patterns, the environment in which creators fight for their ideas and tips to bring innovation to
life.
1. Importance of Creative Learning patterns
Studies, researches and reports always have to be seen in their context whereas this is not always clear
the report in which I firmly believe is the PISA report. PISA (Programme for International Student
Assessment) is an international study which began in the year 2000. It aims to evaluate education
systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in participating
countries/economies. Since the year 2000 over 70 countries and economies have participated in PISA.
In the last PISA report1
no European country is scoring above average on all tests except for Finland (nr
3), Netherlands (nr 9) and Belgium (nr 10).
After the first report of PISA 2000 results were so shocking that OECD asked the Catholic University of
Leuven to define the causality for the results. The conclusions in a nutshell were that European middle
schools in Europe were very similar, as were primary schools, but that there were significant differences
on the kindergarten level. Kindergartens ? Yes, kindergartens.
In early childhood learning is done by playing: Explorative play, Constructive play and Role play
The environment of kindergartens is permissive to play, to be creative.
The process of eliminating excess neurons and synapses from the dense, immature brain, which
continues well into adolescence, is most dramatic in the early years of life and it is guided to a large
extent by the child's sensory experience of the outside world2
. Scientific evidence suggests that if the
1
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/60/46619703.pdf
2
UNICEF (2001) State of the World's Children, UNICEF, New York, 2001

2. brain does not receive the appropriate stimulation during this critical window, it is very difficult for the
brain to rewire itself at a later time3
Source: McCain Margret Norrie & Fraser Mustard (1999) Reversing the real brain drain, p 28
2. Creators fighting for their ideas
This is the story of the problem of Red Monkeys4
.
When someone is asked where in the rainforest you will find the largest variety of species then the
answer is usually “in the centre”, considering it to be a protected environment. Scientific evidence has
shown however that this is not true. The largest variety of species is found on the edge of the rainforest
where different ecosystems confront each other, where you find conflicting ecosystems.
Imagine the rainforest to be the organisation and a brown monkey from the forest at the edge where it
sets foot in the ocean meeting a red fish. When they start talking they come up with an idea. Let’s call
now this idea a red monkey. Now we have an idea at the edge of the organisation that has to find its
way to the centre, the management, in order to get implemented. What would happen if we drop the
red monkey in the centre of the rainforest? No chance for survival, it will be killed on the spot as it is
seen as an intruder. So we have to find a way to get there without getting killed if we want our idea to
be accepted and used. Therefore we will seek around the edge the necessary support from the Pioneers.
Pioneers are those in the organisation that help the creators to try and error, to refine the idea, to take
out possible flaws or weaknesses. Once they think that the red monkey is ready they will present it to
the Followers, the majority in the organisation that is not eager for change and will take no risk that
might endanger them. Once they are convinced that the red monkey might be added value or beneficial
for them they will accept it and start talking, promoting it. The movement of this mass is the path to the
3
www.worldbank.org/children/devstages.html
4
My organisation is a jungle, Jef Staes, Belgium 2010

3. top where you find the Settlers, sedentary, rigid, hard to convince that change, at this point innovation,
might be a good thing for them and the organisation.
Unfortunately, organisations today still have more red monkey killers than red monkey breeders.
Conclusion here is that innovation is a result of conflict(s) and that what we see as an organic evolution
has an important phase of trial and error in a permissive environment provided by the Pioneers that
believe in the red monkey.
3. Bringing innovation to life5
People make innovation happen. OK, but how they do it? Investigate ideas and opportunities, facilitate
engagement and connect the seemingly unconnected ideas.
Out of many tips look at these three “tips” for facilitating engagement:
People will be afraid, so develop the skill of courage
Effort will be unstable, so learn to be generative
You impact the system, so strengthen your emotional intelligence
People will be afraid, so develop the skill of courage.
Innovation implies change, and change often pushes people’s fear button. It’s not that they fear change,
mind you, but change often makes people afraid that they will lose something–power, comfort,
familiarity, a feeling of competence, etc. So fear gets activated. The antidote? Courage; Notter points to
two different ways to support courage organizationally. The first is a focus on learning. As you’re
engaging in making innovation happen and implementing new programs, have the discipline to maintain
a focus on learning, rather than judgment an evaluation. Not “Why did that go wrong,” but “What did
we learn from that.” It helps avoid triggering the fear response.
Effort will be unstable, so learn how to be generative.
Innovation rarely follows a predictable timeline or pattern of development. Sorry, strategic planners, but
you won’t be able to script this one. It’s going to grow organically and change and morph along the way.
Which is why we need to learn how to be more generative. We need to learn how to grow and change in
ways we can’t necessarily predict ahead of time. There are two organizational capacities to be
developed here.
5
Notter J., Grant M., Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World, Que Publishing, USA
2011

4. The first is inclusion–the ability to include difference. There are tons of research linking the ability to
handle difference and the ability to innovate. If everyone’s the same, then creativity is rarely the result.
But when you implement a new program, what are you doing to ensure that people from different
departments (who often have very different cultures) are actually working together well? We need
more conscious effort to ensure differences are really valued and included as we work together
implementing something new.
The second is collaboration. When the path you’re on is changing and morphing all the time, you need
to be able to collaborate with others on a moment’s notice and do it well to take advantage of the
changes in the environment. In most organizations, we’re not so good at that. Think about it: what’s the
one thing we all hate in organizations? Meetings... We get together to get things done. Collaboration
isn’t all about meeting in person, of course, but this is a big indicator that we don’t know how to do
collaboration well. We’re not good at clarifying our expectations, negotiating differences, getting clear
about who does what (and why). We need to work on this if we want to be generative (and as an added
bonus, people might actually get something out of meetings!).
You impact the system, so strengthen your emotional intelligence.
Making innovation actually happen is not so easy. There is some built-in resistance to the whole thing.
So it is critical to understand that your own emotional state will impact that system while you are trying
to make change happen. If you are all nervous about it, or worried it won’t work, or frustrated about the
lack of progress, that’s going to shine through and impact everyone else. Emotions are contagious, so
when you are doing new things, you need to be particularly aware of what’s going on inside you.
This is the centre of emotional intelligence. Possibly many people shy away from the topic of EI, because
they are worried they are going to have to share their feelings at work. Not so. Emotional Intelligence is
much more about being AWARE of your emotional state, than sharing it. It’s being aware of when your
buttons get pushed, or when your heart starts beating faster and your skin gets warmer during a
conversation and you’re not sure why. It means you’re getting mad, and if you’re aware of that, you
might choose not to react right away until you have time to figure it out. That’s emotional intelligence,
and we need to develop it if we want innovation to work.