Feed the Beast

In his book Creativity Inc. Edwin Catmull reflects on how "The Beast" killed creativity and innovation at Disney during the late 1990s. Catmull is one of the founders of the legendary animation company Pixar and is now the President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. In his words:

"by “Beast” I mean any large group that needs to be fed an uninterrupted diet of new material and resources in order to function...As the infrastructure of the studio grew to service, market, and promote each successful film, the need for more product in the pipeline only expanded. The stakes were simply too high to let all those employees at all those desks in all those buildings sit idle. If you’d asked around Disney at the time, you would have had trouble finding someone who believed that animated storytelling was a product that could or should be made on an assembly line, even though the term “Feed the Beast” has that very idea embedded in it. In fact, the intentions and values of the high-caliber people working in production were surely admirable. But the Beast is powerful and can overwhelm even the most dedicated individuals. As Disney expanded its release schedule, its need for output increased to the point that it opened animation studios in Burbank, Florida, France, and Australia just to keep up with its appetites. The pressure to create—and quickly!—became the order of the day. To be clear, this happens at many companies, not just in Hollywood, and its unintended effect is always the same: It lessens quality across the board."

In the hospital setting, we have our very own version of the "Beast." Pushing through as many patients as possible, for the lowest cost and always aiming for the highest level of quality with a minimal amount of staff, has become the goal of many health care organizations. It is not necessarily a misguided goal, and exactly that is what has to happen for any hospital to stay in the black and have any hope of surviving.

Creativity and innovation increasingly appear to me to be an engine of colleague engagement. Catmull spends a good deal of time in this book discussing features of Pixar that lend itself to be an incredibly creative organization. As I read his book, I began to ask myself several questions. Could a hospital's mission also be to promote the general happiness and well-being of the community it serves and its employees at the same time? Could it also exist as a creative organization? Why can't a hospital also be viewed as an innovative organization, just like Pixar and Disney?

I feel that part of the problem with the lack of employee engagement currently seen in many healthcare institutions is because colleagues are not encouraged to innovate, or given the latitude for problem-solving. In the context of what we consider to be problem-solving, this often falls under the umbrella of Quality and Safety which is admittedly a hard sort of topic, and tough to get a handle on. At my institution, a minority of colleagues participate in Quality and Safety. There is usually one or two people designated by each department to collect and examine the quality numbers and report them up the chain of command. However, what if we empowered and encouraged every single employee in the organization to take on projects and problem solve? Everyone can see that there are issues to deal with, processes that could be done better, and things that would improve patient care in our daily work. What if we allowed people the conditions to be able to tackle these burning issues, and creatively problem solve?

Another thing that struck me from the Pixar example is that technology can be a significant driver of creativity and hence engagement. I know this from my personal experience in the simulation lab. We are technology intensive in that environment, and every time we get a new piece of cool equipment, people become genuinely excited about using the product and figuring out ways to make improvements in the organization or teaching and training. One example is a 3-D printer that we recently purchased. Our faculty and technicians had become very excited and engaged even before the product arrived, developing plans, collecting patterns, and learning everything they can to become an effective user of this new technology.

Of course, the institution has to do their part as well to help facilitate the process. I have seen much Quality and Safety projects start off with good intentions. However, because the efforts went nowhere and people were unable to move the needle, they gave up eventually demoralized. It does not do any good for people to expend valuable energy working on problems if they are unable to realize their goals. Hence, like a lot of other things, it takes a commitment from two entities: institutional leadership, and colleagues.

Happiness and satisfaction in the workplace begin with the individual, and we all need to start looking for ways to make our work more meaningful and enjoyable.

What are your thoughts on the link between creativity and engagement? Please leave me some comments!

© Edwin T. Ozawa 2017