Creativity has become a fashionable subject for managers. Many companies call it innovation, ingenuity or imagination but whatever the term used, it is companies like Cirque du Soleil, Google, 3M and Apple that are often associated with this type of culture. They have successfully created a culture that is particularly good at encouraging new ideas and always manage to stay ahead of the curve.

Many companies struggle to find ways to promote this type of culture and are trying to learn how to do it by observing companies such as Cirque du Soleil, where creativity is no laughing matter.

It is a way of challenging our organizations to better perform, to try new approaches and to exceed expectations. Without creativity, we keep repeating our current patterns and the same outcomes will naturally result. The competitive advantages of a company will either never be uncovered or will disappear if they are not continuously developed or reinvented.

It is easy to imagine creativity as a way of life at Cirque du Soleil, where a full-time clown takes up residence in the boardroom to make sure that meetings do not get too boring and too traditional. But how can a more conservative industry or enterprise approach creativity in their meetings? How do they encourage fresh new ideas?

Creativity typically doesn’t happen in isolation. According to Lyn Heward, former President of the Creative Content Division at Cirque and author of The Spark: Igniting the Creative Fire that Lives within Us All, creativity takes enduring work, energy and commitment.

She believes that “our most natural resource is the people we work with who are the people we build our product with. Unless there’s a strong commitment to teambuilding and passionate leadership, it would not happen.”

Unfortunately there is a mistaken belief that structure, especially in meetings, undermines creativity. Many managers resist structure in meetings, due to a belief that it will prevent great ideas from coming out. In fact, structure that includes a pre-determined outcome (i.e. the generation of ideas) and a structured approach to achieving the outcome (i.e. a process) will maintain control and help the team achieve remarkable results together. The end result is a Smarter Meeting and a collaborative approach to creativity.