creativity in the workforce

www.conferenceboard.org © 2011 The Conference Board, Inc. | 1

Creativity in the Workforce Art of Science Learning May 16, 2011

Mary Wright – The Conference Board Randy Cohen - Americans for the Arts


Key Points

!  Creativity and innovation are valued, and valuable !  There is evidence that arts training/competency relates to scientific

success !  Investing in the arts contributes to economic vitality !  Both schools and business want to encourage creativity but neither

segment supports its development to the extent desired !  Additional discussions are needed amongst all stakeholders to

realign needs and resources


Importance of Applied Skills Only Increasing

48.8%

63.3%

64.0%

64.0%

64.3%

64.4%

65.9%

66.9%

67.1%

73.6%

74.2%

77.4%

77.8%

Mathematics Foreign Languages

Life Long Learning / Self Direction Written Communications

Ethics / Social Responsibility Professionalism / Work Ethic

Oral Communications Leadership

Diversity Creativity / Innovation

Teamwork Information Technology

Crtivial Thinking / Problem Solving

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0% 90.0%

Over Next Five Years Importance Will Increase:

* Applied Skill

The More Successful a Scientist, the More Likely He or She Is to Have One

or More Adult Arts and Crafts Avocations

RATIO OR CHI SQ P VALUE

PHI (r)

PUBLIC v. SIGMA XI 1.06 1.09 0.18 0.67 .005 ROYAL SOCIETY v. SIGMA XI 1.79 2.92 30.57 < 0.0001 .010 NATIONAL ACADEMY v SIGMA XI 1.70 2.57 23.93 < 0.0001 .065 NOBELISTS v. SIGMA XI 2.85 31.79 659.75 < 0.0001 .366 ROYAL SOCIETY v. PUBLIC 1.69 2.68 25.30 < 0.0001 .066 NATIONAL ACADEMY v. PUBLIC 1.60 2.36 19.39 < 0.0001 .059 NOBELISTS v. PUBLIC 2.69 29.13 617.20 < 0.0001 .360 NOBELISTS v. ROYAL SOC. 0.95 0.88 0.37 0.55 .014 NOBELISTS v. ROYAL SOCIETY 1.59 10.88 217.20 < 0.0001 .318 NOBELISTS v. NATIONAL ACADEMY 1.68 12.34 256.03 < 0.0001 .380

Continuous Arts Participation Correlates with STEM Innovation

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Michigan Engineers MEDC Awardees

!"

!"

!"!"

* !"


Indentifying Creativity

Which best demonstrates creativity?*

(#1=most popular choice) Business/ Employers

School Superintendents

Problem-identification or articulation 1 9 Ability to identify new patterns of behavior or new combination of actions 2 3

Integration of knowledge across different disciplines 3 2 Ability to originate new ideas 4 6 Comfort with the notion of “no right answer” 5 11 Fundamental curiosity 6 10 Originality and inventiveness in work 7 4 Problem-solving 8 1 Ability to take risks 9(t) 8 Tolerance of ambiguity 9(t) 7 Ability to communicate new ideas to others 11 5 *Rank determined by percentage or respondents selecting skill. Respondents allowed to select only three skills.


Walking the Talk

Music

Foreign language

Drama arts Studio arts

Creative writing

Independent study Math/Stat/Computer

science

Coach/Mentoring

Travel/Study abroad

Biology/Chemistry/Physics

Afterschool enrichment

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Percent Required Course

Per

cent

bel

ieve

dev

elop

s cr

eativ

ity e

mpl

oyer

s se

ek

Schools


Walking the Talk

Music

Foreign language Drama arts Studio arts

Creative writing

Independent study Math/Stat/Computer

science

Coach/Mentoring

Travel/Study abroad

Biology/Chemistry/Physics

Afterschool enrichment

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Schools

Percent Provided as an Elective

Per

cent

bel

ieve

dev

elop

s cr

eativ

ity e

mpl

oyer

s se

ek

Improved Academic Performance

Arts Students Outperform Non-Arts Students:

Average Points Better on SAT Scores

15% of Test Takers

20% of Test Takers


Creativity is hard to find; somewhat identifiable and not a focus of training

!  72% of respondents identified creativity as a concern in the hiring process. Of those, 85% can’t find the applicants they want

!  Employers who want creative employees identify them as those who were self-employed (67%); had background in the arts (57%) or in communications (50%)

!  68% of respondents report high need for training in Creativity / Innovation, yet less than a third provide training*

*Source: The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

Inspiration at Valley Forge

Artists and Ingenuity

Battles of the Bands

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Bands of the Battle . . .

Tensegrity Engineering: The Kurilpa Bridge in Brisbane, Australia

!"#$%&%'#(%)*($+,)-.#$/012#,3**"


Additional discussions are needed amongst all stakeholders to realign resources to meet the needs and desired outcomes

!  Creativity is an important skill for the workforce !  Defining Creativity is not consistent between business and

educators !  Despite reported importance, training to enhance creativity is not

provided by either the schools or businesses – Walking the Talk !  Employers acknowledge that training in the arts is used in hiring as

an indicator of creativity !  Employers need to evaluate how well their corporate support of

education and employee training programs match creativity’s strategic value

!  Dialogue is needed within and across all sectors to foster creativity in the workforce


How can we “elevate the debate”?

•  It’s clear to some that there is a tight connection between arts education, arts engagement, creative activities, and critical business skills – for example, teamwork, discipline and rigor, problem solving, empathy. Why isn’t this clear to everyone?

•  What specific research would help make this case? How do we tightly and concretely draw the linkages?

•  What are some of the possible barriers when trying to convince people to take action?

•  Given the above, what are appropriate next steps: "  Research? "  Engaging the business community? "  Engaging society more broadly? "  What would move you?


Thank You [email protected]

www.conference-board.org

[email protected] www.artsusa.org

creativity in the workforce

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