Adaptability depends on a deep well of experience, creativity, and variety from which to draw. Collectively, we possess much more than any one individual. As we share thinking, feelings, visions, and ideas, we generate the kind of creativity needed to adapt to chaotic change. Better yet, creativity breeds creativity. When collective creativity is at the center of our organizations, then we create self-renewing systems.
Chaos demands continuous improvement and renewal, which is impossible without dynamic creativity.
Leaders play a dual role in creating an environment that supports collective creativity and renewal. Set patterns and rigid rules are the primary impediment to creativity. Organizational theorist Margaret Wheatley examines the forces at work in self-organizing systems, and asks helpful questions that invite creative response. In the face of the complexities of life, many people hunger for a way to simplify. This assumes that simplicity and complexity are opposites.