{"id":16611,"date":"2023-10-06T21:49:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T21:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/startups\/think-about-creativity-and-innovation-as-outputs-not-attributes\/"},"modified":"2023-10-06T21:49:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T21:49:27","slug":"think-about-creativity-and-innovation-as-outputs-not-attributes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611","title":{"rendered":"Think About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sarah Kellogg Neff is CEO of <\/em>The Lactation Network<\/em>, a national provider of insurance-covered lactation care.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always found it odd that hiring managers, C-suite executives and recruiters mention creativity, innovation and a willingness to disrupt the status quo as attributes they want to see in new hires.<\/p>\n

Those qualities don\u2019t just materialize out of thin air. They\u2019re not magically bestowed upon a select few. They aren\u2019t innate. They also aren\u2019t rare.<\/p>\n

There is a real, true case to be made that everyone at your company is a possible source for your next great idea\u2014they just have to feel supported enough to lean into those opportunities.<\/p>\n

An Egalitarian Outlook Creates Equitable Workplaces <\/strong>eople tend to think employees are either creative or they\u2019re not. They\u2019re either the next Amanda Gorman, or they\u2019re not. But I\u2019ve always believed that disruptors like Marian Croak, the vice president of engineering at Google, are here not only because an ember glows within them but also because somewhere along the way, they were immersed in the right structure and received the right inputs to fan their internal flame.<\/p>\n

<\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re a leader, middle manager or individual contributor, you can create a culture that fosters creativity and innovation. No one has a monopoly on these outputs, and these outputs aren\u2019t rare. It\u2019s just rare to encounter environments that cultivate the safety, support and agency required to help employees grow into their potential.<\/p>\n

When we realize that anyone\u2014yes, anyone\u2014has the capacity to embody the best of what we aspire to be, it changes the way we hire, train, guide, lead and promote. It changes how we think about ourselves and about each other.<\/p>\n

The Case For Building The Right Space<\/h2>\n

In 2021, McKinsey & Company posited that rising connectivity within our workplaces speeds up disruption and that free-moving information bypasses and challenges existing hierarchies. McKinsey also observed that nearly two centuries of management perspectives on control and predictability are on the precipice of obsolescence.<\/p>\n

When we\u2019re connected, the impossible feels possible. When we don\u2019t encounter siloed gate-keeping or bottlenecking of information in our workplaces, we can operate with more certainty. When we embrace flexibility to allow humans to work in ways that are conducive to their productivity, we get predictably positive results.<\/p>\n

At my company, we\u2019re seeing those results in real time. For instance, I\u2019m now traveling to Washington, D.C., regularly to help craft federal legislation because a year ago, at the height of the baby formula crisis, one of my colleagues started writing her senators.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the work that intangibly fuels our team but requires trust and agency to bear fruit. A member of our marketing team worked from Europe for the duration of the summer this year after using her professional development stipend to learn French. She\u2019s since conversed with Parisian mothers who have helped her tell more robust stories about maternal healthcare in the United States. Thanks to the flexibility of asynchronous work and healthy communication, she\u2019s been to four countries in eight weeks and has likely absorbed enough inspiration to fill her creative cup for the next eight months.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s not the only one. Every member of our organization is granted the time and space to deeply immerse themselves in new experiences both within and beyond their professional lives, and those adventures translate to innovative solutions they design for the families we help. We\u2019re resolutely cross-functional because we know that great ideas come from anywhere.<\/p>\n

The Long Game<\/h2>\n

When you invest in everyone, you truly do invest in everyone. A strong workplace culture means that your junior graphic designer can be just as much an innovator as your tenured chief technology officer. From a content brief to the high-stakes board meeting, creativity is born from the work your organization does to create safe spaces to take risks.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t happen overnight. The right environment requires asking the right questions: What processes have you put in place to cultivate creativity and innovation in your organization? Are you keeping your meetings small, intimate and nimble to allow everyone, no matter how introverted, to offer feedback? What about implementing no-meeting Wednesdays or speedy meetings so folks have the time to get back to deep, illuminating work? How do you offer pre-meeting clarity so folks can be sure the hard questions will be posed, grappled with and resolved?<\/p>\n

Fundamentally, do your employees feel trusted to do their jobs? How do you invite participation? How do you say no to someone\u2019s idea? What happens when someone on your team makes a mistake? Trust and autonomy cultivate courage. Courage creates space for creativity, which is all about connecting otherwise disconnected ideas: grabbing an idea from over there and bringing it over here.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re an organizational leader and you don\u2019t have a clear read on those answers, then your employees are probably clear enough on the message you\u2019ve already sent. But day by day, week by week, opportunities abound to create cultural safety and support at your organization. Once committed, the creative, innovative, inspired employees you\u2019re looking for will likely be just a conference call away.<\/p>\n

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Kellogg Neff is CEO of The Lactation Network, a national provider of insurance-covered lactation care. I\u2019ve always found it odd that hiring managers, C-suite executives and recruiters mention creativity, innovation and a willingness to disrupt the status quo as attributes they want to see in new hires. Those qualities don\u2019t just materialize out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-startups"},"yoast_head":"\nThink About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sarah Kellogg Neff is CEO of The Lactation Network, a national provider of insurance-covered lactation care. I\u2019ve always found it odd that hiring\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Think About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes | Brandiary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sarah Kellogg Neff is CEO of The Lactation Network, a national provider of insurance-covered lactation care. I\u2019ve always found it odd that hiring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brandiary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-06T21:49:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-06T21:49:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/1696628966_0x0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"News Room\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4\"},\"headline\":\"Think About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-06T21:49:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-06T21:49:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611\"},\"wordCount\":909,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Startups\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611\",\"name\":\"Think About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes | Brandiary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-06T21:49:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-06T21:49:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"Sarah Kellogg Neff is CEO of The Lactation Network, a national provider of insurance-covered lactation care. I\u2019ve always found it odd that hiring\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Think About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\",\"name\":\"Brandiary\",\"description\":\"Latest Business and Startup News and Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Brandiary\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png\",\"width\":381,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"Brandiary\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4\",\"name\":\"News Room\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"News Room\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Think About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes | Brandiary","description":"Sarah Kellogg Neff is CEO of The Lactation Network, a national provider of insurance-covered lactation care. I\u2019ve always found it odd that hiring","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Think About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes | Brandiary","og_description":"Sarah Kellogg Neff is CEO of The Lactation Network, a national provider of insurance-covered lactation care. I\u2019ve always found it odd that hiring","og_url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611","og_site_name":"Brandiary","article_published_time":"2023-10-06T21:49:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-06T21:49:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/1696628966_0x0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"News Room","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"News Room","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611"},"author":{"name":"News Room","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4"},"headline":"Think About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes","datePublished":"2023-10-06T21:49:26+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-06T21:49:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611"},"wordCount":909,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Startups"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611","name":"Think About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes | Brandiary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-06T21:49:26+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-06T21:49:27+00:00","description":"Sarah Kellogg Neff is CEO of The Lactation Network, a national provider of insurance-covered lactation care. I\u2019ve always found it odd that hiring","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16611#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Think About Creativity And Innovation As Outputs, Not Attributes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/","name":"Brandiary","description":"Latest Business and Startup News and Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization","name":"Brandiary","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png","width":381,"height":100,"caption":"Brandiary"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4","name":"News Room","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png","caption":"News Room"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com"],"url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16613,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16611\/revisions\/16613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}