On april 16th I was kindly invited by the Imagineering Academy at the NHTV in Breda to a seminar on how to transform to a more creative organisation. One of their students is doing her master thesis at Flanders DC. And I am a long time lover of Diane Nijs’ Imagineering concept for symbolic value creation in the creative economy.

Weak as I am, I was lured into passing through the Antwerp ring in the morning by the BBC case presented by Caroline Van Den Brul, the former Creativity Change Leader at the BBC. Here’s her story. In short and non-exhaustive (for those who want to read the whole case study, you can order a reprint from NHK Broadcasting Studies, 2006-2007, no.5).

Back to the future.

The BBC in 2000 was using hundreds of consultants to bring creativity into the organization. At the same time a lot of top-down change programmes happened but did not succeed. The organization became change fatigued. The new director general Greg Dyke walked around a lot and found a demoralized workforce. Staff still believed in the purpose of the BCC but felt that there was too much internal competition and that their contribution was not valued. Concerning the BBC audiences: young people (<55) were moving away, ethnic minorities considered the BCC as ‘not for us’, there was less BBC viewing in digital homes, and the BCC was often perceived as “stuffy, arrogant, out of touch”.

The BBC relied on too few creative geniuses. They are important, but their creativity is not enough to become the world’s most creative organisation. The geniuses were good, but also took a lot of energy from others making the programs. Greg Dyke therefore wanted to awaken the untapped creative potential within the BBC. Dyke concluded that further radical change was needed: improve creativity, get closer to audiences and serve them better, make staff feel more valued, build trust and collaboration to the organisation and improve leadership and internal communications.

The Dyke Plan: Making It Happen

Greg Dyke wanted the new approach to (1) counter change phobia, (2) actively involve thousands of diverse and sceptical staff, (3) be led by respected leaders, not external consultants and (4) be cheap, flexible and non-centralised. He identified seven big themes:

  1. inspiring creativity everywhere
  2. we are the bbc (defining the core values)
  3. connecting with all audiences
  4. valueing people
  5. great work spaces
  6. lead more, manage less
  7. just do it (make it happen, but cut the crap – attacking internal bureaucracy)

Van den Brul focused further on creativity and audience connection for which she was the project leader. Those two themes also remain at the BCC’s core today.

Creativity based on audience insights

Creativity was divided into everyday creativity and blockbuster innovation. Everyday creativity included creative problem-solving trainings (2 days) for 400 staff, story-telling training for program makers and the Big Brainstrom initiative. Blockbuster innovation focused on developing a process (based on insights from IDEO, Stanford Research Institute and other organisations), aligning the leadership (buy-in) and cross-divisional collaboration (the beginning of true cross-medial programs).

A key action that generated a lot of energy within the BBC was The Big Brainstorm in which 300 people from all parts of the BBC generated and built ideas for factual entertainment content, inspired by audience insights. The Big Brainstorm was broadcasted via an internal system. A test group of 30 people became the facilitators.  They also became a network of strong advocates afterwards. A big achievement was that the facilitators tackled the fear of failure, of exposing ideas in front of colleagues. Another key factor in succes was the presentation by Greg Dyke and other senior leaders themselves. People watching were really amazed at the quality of the final ideas. That created the buzz among other leaders to ask the creativity team for help. People began to organise their own big brainstorms. The innovation process gave rise to new cross media projects such as ‘Coastal Britain’ and ‘World Class’ which involved diverse teams from across the BBC.

The  BCC creative process as in The Big Brainstorm basically follows seven steps:

  1. Understanding the audience
  2. The brief: an audience-oriented challenge
  3. Generate ideas
  4. Build the ideas
  5. Evaluate & refine
  6. Final pitch
  7. Do it
  8. Review it

Benefits and Lessons Learned

Benefits of creativity initiatives:

  • Over 400 staff trained in creative tools & techniques
  • Savings of 1.5M£ in consultancy
  • Innovative format and content ideas (Coastal Britain, World Class)
  • Staff surveys show people’s perception of creativity and audience focus within the BBC rising.

Lessons Learned:

  • Consultants perceived as not authentic, involve staff, harness internal resources
  • Design a programme that chimes with culture
  • Work bottom up
  • Secure a mandate for change by appreciative inquiry
  • Communicatie with staff vividly, often and surprisingly
  • Create ritual events, great stories, positive myths
  • Link everytingn back to the core: output and customers

A lot of the staff involved in the creativity change project got promoted afterwards. Thanks to their visibility with management. And creativity and audience focus has stayed at the heart of the BBC culture until today.