Hi! Managers: The need for creative leadership skills

Obviously, such programmes are appropriate as think-tanks - or even more than that - and maybe you can find a good school in Thailand, or even go abroad.

But the purpose behind furthering your formal education or seeking to lift your personal performance should be taken into account when making such a move, and today's business managers should be steering clear of learning more in the area of functional thinking. They need, instead, to be gathering creative leadership skills.

Some corporate leaders attribute their success to a critical core competency. They argue that their efforts at strategic reorientation create major competitive advantages, or maintain that they have smoothed operations through cost reduction, improvement of quality and services, or reducing the development time of new products. Others credit cutting-edge technology or sophisticated information systems with driving the success of their firms. But at the root of each of these things is the most valuable asset of all: creative talent.

Competitors can catch up on core competencies by adopting new technologies. They can close the gap by benchmarking and reengineering. But creative talent offers an organisation a long-term, unique, inimitable competitive edge. Individuals who consistently produce new, important, and exciting ideas allow companies to continually reinvent themselves and make corporate success happen.

Yet, creative talent is one of the least-recognised workplace assets - perhaps because many leaders are not good at recognising creative individuals, or don't provide the right environment for channelling their abilities.

There are huge, successful brands that have strong creative leadership - brands like Nike, Hallmark, Microsoft, Apple and Virgin. The great example of creative leadership is Virgin's Sir Richard Branson. He is quoted as saying: "Motivating employees means a loosely structured organisation that embraces change, allows risk-taking and rewards innovation. Rules and regulations are not my forte. Analysing things to death is not our kind of thing." He is excited by new projects and loves new ideas.

How can creative leadership help an organisation?

By providing inspiration for creative teams that produce ideas.

By creating strategies based on those ideas.

By coming up with innovative approaches that can be speedily implemented.

How can a potential creative leader be recognised?

They are great at generating innovative ideas, and are prepared to change the game.

They are always wanting to experiment with good ideas and try things out.

They have an unwavering belief in their own creativity and innovation, coupled with originality in thinking.

They are smart and bright, with a positive self-image.

They are also passionate, expressive and sensitive to their teams, colleagues and surroundings.

They are non-conformists and are independent, requiring less social approval than others.

They have an innate ability to understand and solve problems, as well as managing the consequences.

They are born dreamers with a strong imagination, but always manage to keep things in perspective.

There is a course called "The Executive MBA in Creative Leadership" offered by the Berlin School of Creative Leadership in Germany. It brings together visionary thinkers and respected leaders from the media, entertainment, advertising, marketing and academia. Coursework is designed to meet the need for creativity and to inspire new management thinking about future communication and leadership practices. (visit www.berlin-school.com )

Living in today's highly competitive environment, leaders and managers must develop a special blend of skills, and creative leadership is a crucial component. If your organisation has insufficient creative leadership talent, then perhaps its time to go back to school.

Pongsak Sanitwongse na Ayudhya is managing director of Publicis Thailand.