Manchester Business School (MBS) has launched its first executive education short programme in the Middle East.

The Creativity & Innovation Essentials course is based on MBS original research in the GCC and designed to show participants from government, large companies and start-ups the strategies and practical tools required to maximise creativity and innovation among individuals, teams and organisations.

The Creativity and Innovation Essentials course will be hosted and organised by the MBS Middle East Centre at the Jumeirah Emirates Tower Hotel, Dubai, UAE, from Novemebr 1 to 3, to coincide with the celebrations of the UAE Innovation Week.

The program leader is Dr Mark Batey, creativity specialist at MBS and one of the world’s leading researchers into creativity in the workplace.
 
According to MBS, recent business research suggests that creativity is ranked as the key skill for the 21st century and is closely linked to business performance, growth and organisational success. Creativity is a capacity that can be learned and allows people to develop ideas to solve problems in different ways and capture opportunities.
                                                                                       
Batey says: “Creativity is the source of innovation and every improvement at work starts with an idea and every job requires creativity. Research studies show that creativity can be trained and that creativity training programmes produce improvements on everything from attitudes towards the importance of creativity at work through to improvements in job performance.”

MBS’ diagnostic tools allow individuals and teams to identify their creative profile across 12 factors clustered into four dimensions: Idea Generation, Personality, Motivation and Confidence. Then creativity tools and exercises can be used to enhance strengths and develop weaknesses.

However, there are some barriers to creativity and innovation. Dr Batey explains: “The first and most fundamental barrier is that people do not understand that they are creative or their strengths and weaknesses. The second major barrier is that organisations do not know how to identify, nurture, manage and develop creative thinking skills. Creativity is the most important skill for business leaders and organisations need to encourage creativity to drive innovation. Unfortunately, leaders often kill rather than cultivate creativity. A good leader of creativity understands that they need to direct and manage the creative process but not dominate it. This new course for the Middle East will help participants improve their ability to lead and nurture creativity for people and teams across their organisations.”  
 
MBS’ new three-day course is an immersive and experiential program based on the unique insights gained from Manchester Business School’s own research into creativity and innovation in the GCC.   - TradeArabia News Service