The Creative and Innovative Individual

All R D Managers want to have their groups staffed by people who have ideas. Many will agree with the old maxim that R D needs such people even if their ideas do not work at least they are producing ideas, and the big one may be just around the corner. Thus at the core of any creative or innovative step lies the contribution made by individuals. These creative ideas people are often not the type of persons who can turn their ideas into innovations or can function well in time driven project teams. 

The personalities of creative scientists, or the inventor types of person, mean that they are much more likely to change their behaviour in response to new ideas and processes. This means that they are much happier working in new areas or topics rather than within old or existing ones, where they can easily become bored. They like to change tack in the light of new data and so will be frustrated working a well mined seem. In these areas, their ideas are likely to be met with comments from the established practitioners such as, we tried that five years ago and it did not work . 

A list of dimensions, or attributes, can be drawn up for the innovative scientist. These are the people who will form the greater part of the professional staff within R D. Some of these attributes have already been discussed in Section A, 1.2 for the recmitment process. 

Because Invention involves venturing into the unknown, individuals with nonconformist characteristics and who are keen to work outside traditional parameters in order to achieve a better result are likely to be most successful. Such people are more likely to take calculated risks in order to model the future and be least affected by social pressures to minimise risk and avoid change. 

Creativity and innovation carry with them the need for the individual to be able to communicate their new ideas to others. Presenting their ideas fluently, both verbally and/or in writing, to other members of project teams during the innovation process is essential if they are to be acted upon. Conversely the individual must be able to listen to other people, understanding and responding to their feelings, needs and concerns about new ideas and changes of procedures. 

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