At Raisio, we joined the Aalto University’s Creative Leap research project, which started two years ago. The results show that creativity can be measured and managed, and that leadership that fosters creativity is a key factor for economic success. The key conclusion of the results is that strengthening the conditions for creativity is more important than individual creative achievements. A company that wants to deliver business results in today’s rapidly-changing environment values creativity by supporting people and providing room for experimentation, failure and growth.

Each of the companies involved also gained their own survey results, and we now have a good starting point against which to compare future measurement results.

For us, the timing of the project was perfect: we have a new strategy and we are on a journey of transformation from a traditional Finnish company to a European innovator. The results of the project will help us understand our history while we strive for change.

The results also prove that creativity is not vague fluff, but that it affects results and needs to be deliberately managed. The Creative Leap project provides us with common definitions and concepts as well as a basis for monitoring the development of creativity.

Our own results show that there is a clear need to strengthen the preconditions for creativity. We did well when it came to measuring individual creativity, but we have room for improvement in strengthening organisational creativity and its preconditions. According to the survey, our strengths were self-management, leadership that builds trust, meaningful work, a comfortable workplace and a positive atmosphere.

I am very pleased that we got involved in this pioneering work and also that our staff participated enthusiastically.

I was also delighted to see that, as individuals, we recognise our creative potential. It is a good starting point for developing organisational creativity. We will use the results of the project to keep developing the culture of our company, but we will also continue our research on creativity. Our aim is to create KPIs for creativity, for example. We are also extremely interested in how the changes made to the organisation of our company over the summer have affected its creativity. As such, we now have a good starting point against which to compare future measurements.

Read more about the Aalto University research project

Stop for a moment to reflect on creativity with Aalto University’s free online creativity course. The online course is in English.

Free course on radical creativity – for business, technology and arts