Sparkling Creativity at Ferrari

Widya Wardani | 29112003

In Sparkling Creativity at Ferrari Case, theres described Ferraris strategy in encouraging creativity of its employees. The interesting thing is Ferrari managements dont force their employee to be creative people, but they create a supporting environment so that the creativity born from the unconscious side of its employee. In this case, there are lessons to be drawn: a. Creativity need support from environment In this case, it is described how Ferrari creates a supporting environment to encourage its employee creativity. Ferrari provides Program called Formula Uomo that combines creation of an architecturally pleasing and healthy work environment with the development of some unusual training and wellness program (one example of this program is Language Exercise Program). Ferrari also run Creativity Club to get employees creative juices flowing with art class being taught by artists. b. The creativity comes from unconscious side of human. Ferrari realizes that they cant ask their employee to be creative because the creative itself comes from the unconscious side of human. It describes why Ferrari focuses in stimulating the creativity mind by provide some programs mentioned in the case. The programs are designed to trigger the creativity comes from the employees themselves. c. Creativity belongs to everyone, not restricted by position, etc Its important to realize that bright idea can come from anyone inside the company, not restricted by their position level. Sometimes idea comes from the bosses as well as the staffs. The key point is how to make employee in any level have confidence to show their idea. These facts indicate that company should design a good environment to nurture the creativity instead of forcing the employee to be creative. This situation is same with what Ive got in past training from the company. The training was titled Innovation Training for Telkom Gen-Y. In this training, the rule of every participant was we are not allowed to wear formal suit. Casual style was a must. In this 4 days of training, the objective is Creating Business Model for Telkom New Product which we had to complete in last day of training. In the two first days, the assignment was not about business model itself. The event organizer gave us two full days of fun games and tasks which were not directly related to the objective. It really encouraged us with a creative thinking. In last two days, many extraordinary ideas of business model came from each of us. This practical session may be based on the creativity theory of unconscious mind. One of them is written in journal titled A Journey into Chaos: Creativity and the Unconscious by Nancy C. Andreasen, M.D., Ph.D, who is is Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry and Director of the Psychiatric Iowa Neuroimaging Consortium at The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. In this Journal, she

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writes her opinion about the creative process. She says that the creative process is characterized by flashes of insight that arise from unconscious reservoirs of the mind and brain. Imaging studies indicate that these reservoirs reside in association cortices. During the creative process, the brain works as a self-organizing system. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in Creativity - Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention book said that therere some characteristic of the creative personality mentioned below: 1. Creative individuals have a great deal of energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest. 2. Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time. 3. Creative individuals have a combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility. 4. Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy ant one end, and rooted sense of reality at the other. 5. Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between extroversion and introversion. 6. Creative individuals are also remarkable humble and proud at the same time. 7. Creative individuals to a certain extent escape rigid gender role stereotyping and have a tendency toward androgyny. 8. Generally, creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent. 9. Most creative persons are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well. 10. The openness and sensitivity of creative individuals often exposes them to suffering pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.

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