Card Sharp
Hallmark Cards is the UK’s leading greeting card company producing some of the most innovative ranges on the market. So how come its people need training in creativity? Anthony Landale takes a look.
Did you know that Britain is the ‘greetings card’ centre of the world? In total we send an astonishing 2.2 billion cards every year including 1.5 billion Christmas cards, 11 million wedding cards, over 34 million anniversary cards and 327 million birthday cards. This makes us, per person, the heaviest users of greetings cards anywhere across the globe and explains exactly why this has become a £1.1 billion plus industry.
The leader in this field is, of course, Hallmark Cards whose products can be found in a wide range of outlets, from supermarket superstores, through to high street card shops and even local village stores. In the UK Hallmark employs over 3,000 employees and has a continuously evolving product range of 20,000 designs. Not surprisingly given this focus and output, one of Hallmark’s proud claims is that it is one of the world’s most creative companies.
…the answer is that there is no one single solution but rather a range of ways in which to break out of fixed ways of thinking…
Of course creativity needs to be managed and what is immediately evident with Hallmark is how successful the company has been in its marketing. People may have been writing to each other for thousands of years but in today’s world it is the images we send one another that have become the main message. So in our thousands we buy cute or clever, classic or humorous, emotional or designer led images - and our appetite for this form of communication appears insatiable.
So given this success story it is something of a surprise to hear that at Hallmark one of the key developmental issues the company has been addressing has been the creativity of its people. As Elaine Clegg, Head of Learning & Development at Hallmark UK, explained, the problem is that even the most creative people still think in straight lines.
…in life things are not laid out neatly in front of you - you have to use your imagination to think out of the box…
“Yes, we do have a workforce who, in terms of design and innovation are extraordinarily creative but when it comes to our thinking processes and our people management we are, like most organisations, very linear. And that is why a key area of our training and development has been on creativity, problem solving and how to generate ideas,” she said.
The company which has been helping Hallmark in this respect is Illumine, one of the leaders in the field of accelerated learning.
Explained Illumine’s MD, Clive Lewis: “Creativity isn’t limited to one area of work or life and the creativity courses we have been delivering for Hallmark are designed to encourage participants to be more lateral in their thinking and to give them some simple but powerful techniques which they can apply to the challenges they face.”
So what does this training involve and what are the techniques that creative people need to learn? The answer is that there is no one single solution but rather a range of ways in which to break out of fixed ways of thinking. The following examples illustrate two such techniques.
- Analogies and metaphors aim to bypass the linear, logical ways in which we typically think about our problems by helping us make new connections between what, at first appearance, may seem to be dissimilar objects or situations. So, for example, if you have a problem in your department that needs to be resolved then how might it be compared to the Snow White analogy? The process here might be to consider what the ‘wicked stepmother’ problem is, how to save ‘snow white’ and what roles all the dwarves play in the department.
- Situational reversal is a technique where the challenge is to reverse the problem and in so doing illustrate what drivers need to be addressed. So, for example, if the original challenge is to find an effective way to run a meeting then the reversal of the problem is to think of all the ways in which you could guarantee that a meeting would run badly. In so doing you quickly come up with all the factors that need to be considered when addressing the original issue.
Said Clive Lewis. “What techniques like these do is help people come at a problem in a new way and, in so doing, generate different ideas and valuable perspectives. In life things are not laid out neatly in front of you - you have to use your imagination to think out of the box. The thinking strategies we have been teaching at Hallmark help people to direct their thinking energy in a powerful, managed way so that they can be more innovative and make different decisions.”
The wellbeing project
Another different, but interrelated, focus that Hallmark has been taking in training and development is on
what might be called engaging the whole person.
In one way this tackles that well-worn issue of worklife balance. However, in Hallmark’s case this isn’t about asking for the bus to stop so that people can get off, rather it is about helping people find ways in which they can bring more of their energy and vitality into work.
Explained Elaine Clegg: “The thinking skills programmes that we have been running with Illumine have helped our people by giving them the tools they need to perform. However, we also want to provide our people with a good working climate and environment and so we have also been running a range of wellbeing courses to help people to see what they might be able to do differently for themselves. This complements our programme of healthy meals provided in our Crown Room restaurants and the BringMe scheme which is all about enriching the lives of employees and includes a range of activities to suit all needs e.g. belly dancing, yoga, weight watchers, beautician and massage”
…healthy body leads to healthy mind which is directly related to performance…
Now it should be said that there are a number of different targets that wellbeing programmes look to hit. On the one hand, of course, companies like to encourage their workforce to be in good physical shape. Healthy body leads to healthy mind which is directly related to performance. More than this, however, companies are aware that for many people, success at work is only part of what they want. Helping people to manage their energy so they are focussed at work and are able to relax at home is good for business and the individual too. Companies that help employees strike this balance benefit both by supporting individual employees and developing their reputation as good employers.
“We want to enrich people’s lives, to help nurture and grow all of our people” agreed Elaine Clegg. “That is part of our strategic mission. But there’s good business sense behind this too. As well as supporting our people it is our intention to build our brand, to become an employer of choice. Programmes that teach people simple and practical ways in which they can manage their work-life issues demonstrate the value we put on our people.
“For example, after we started running ‘The Balancing Act’ course where people are encouraged to recognise their own negative behaviour, and where they develop strategies to achieve a better work-life balance, we definitely saw people taking more responsibility for their priorities. For some this was about improving their health, for others it was about leaving work on time while for still others it was about learning assertive communication strategies.”
This makes sense. When it comes to work-life balance we all have different pressures, skills and strategies and there isn’t a single miracle cure. However, for those at Hallmark who have decided to make a change it looks as though they have an employer determined to do all they can to encourage further action.
Said Elaine Clegg: “We have really taken to the accelerated learning strategies that Illumine have introduced and our trainers have started to apply them on their courses. And in the future we will also be doing much more on health and vitality. We want people to be creative and happy because that, we believe, is when they will be the best they can be”.
Tags: Communication strategies, Generate ideas, Health and well-being