Introduction
This paper will deal with creative intelligence, and how and in what ways the styles of creative intelligence serve to influence organizational decision-making. It will be stated that creative intelligence is one of the most desirable traits in an individual today, and that it is this type of individual who would bring in benefits for his organization.
Mental Process
Intelligence is a term that is used to describe that quality of the human mind that includes skills such as reasoning, logic, creativity, the ability to think abstractly, to solve problems, and so on and so forth. There are as many theories on intelligence as there are types of intelligence, and experts believe and theorize that almost every person on earth would possess at least one form of intelligence.
Creative intelligence, one of the many types of intelligence, can be described as the intelligence that is needed by an individual to formulate ideas, and to solve problems in a creative manner. This form of intelligence is generally assumed to be present in almost every successful business owner, even though he may not be aware of it. There can be four types of creative intelligence: intuitive, innovative, imaginative, and inspirational. While intuitive refers to that type of creative intelligence that would enable an individual to focus on results, and to rely on the results that he has achieved through his efforts at an earlier time to guide his present actions, innovative intelligence refers to the ability of an individual to systematically concentrate on problem solving and apply the skill to the betterment of his business.
The imaginative individual possesses the ability to visualize opportunities in store for him, and to ‘think out of the box’ to handle the problems in business. Inspirational intelligence is all about laying emphasis on social change, and putting in one’s efforts towards bringing in the change. (Eastlake Marketing Group 2008)
It is important to note that one of the main challenges in understanding creative intelligence lies in the fact that this type of intelligence will never proceed in a direct linear fashion; instead, it will always progress in a non-linear fashion, and the individual would use to his advantage the rules that he would have attained over the years, and use them cognitively to solve his problems. (Geake G John 2004)
In today’s business world, there are certain forces that influence the mindset, which in turn serve to affect and influence the basic decision making processes within the organization. According to Lester Thurow, intelligence and information are fast replacing natural resources in a typical business organization today.
Creative intelligence is today ‘power’ to the company, and with the changing world demographics and the advances in business because of the advent of the Internet, which has made buying and selling anywhere in the world possible for a great many people today, and as many more young people are active members of the business community today, a lot more creativity and originality and resourcefulness is evident than ever before. (Acquaviva J Gary 2000)
As mentioned earlier, today’s business climate has changed, more so than ever before, with the advances made possible because of globalization. There is more stiff competition today than before, and most companies face change, and the best way to deal with change is to be prepared for it. This is the reason why businesses today encourage strong leadership, and also a completely driven workforce with the innate ability to face any number and any type of challenge that may come their way. (Bergerson, Warren 2002)
Creative intelligence, the ability to come up with new and innovative ideas involves a fine balance between the three types of intelligence mentioned earlier: analytical, creative, and practical. A creatively intelligent person would possess the ability and the practical capability to move beyond the normal towards the generation of new ideas, in a way that would ultimately benefit the organization. (Section 3, Creative Intelligence n.d)
The styles of creative intelligence serve to influence the basic decision making process within a business organization, and also influence the mental mind sets of the employees of the organization; how does this happen? Basically, the creative decision making process, using the employees’ creative intelligence, involves four steps.
These are: the gathering of all the important and relevant information that would be utilized in the decision making process at a later time, and the awareness on the part of the employee that any decision at all is merely making a choice between the various option available, and for this to happen, one must know what the goal is. Therefore, this can mean that all the options available for any course of activity to be taken to achieve one’s goals must be weighed and evaluated properly before a final decision can be made. Third, the previous decisions that the company may have made, on the same subject, and with similar choices available, must be evaluated. Finally, creative intelligence involves making the specific plans for carrying out the chosen option out of the several options available, and then taking the steps needed to implement this carefully made plan.
This plan would no doubt be of great benefit to the business organization, since the decision making process would not only involve a careful consideration of the organization’s past decisions, but would also involve utilizing fully the innate creative intelligence of the employees of the company. One must remember that the decision making process can be undertaken either singly or in groups, while keeping in mind both short term and long term objectives, maintaining a fine balance between creative intelligence and practicality. (Corporate culture and creative decision making, part 1 2002)
What are the most commonly used mental mind sets that would guide one’s decision making process within the work place, and how does this influence the decision making process in the business organization? In today’s business environment, which needs everyone’s input and ideas, instead of relying on just a few individuals’, creative intelligence is something that is becoming widely acknowledged as one of the major requirements of a potential employee.
This cannot be taken to mean that business leaders until today have not been intuitive or original or creative, or that they have not been able to make organizational decisions efficiently; it just means that these leaders may not have known or been trained to pass on their special skills to the other employees within the organization. This would have directly affected the decision making process, and in turn affected the profitability of the organization.
Today, creative intelligence is recognized for its immense value, and leaders are expected to pass on their creative skills and thinking abilities to the other employees, so that everyone may work together for the common benefit of the concern. As a matter of fact, research has shown that the development and enhancement of creative intelligence and skills would automatically lead to better decision making: it would improve employee morale, it would increase communication within the workplace, thereby encouraging a better flow of ideas between individuals and groups, it would improve the decision making strategies being used in the organization, and it would encourage employees to do much more than they had thought would be possible. (Miller, Niella n.d)
Today, one must remember that it is a creative leader and a creatively intelligent employee who would be deemed capable of introducing positive changes into the organization, and taking the company forward into the next generation of innovation and new ideas and change. This is the reason why experts state that creativity and the utilization of creative intelligence must be allowed and encouraged within the workplace, because creativity would provide the answers to tough problems, as well as bring in a vision of the future not thought of before.
For example, when a creatively intelligent employee is faced with a tough decision, he would possess already the competency needed to pin point the exact problem, analyze it, and use the analyses to build up alliances that would help him deal with the problem efficiently and effectively.
A creatively intelligent individual would furthermore be able to manage complex situations creatively, so that the organization that he works for would benefit greatly. In the words of Alan J Rowe, “Effective leaders are wiling to take risks, think outside the box, and recognize that empowerment provides a sense of ownership to stakeholders that helps to assure proposed changes will be accepted.” (Rowe J Alan 2004) This type of leader would not only be able to handle the decision making processes within the organization in a creative manner, but would also be able to support the creation and the bringing in of new and innovative ideas into the workplace. (Rowe J Alan 2004)
In conclusion, it may be stated that creative intelligence is one of the most desirable aspects of an employee today; because of the fact that it has been acknowledged and recognized that it is an organization that encourages creativity that would be able to stand up against its competitors, and win. The more creatively intelligent an individual is, the better the benefits for his organization.
References
- Rowe J Alan (2004) Creative Intelligence, leadership and the challenge of the future FT Press Retrieved on October 17, 2008 from http://www.ftpress.com/articles/article.aspx?p=170893
- Acquaviva J Gary (2000) Values, Violence and our Future Google Book Search Retrieved on October 17, 2008 from http://books.google.co.in/books?id=qAtNAPteVk0C&pg=PA189&lpg=PA189&dq=five+forces+of+creative+intelligence&source=web&ots=NsYibEHaJl&sig=g8HlJapbfB9LRPZ7Axr0JojIJlU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result
- Geake G John (2004) A neuropsychological model of creative intelligence Retrieved on October 17, 2008 from http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:UzEE0bZIGJsJ:www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/education/rescon/cpdgifted/docs/research/neuropsychological-model-of-creativity-jgeake.pdf+four+styles+of+creative+intelligence&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=in
- Miller, Niella (n.d) Bringing intuitive creative skills to work environments Gestalt! Retrieved on October 17, 2008 from http://www.g-gej.org/9-2/creativework.html
- Bergerson, Warren (2002) Modeling Creative Intelligence Retrieved on October 17, 2008 from http://www.iscid.org/boards/ubb-get_topic-f-6-t-000092.html
- Corporate culture and creative decision making, part 1 (2002) Retrieved on October 17, 2008 from http://www.nfib.com/object/1611553.html
- Eastlake Marketing Group (2008) Creative Intelligence I Zania Retrieved on October 17, 2008 from http://www.izania.com/blogs/Creative-Intelligence.html
- Section 3, Creative Intelligence (n.d) Man vs. Machine Creativity in the mind and the brain Retrieved on October 17, 2008 from http://seangavarny.com/section3.html
