Dalek Strategist
There are two types of people: creative people and non-creative people. They are not born that way, they decide to be that way. Sometimes they behave in one way in a certain situation, say being a monotonous drone at work and yet a creative genius at the weekend on the sports field or with the children.
The problem in most businesses is that they may say they want creativity and creative people working for them but what they manifest is mindless monotonous drones.
Creative people in business do not sit there doodling or daydreaming (but if they do you can bet they’re onto some big idea). Creative people innovate better ways of doing things. They naturally follow the path of progress. They can’t help making things more interesting. When channeled, these attributes always lead to increased profits.
Dalek Drone
If you have sales people: they need to be creative sales people because they need to create new relationships and create new sales opportunities.
Sales Drones do not create new sales opportunities. neither do they know how to up-sell new offerings to existing customers.
If you have administration people: they need to be creative administration people. They’re job is to make things work smoothly and there are always problems they need to resolve and there are always processes that can be made better.
Admin Drones just do filing.
If you have managers they need to be creative managers: handling people and their relationships is a complex task with many factors constantly changing. Motivating people to do their best is a skill that is bespoke for each individual. Problem solving skills and emotional intelligence are needed more than ever in such a role.
Manager Drones annoy good people who then leave and join your competitors.
If you have staff that deal with customers they need to be creative staff who deal with customers. Creating great customer service is the most underdeveloped method of increasing sales and profits. Knowing how to handle problems or how to create value added extras that turn customers into advocates is a creative skill that’s worth its weight in gold.
Service Drones annoy customers who then post on Twitter how bad your service is.
Don’t employ drones, and even more importantly, don’t turn your employees into drones. Good people who get fed up and leave their jobs usually do it because they weren’t appreciated. A great way of getting good people to stay and excel is to allow them to use more of their skills and talents in their role, to have more responsibility for their role.
Research has been done that the amount of perceived self determination within an organisation is directly proportional to increased profits and success of that organisation. Using or converting people into drones is like running your business with everyone having one arm tied behind their back, or chaining employees to a desk (which is exactly what so many companies actually do if you think about it).
I can show you how to turn your drones into productive, inspired creative strategists who not only do a better job with their current role, but are capable of innovating areas around them. Some businesses (and of course most employees) would be offended to have people described as ‘drones’. That may be the case but when the economic climate is more challenging, the risk of drone conversion is even greater. I can show you how to avoid the dangerous slide into drone manufacture, to help you get even more from the good people you have.
Come and see me on www.aydinstone.com
Ding! 
Hello there aydinstone, I’m interested in this also. (Please see the most recent article on my site for more info.) Your blog post was a enjoyable read; you’ve most certainly given me some food for thought.
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Great to bring this to employers attention. We need all types of people working as a team in business and as you quite rightly say we need creative thinkers. Otherwise how does a company progress with fresh ideas. In my business and as a sole trader I need to be creative and move and adapt with the times. Professional help is always a great bonus and if you are not creaitve have professional help!
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Funny, I have just done a Belbin test which has put my as a Plant/Resource Investigator – probably at the top of the creative scale – yet the director doesn’t value it – he wants more completer finishers. Interested in your thoughts here as my initial thinking is that for this particular director he see the creative as a threat and would rather completer finishers in place to complete his tasks rather than creatives that may challenge his strategy.
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Ayd,I heartily agree. I still remember being told as a management trainee, in my second job:, when I had a new idea: “You need to understand how we do things around here.!” In other words, ‘get lost, we don’t want to know.”
Every company says people are our most important asset, but very few practise it. Allowing people to be creative can be scary for some managers. But I have worked for one manager- an editor, who allowed us all to be as creative and as independent as we liked – as long as delivered something that was good. That was Simon Caulkin, latterly Management Editor of The Observer. His management style worked and produced great results all around.
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I love this post Ayd. Sharing it with my followers today!
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I am not for dichotomies but heck why not
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