I got a 98% omg awesome. I answered based on how I manage people
in real life, how I manage my business, how I manage my friends
and how I manage the minecraft server.
*Do You Know How to Elicit Creativity in Other People?*
Epstein Creativity Competencies Inventory for Managers (ECCI-m)
v. 2.4, 2008-2012, Dr. Robert Epstein
Results for Kenneth U
May 20, 2013
Thanks for taking the ECCI-m! Your scores, which are listed
below, are an indication of the level of competency you
currently have in eight different skill areas that are important
for helping others to express their creativity. Your Total Score
reflects your overall skill level. While it's not necessary that
you be adept in all of these areas, the stronger your skills,
the more creativity you are likely to elicit in the people you
supervise. The good news is that all of these competencies are
trainable; that is, there are books you can read, seminars you
can attend, and videos you can view that will improve your
abilities in each and every area. The Big Book of Creativity
Games contains 48 games and exercises you might find helpful. A
related book, Creativity Games for Trainers, provides more
detailed information for professional trainers. Both are
published by the business division of McGraw-Hill.
The highest possible score in each area is 100, and so is the
highest possible Total Score. Wherever your score is under 100,
some improvement is possible. If your score is below 85, you
probably should be concerned. If your score is below 65, it's
especially important that you work on your skills in this area.
If your creativity management skills are poor, you'll probably
have trouble eliciting creativity in other people; strengthening
your creativity management skills can boost creative expression
in your organization or classroom dramatically.
Remember, creativity in an organization doesn't need to be left
to chance! Creativity-generating processes can be introduced
systematically into every operation, every meeting, every task
and goal -- all activities from top to bottom.
Here is your profile....
Your Total Managerial Competency Score is 98%
Your scores in each of the eight different skill areas are as
follows:
EncouragesPreservationofNewIdeas: 100%
EncouragesCapturing100%
ChallengesSupervisees100%
EncouragesBroadening100%
ManagesSurroundings100%
ManagesTeams100%
ManagesResources100%
ProvidesFeedback100%
ModelsSkills80%
New ideas are fleeting, like a rabbit running through the woods
that you only glimpse. Creative people know this, which is why
they go to great lengths to capture their new ideas as they
come, sometimes jotting down notes on a napkin or calling their
own voicemail and leaving themselves a message. To maximize the
creative output in the people you manage, you need to teach them
that it's important to preserve new ideas, and you also need to
make it easy for them to do so. You can help people capture
their new ideas with environmental reminders: posters, signs,
digital messages, etc., that encourage capturing. You can
provide materials and devices that facilitate capturing: idea
folders, memo recorders, PDAs, walls people can write on, etc.
You can provide quiet areas that allow people to hear their
thoughts. And you can even set aside special periods of the day
-- creativity breaks -- for capturing new ideas. Encouraging the
capturing of new ideas is the most powerful tool you have for
increasing creative output in your organization.
ChallengesSubordinates: 100%
Although failure, and even the thought of failure, makes people
uncomfortable, Dr. Epstein's laboratory research has shown that
failure is extremely valuable for creative expression. When
we're put into tough situations -- situations in which we might
fail -- a phenomenon Epstein calls ''resurgence'' kicks in: Many
old behaviors and ideas compete for our attention
simultaneously. New ideas and behaviors are generated as the old
behaviors and ideas combine; interconnections among old
behaviors is mechanism underlying all creativity, according to
Epstein. That's why giving people real challenges is such a
powerful way of stimulating creativity. To be an effective
manager of creativity, you need to challenge people regularly,
to teach them not to fear failure, and even to teach them better
ways to manage stress. One specific challenge technique that
Epstein teaches: Make sure that all tasks and goals are stated
in an ''open-ended'' way; make sure you ask for ''at least''
three solutions to a problem, not just three. Closed, bounded
assignments shut down creative thinking.
EncouragesBroadeningofKnowledgeandSkills: 100%
Because creativity is the result of interconnections among
previously established bits of knowledge, the more interesting
and diverse those bits of knowledge, the more profound the
creativity. If you want more creativity from your subordinates,
you need to encourage them to learn things well outside their
current areas of expertise. In an exercise called ''The Experts
Game,'' Epstein produces a dramatic increase in new ideas by
having people listen to three people talking for 5 minutes each
about unusual topics. If your resources allow, don't just give
your subordinates another course on the latest software update;
instead, treat them to a lecture on 17th century Italian art or
on the basics of plate tectonics -- or, better yet, ask your own
employees to give occasional lectures on their own obscure areas
of expertise! You'll be amazed to learn what kind of serious
expertise is hiding right now in your organization.
ManagesSurroundingstoStimulateCreativity: 100%
New behaviors and ideas are also generated when people are
exposed to new, vague, or multiple stimuli in the environment
around them -- both physical and social stimuli. Static
environments, on the other hand, stifle creativity. To be an
effective manager of creativity, you need to provide an
interesting, ever-changing environment, and you also need to
make sure that your subordinates interact with ever-changing
groups of individuals in your organization.
ManagesTeamstoStimulateCreativity: 100%
Although teams are often used to generate new ideas, Dr. Epstein
has shown that they're rarely used optimally. The main problem
with teams is that they shut down the creativity of some or even
most team participants. New ideas always emerge in individuals,
after all, and the presence of other people often inhibits
creative expression. One technique of team management that Dr.
Epstein teaches is called ''shifting'': Team members work on the
problem together for a short time. Then they shift out of the
group and work on the problem individually. Then they come back
together and pool and discuss their ideas. Shifting allows
everyone to make a contribution, and groups that shift generally
produce twice as many ideas as non-shifting groups. Epstein also
teaches the importance of assembling highly diverse teams, as
well as of changing team membership on a regular basis.
ManagesResourcestoStimulateCreativity: 100%
When resources are limited, creativity is limited. Dr. Epstein
demonstrates this in a simple exercise called ''Popsicology,''
in which participants are asked to create designs using popsicle
sticks. To no one's surprise, the more popsicle sticks people
have, the more creative their designs are rated by peer judges.
To maximize creative output in your organization, you need to
keep both time and material resources flowing to the full extent
possible.
Never underestimate the power of consequences. When people are
given positive feedback or material rewards for expressing new
ideas, they express more of them. Good creativity managers
provide positive feedback when people demonstrate creativity,
and such feedback can also be systematized in an organization by
making it part of evaluation and incentive systems.
ModelsAppropriateCreativity-ManagementSkills: 80%
You can manage by telling, and you also manage by doing. When
your subordinates see you expressing creativity, they'll feel
more comfortable expressing their own. More important, when they
see you practicing any of what Epstein calls the four ''core
competencies of creativity'' -- Capturing, Challenging,
Broadening, and Surrounding -- they'll be more likely to learn
and master those competencies. To get a more detailed fix on
your personal creativity competencies, take the Epstein
Creativity Competencies Inventory for Individuals (ECCI-i) by
visiting MyCreativitySkills.com.
