Creativity Training: Return on Investment
There is no substitute for talent and while there is a cost to developing it, the benefits are undeniable. The following was written by Linda Naiman for Creativity at Work":
“Many organizations, such as 3M, Frito-Lay, and Texas Instruments, have introduced systematic creativity activities into their training and production processes with outstanding results. Frito-Lay, for instance, reports documented cost savings over a four-year period of almost $600 million due to their creativity training programs (Morrison, 1997 — Cited in 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving, by Arthur VanGundy, 2005).
The Wall Street Journal reported that a two year in-house creativity course at General Electric resulted in a 60% increase in patentable concepts.
Participants in Pittsburgh Plate Glass creativity training showed a 300% increase in viable ideas compared with those who elected not to take the course.
At Sylvania, several thousand employees took a 40 hour course in creative problem solving. ROI: $20 for every $1 spent.
Hewlett-Packard invested over $2 billion in R&D in 1999, and generated more than 1,300 patent applications. Net revenue: $42.37 billion. (Source: HP 2000 Annual report)
David Tanner, former Director of the DuPont Center for Creativity and Innovation, gives examples in his book, Igniting Innovation, Through the Power of Creative Thinking, of how to reduce costs through the use of creative thinking techniques:
A lateral thinking creativity tool is escape. You escape from limiting assumptions that you take for granted. A corporate IT department used this tool for original ideas to reduce costs. One of the things they took for granted was: “We reduce costs by spending less money.” They escaped from this with the provocation “Let’s spend more money.” An idea that paid off was, “Why don’t we spend more money, but on fewer vendors? We’ll reduce the number of vendors. We’ll place larger orders to some vendors, and we’ll get better price breaks.” This led to over $1 million dollars a year savings, based upon a one-hour creativity session.
Dupont’s investment in creative skills training and putting the techniques into practice, helped save more than $5,000,000 over a ten-year period.
ROI on Soft Skills Training
High-Performance Work Practices…
* skills training
* coaching and performance appraisals tightly linked to compensation
* cross-functional teams
* involve employees in corporate decision making & production processes
…and how they pay off
If the average company implements these work practices, within a year it can expect (per employee):
$27,044 more in sales
$3,814 more in profits
$18,641 more in market value
Source: Mark Huselid. “The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance.”
Academy of Management Journal. July, 1995.
Cultivating Creativity and Innovation
Skills in critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration and innovation are crucial for achieving success in a global Creative Economy.”
Updated Oct 29, 2018
This post was first published in Oct 2000 as “Ideas are the Currency of the New Economy,” and has been cited in: Leading and Managing Creators, Inventors, and Innovators: The Art, Science, and Craft of Fostering Creativity, Triggering Invention, and Catalyzing Innovation by Elias G. Carayannis, Jean-Jacques (Chanaron Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007) and Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance, by Jay Cross (John Wiley & Sons, Jan. 25, 2011)
Richard Florida is quoted as saying “Ideas are the Currency of the New Economy,” and when I discovered this via Google I was slightly horrified. Did I copy him without giving attribution? I hope not. As far as I can tell he made this statement in his book the The Rise of the Creative Class which was published in 2002.”
Citation: (Naiman, L. (2018, October 29). Ideas are the Currency of the New Economy. Creativity at Work. Retrieved January 5, 2022, from https://www.creativityatwork.com/ideas-are-the-currency-of-the-new-economy-numbers-tell-the-story/)