Find Limitless Possibilities Through Creativity

by Armig Adourian

When I think of an SLA conference on partnerships, the one thing that does not immediately spring to mind is creativity. Yet, creativity was a key element in this year's Strategic Learning SymposiumPowerful Client Service: Creating Indispensable Partnerships held in Savannah, GA this past January. The conference reinforced the idea that creativity is an evolving process. I learned that creativity is partnership, and partnership is creativity.

This year's Symposium had many components to it, but the one that goes hand in hand with creativity is storytelling. The focus on storytelling as a way to bring out creativity in partnerships had me convinced that this was something collaborative that I could try when I returned to work. So I stood on my chair (instead of sitting in it ­a special thanks Jeff De Cagna!) and gained a new perspective on the value that I could provide.

In my role as business researcher within the Centre for Business Knowledge (CBK) at Ernst & Young LLP, I have had the opportunity to tell many job-related/CBK-related stories, mostly at people, not with people. I have also been able to forge partnerships of various kinds at various levels within the organization. But at the Symposium I was encouraged to bring out the "creative" (it is now a noun; that's creative!), to tell stories or to develop ones, with my partners. Because, as I also learned, the other element to creativity is giving. "Offer solutions, don't wait for them" was something one of our speakers said. Believe that you can contribute something to your environment that no one else can. And you know best what that is. So, why wait? At the end of the conference, I was challenged by this question: "What is possible?"

In thinking about this question, I became energized. The possibilities for creativity in partnerships ­ both within and outside of work ­ were limitless. At work, I began to approach a project that I had been putting off with greater enthusiasm. It was something that had to be done eventually, but in the face of daily "must haves," this "nice to have" was put on the backburner. However, I made the conscious decision to make this happen sooner. Why? Because I could now see that in being able to creatively partner with senior people in the organization, I would be able to communicate my value and that of the CBK at a higher level.

In a nutshell, this on-going project (which began at the end of February) consists of customizing an industry-focused knowledge base for a team of industry-based practitioners throughout Canada, and then rolling that database out to the firm globally. (For those that are wondering: No, this is not what a business researcher normally does at Ernst & Young. Then again, what's normal?) My partner and I have already made a couple of presentations to introduce the database, and have, in the process become more aware of what each of us has to offer. In essence, the database is our object of creativity. While it has a standard look and feel, we are afforded carte blanche with how it should be organized. And, for me, the challenge is to listen and fully understand what my partners need, and how best to implement that need in order for them to effectively use what we are building both now and in the future. The stories are in progress.

This is really a simple example of what can happen when you take a step back and choose option B, or what I call "next month's file." To my employers' credit however, we are afforded some level of flexibility to go out and to pursue these creative partnerships in hopes that it will serve to communicate our value. I am confident that there are other opportunities waiting to be discovered. I just need a taller chair.

What, then, is possible, for you?

Consider exploring these creative ways to learn:

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