An Introduction to the Virtues of Ethical Leadership Part 6 – The Virtue of Creativity

The Virtue of Creativity
By Chad Weinstein

This is part 6 in a series on The Virtues of Ethical Leadership.  Find links to earlier parts here.  https://ethinact.com/blog-post-series/

The Virtue of Creativity inspires us to make things better: to create objects or processes, to improve what is at hand, to identify and overcome obstacles to meaningful improvements.  Do not be fooled by the misconception that Creativity is some magical power granted to a lucky few artists and inventors.  In fact, while some people seem to exhibit an extraordinary drive and ability to build something new or to innovate and improve conditions around them, literally anyone can be creative to some degree.  Everyone can cultivate the capacity for Creativity.  Leaders demonstrate Creativity when they envision and implement a new concept, or when they bring people together to consider how a team or process could be improved.  Creative leaders often challenge assumptions, and they sometimes buck traditions.  However, a hallmark of effective Creativity is not merely a desire to break down or break away from the status quo, but the will and skill to replace it with something better.

It may be easiest to think of Creativity playing out among great inventors. Most American school children learn about Wilbur and Orville Wright’s first flight on a beach south if Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in the winter of 1903.   Their Wright Flyer (admittedly, not the most imaginative name) was the first heavier-than-air, powered, controlled aircraft.  There is no doubt that the brothers’ Creativity – along with the innovation and hard work from a less-celebrated team of colleagues – led them to pioneer a technology that has changed the world.

You do not have to be Orville or Wilbur Wright to exhibit profound Creativity.   We can be just as creative when the improvements we envision and drive to reality are subtle.  Further, the creative person need not always be engaged in an overhaul or a new creation, but may be someone who can see incremental improvements, and is motivated to bring them about.  For another example, we can turn to the true story of a team of health care providers who will likely never be celebrated in myth or cinema.

Sally (again, not her real name) was admitted to the hospital with some confusing symptoms.  She spent a couple of days being tested for one set of issues, and her care was “entirely acceptable.”  She was then admitted to a neurology unit for observation and additional testing, and it felt to her that everything about her care had changed – for the better.  She noticed when she was wheeled into her new room, that the room itself was carefully organized and scrupulously laid out.  She especially took note of two washcloths that had been folded into a fan pattern like a napkin in a restaurant place setting.  Sally was somewhat frightened by some of the possible diagnoses that her care team had discussed with her.  In the previous units, when she expressed these concerns to her nurses, she was offered medication or referred to physicians.  Her first evening in this unit, she told the nurse that she was feeling some fear, and the nurse sat down and talked it through with her.  The difference was overwhelming.

Happily, the tests in the neurology unit indicated that Sally’s condition was not serious, and she recovered fully.  That wasn’t all she learned during her stay.  She asked the nurse about what made that unit different, and she learned that everything she had experienced, from the direct approach to patient care and support to the highly organized room and even the folded washcloths, was the result of creative leadership.  Her nurse explained that everyone working on the unit had come together to consider how they could improve their patients’ experiences.  Many of their patients were recovering from recent brain injuries.  They were disoriented, and they were often anxious.  The doctors, nurses, and even the facilities staff came together to define an especially orderly, predictable process for preparing new rooms, calculated to comfort these patients.  They sought feedback from patients and families, and continued to improve.  New nurses received consistent mentoring from more experienced peers, to prepare them to be directly supportive of patients in ways that put the needs of patients first, while respecting professional boundaries and interdisciplinary “teamwork.”  Sally’s nurse said that she had worked for several years to be transferred into the unit, precisely so she could be a part of a team committed to thoughtful, continuous improvement in patient care.  She felt both challenged and energized by an environment that called on everyone to be creative in caring for patients.

The Moderate Expression of the Creativity

A wise leader once explained the proper expression of Creativity this way:

“It’s not okay to do things the way we’ve always done them, just because we’ve always done them that way.  It is also not okay to change things for the sake of changing them. If you are creative, you know when it’s time to make something better.”

This statement provides real insight into the quality of Creativity in moderation: being driven to improve things that benefit from improvement.

The proper expression of Creativity also draws on Clarity for situational understanding and Competence to understand both the opportunity, and the options, for improvement.  Service can drive us to Creativity that is other-directed.  Courage is sometimes required, especially when facing opposition to real improvement.

The Features of Creativity: Imagination, Problem-Solving, Drive

The features of Creativity are instrumental to its expression.  It is easier to make things better when we have:

• Imagination for what could be, specifically what is possible and what “better” looks like.
• Problem-solving ability, including perhaps the patience and tenacity to work through problems.
• Drive, or the inner motivation to do the sometimes-hard work of creative endeavors.

Both the Wright Brothers and the neurology unit teams exhibited each of these features.

Imagination
Wilbur and Orville Wright’s vision for powered flight was not unique, nor especially imaginative; indeed that vision has been shared by countless people throughout the centuries, including anyone who has daydreamed while an eagle soared (or pigeons whirled acrobatically) overhead.  Their more powerful imagination led them to adapt kite designs and to harness an emerging technology: the small internal combustion engine.

In the neurology unit, a team of people imagined what it felt like to be a patient with neurological impairment, and what changes they could make to comfort and support such patients.  They observed how job titles and a host of “unwritten rules” created artificial barriers to teamwork, and imagined how people could work together in a way that was mutually supportive and mission oriented.

Problem-Solving
Some of the legends of the Wright Brothers obscure the high level of teamwork that was involved in their extensive problem-solving.  Toolmaker and mechanic Charles Edward Taylor built a lightweight and sufficiently powerful engine using the Wrights’ rough sketches and design requirements.  They worked with others to engineer the first successful aircraft propeller.

The problem-solving required to improve modern patient care sometimes relies on technology, but often it involves the sometimes-stickier problems brought on by organizational culture and professional traditions that do not promoted effective collaboration.  Sally’s caregivers no doubt faced many challenges implementing the improvements they envisioned: they had to change well-established processes and even overcome some budgetary constraints, while working within a culture that did not always reward innovation.

Drive

The first successful flight – in which the Flyer travelled a distance shorter than the wingspan of many modern airliners – was the result of years of modelling, prototyping, practicing, repairing, and reinvention.  That flight was more the beginning than the culmination of a sustained effort by the Wright Brothers team to sell their technology to the military and to others.  They overcame setbacks including the first fatal airplane crash, a demonstration flight which took the life of Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge.  The loss was grieved, and the team persevered.  Indeed, less than 70 years after Wright Flyer’s first successful landing, Apollo 11 successfully landed on the moon before returning to Earth.

Drive also led to perseverance on the hospital floor.  One of Sally’s nurses reported that she bid to join that unit for seven consecutive years, because she knew it would lead to the kind of mentorship that would make her more effective as a professional.  They faced challenges aligning some of their processes with those of the broader hospital, and some of what they imagined would be beneficial, simply was not feasible given their staffing and other constraints.  In those instances, the nurse recalled “putting our heads together and finding other ways to get to the same outcome – or close to it.”   Like problem-solving, maintaining their sense of drive was sometimes a team effort, with members encouraging one another to work through setbacks and to continue striving for continuous improvement.

Develop Imagination:

• Make the time and space to dream and imagine, alone and with others. Open yourself to insight from film, books, artwork…and time in nature.
• Capture your ideas in notebooks (or video files or pictures or audio clips…) and mine your ideas for potential projects.
• Allow yourself to be inspired by great examples from history, or from your own teammates.

Develop Problem-Solving:

• Develop expertise in relevant areas, and by engaging experts to work with you.
• Consider learning from divergent contexts: how people in different industries or roles solve similar problems.
• Study formal problem-solving processes, like root cause analysis.
• Challenge your mind with enjoyable puzzles: Sudoku, crossword, spatial puzzles, etc.

Develop Drive:

• Practice perseverance. Reward sustained effort.
• Work in teams to set and pursue challenging but realistic goals.
• Break down large projects into smaller tasks. Track both incremental and overall progress.

These techniques, and many others, are discussed in the next section of this Guide, Using the Virtues to Grow as a Leader.

Summary of Creativity

Creativity is not magic, but the results can seem magical – especially when people work together to imagine what could be, and work through the challenges to make their shared vision a reality.  Leaders can exhibit Creativity themselves while stimulating that Creativity in others by creating the space for innovation and continuous improvement, and by focusing on making things better in meaningful ways.  Remember that Creativity is not always expressed through big inventions or transformations.  Small changes can also lead to remarkable results.

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