Tapping into Creativity and Innovation Today

Human Creativity is a Virtually Limitless Resource

Feb 3, 2009 Britta Stromeyer Esmail

Knowledge and information today comprise more than two thirds of the U.S. workforce and it is growing fast and steady.

“We live in a time of great promise. We have evolved economic and social systems that tap human creativity and make use of it as never before…Human creativity is a virtually limitless resource.” (Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class)

According to the U.S. Census Bureau Business Expense Survey from 1997, workforce costs account for the largest business expenditure today. Knowledge and information today comprise more than two thirds of the U.S. workforce and it is growing fast and steady. Human creativity and knowledge is the ultimate advantage sought by all global businesses.

Recruiters, hiring managers, and executives are challenged to attract and select international and diverse leaders. It is the key to global competition today because an organization’s reputation is often the entrée into new markets and that reputation is the result of the people each organization recruits and retains.

In this changing world, companies must attract and select a diverse workforce that allows for and nurtures creativity and innovation. Every internationally minded organization needs to incorporate talent management into their hiring and development practices.

Demographic Trends

Demographics show that 100% of world population growth is projected for the developing world, while the developed world will face population declines (Source: United Nations: World Population Prospects, The 1996 Revision (New York: UN, 1998). With declining workforces in the developed world, the leveraging of what talent is available will be mission critical – including the underutilized workforces such as older workers, the disabled and, in North America, the native populations.

Globally, the war for skilled leaders will be fierce. The demographics create the conditions for a shift in labor force power, inevitably leading to a shift in economic power and importance. Indeed, the leading effects of this are already visible with countries like India and China where the consumer class is growing alongside those countries’ economies. Businesses need to understand the longer-term need to keep knowledge, creativity and innovation, in short talent, in the country.

The New Global Business Reality

Business process outsourcing, immigration and emigration, mobilization and globalization efforts have changed the landscape of the national and global workforce forever. Today, it is almost expected, that people with different passports and different accents are working together on a daily basis. Job descriptions in the U.S. are increasingly knowledge based, less generic and therefore more specific, causing organizations to increasingly match job descriptions to people rather than placing employees within job descriptions.

With global business emerging as the model for international development and human capital rising to the most critical factor in competitiveness, cutting edge organizations simply cannot afford the high cost of poor hiring, training and retention practices.

Much of the recent globalization of the labor force has been enabled by Internet technology and driven by a desire to cut costs. This is starting to balance with other objectives, such as continuous production, access to wider talent pools and by applying the principles of talent management. Effective, long-term global talent management requires strong leadership, cultural sensitivity and state of the art technology.

A Common Vision

Ignorance of local differences and the lack of talent management skills can be a costly mistake for U.S. businesses. Only through effective leadership can a corporation build the loyalty and commitment necessary to bind workforces into a team – especially where cultural differences are embedded. Global talent management-based workforce leadership is essentially “servant leadership” – leading the workforce and building loyalty through sustained service to workers and their community.

Leaders must establish a common vision that unifies the workforce – even bridges the geographical and cultural disconnectedness inherent in workforces spread across diverse regions. Leader visibility is critical to reinforcing the vision and creating unity and connectedness. Leaders are not portable to various global regions without acclimation.

The copyright of the article Tapping into Creativity and Innovation Today in Business Management is owned by Britta Stromeyer Esmail. Permission to republish Tapping into Creativity and Innovation Today in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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