Employers and superintendents agree that creativity is increasingly important in the workforce, but district curriculums or corporate training programs rarely foster such skills. Before pursuing such programs, the two should align definitions of creativity says a new survey.

Employers, for example, say problem identification and articulation are the most important talents indicating creativity. School superintendents rank the combination ninth out of eleven. Superintendent's rate problem-solving the highest in a list of creative facets; employers rank it eighth. In other words, while schools teach students how to solve problems put before them, the business sector wants workers who can identify the problems in the first place.

Other facets of creativity addressed in the survey their rankings with a noticeable discrepancy between employees and superintendents in ratings are

• Comfort with the notion of no right answer: employees 5th, superintendents 11th
•  Fundamental curiosity:  employees6th, superintendents 10th
• Originality and inventiveness in work:  employees 7th, superintendents 4th

Creative facets rated similarly in importance included:

• Ability to identify new patterns of behavior or new combination of actions
• Integration of knowledge across different disciplines
• Ability to originate new ideas
• Ability to take risks
• Tolerance of ambiguity

The survey, Ready to Innovate: Are Educators and Executives Aligned on the Creative Readiness of the U.S. Workforce, also shows that:

• 99% of superintendents and 97% of the 89 surveyed employers believe that arts training-and, to a lesser degree, communications studies-are crucial to developing creativity
• 85 percent of employers concerned with hiring creative people say they can't find the applicants they seek.
• While 97 percent of employers say creativity is of increasing importance, only 72 percent say that hiring creative people is a primary concern.
• 70% of superintendents presume employers seek out "creative thinkers" over "technically skilled" individuals. Employers, as a group, are evenly split (49/51 respectively).

The report recommends a more deliberate approach to fostering creativity with the arts as a component of such a plan. The survey and report are by The Conference Board and Americans for the Arts, in partnership with the American Association of School Administrators. The report is sold for $75.

Source: press release, executive summary, the full report is sold for $75