Creativity: A Business Imperative
What is defined as being ‘creative’ has changed.
Creativity is no longer just an output or medium. It’s no longer the exclusive realm of designers and creators. Engineers, manufacturers, marketers, astronauts and scientists are all creative in their own unique ways. We are experiencing a growth in creativity – within workplaces, industries, and society as a whole – and the continued development and importance of creativity as a fundamental skill.
As Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen says, we are entering the Golden Age of Creativity, and creativity is all about making connections. In today’s environment, that skill is more important and resonant than ever before.
Creative skills are by no means new, but in the face of an unprecedented global environment, the value of insight, collaboration and ideation can’t be understated. These skills are essential in forming and maintaining our connection with the world and each other.
Creativity has become increasingly vital in all areas of business. Whether quality of output or impact of program, the addition of creativity to a workflow or process is important and noticeable. Creativity has real business impact which means leaders need to understand how to use it and cultivate it to get the most out of their teams and get ahead – or stay ahead – of their competition.
With technology and capabilities constantly evolving, recognising how you emphasise and inspire creativity can be a challenge for leaders. It’s why we created Adobe CQ (creativity quotient), a test to help leaders understand their creative ability in leadership, allowing you to assess not only your strengths in fostering creativity within your team, but also your creativity blind spots that might be holding you back.
Creativity is multifaceted and, particularly when talking about creativity within organisational teams, there are five key areas where creativity impacts business success.
- Culture: Fostering an environment that encourages and celebrates creativity has an impact on employee fulfillment, drives innovation and thinking outside the box
- Skills: Empowering team members to up-skill can help innovate workflows and processes, driving efficiency and effectiveness
- Technology: Experimenting with new technology can improve efficiencies, reduces the burden of mundane tasks and allows teams to focus on more exciting, varied work
- Data: New data (both qualitative and quantitative) can unlock insights that reframe how teams approach their work, and pose new outcomes
- Experience: Constantly going beyond the status quo and delivering enhanced customer experiences ensures continued business growth
To get the most out of their teams, creative leaders need to be facilitators in these five areas.
Adobe CQ assesses your strengths in these areas, and identifies where there is opportunity for improvement. The test helps you look beyond your team’s immediate capabilities and instead helps you recognise your own skills and how those skills are shaping and driving creativity within your team.
We know you don’t work alone and that the creative process involves multiple people across teams and companies. Take the Adobe CQ test to discover how you stack up against your peers.
This is well and truly the Golden Age of Creativity.
Discover your creative potential to lead. Take the test.
At Adobe, we believe that everyone deserves respect and equal treatment, and we also stand with the Black community against hate, intolerance and racism. We will continue to support, elevate, and amplify diverse voices through our community of employees, creatives, customers and partners. We believe Adobe has a responsibility to drive change and ensure that every individual feels a sense of belonging and inclusion. We must stand up and speak out against racial inequality and injustice. Read more about the actions we’re taking to make lasting change inside and outside of our company.
We also know many people are still impacted by the current COVID-19 crisis and our thoughts are with you. The entire Adobe team wants to thank you, our customers, and all creators around the world for the work you do to keep us inspired during this difficult time.
