nstructions

Next month, the agency you work for is opening a sister office in a neighboring city. The Board has tapped you as Director for the new location, and you’re thrilled with your promotion. In your capacity as Director, you’ve recently hired several new employees. The latest hires are coming in for training next week, and you want to make sure they understand your vision for appropriate office culture.

On one hand, you want everyone to feel completely comfortable in their work environment. On the other hand, you believe that the best ideas are often the result of creative collaboration between peers, and that some conflict is an inevitability of this process. You’ve learned from your previous position that the best approach to leadership is clear communication of expectations. To convey your complex ideas to incoming personnel, then, you have decided to prepare a professional presentation to share at an upcoming orientation session.

Your goal is to present a “creativity constitution” for the new office. Fortunately, you’ve done something similar to this in segments at your old job. You have the relevant experience to draw on in generating strategies for enhancing both the art aesthetic and level of productivity at work. You also have exposure to methods of avoiding/resolving conflict as passionate ideas bump up against one another. This will surely prove useful in completing your upcoming task.

You have already decided to mimic your old boss and mentor, and to preface your constitution with a brief explanation of why the forthcoming presentation will prove to be so useful for each trainee. Next, for the heart of the presentation, you have deemed it essential to address the following core issues and questions:

• How should new employees determine whether to display their preferred workplace art?
• How should art be presented and understood when engaging on the topic with co-workers?
• How should employees specifically approach each day and every item they encounter in the workplace and the world?
• How will the creative talents of the employees be challenged while keeping their minds active for the creative process?
• What activities and problem-solving systems can be utilized, and how will these systems benefit the staff and work environment?
• What connections can be made between the employees’ level of happiness, stress, and morale to the elements of art and creativity?

You read over your list of questions, satisfied. As you close your laptop, you remember to apply another bit of helpful advice from your ex-boss: Whatever techniques and strategies I decide to recommend should be supported by a high level of thorough analysis.