1. 1 Diagonal Thinking ® : Promoting creative industries to under-represented groups Hamish Pringle, Director General, IPA Supporting Creative Industries 08 Liverpool, 22 nd April

2. 2 Introduction  A case study in progress from ‘Adland’  Potentially applicable to other creative industries  A way to increase diversity of employment  A way to help people self-identify and self-direct

3. 3 The Creative Industries  The ‘Creative Industries’ are widely regarded as a key asset of ‘UK plc’ as we move to an economy dependent on intangible more than physical assets  Government’s ‘Creative Britain*’ strategy reports ‘Creative Industries’ as one of UK’s fastest-growing and most important sectors  Potentially key to UK’s long-term economic security See: *http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/096CB847-5E32-4435-9C52-C4D293CDECFD/0/CEPFeb2008.pdf

4. 4 Diffuse criteria  Despite positive context, there are concerns:  The skills required in creative industries are unclear  Many believe that anyone can ‘do’ advertising  Too many students study ‘creative’ or ‘media’ topics, who don’t have the ability to succeed in industry

5. 5 Barriers to entry  ‘Adland’ has significant barriers to entry by underprivileged but talented people  Relatively low pay compared to other professional services (unless you don’t worry about student debt)  Cost of living, especially in London, (unless your parents or relations already live there)  Hard getting work experience (unless your parents, relations, or their contacts work in the business)

6. 6 Limited gene pool  So, very few come from ethnically diverse sectors  In addition the perceived lack of transferable skills and professional qualifications, reduce the attraction of ‘Adland’, especially for ambitious British Asians  There’s evidence of ‘in-breeding’ and a feeling that we’re missing out on some great talent

7. 7 Creativity ill-defined  An over-arching problem is that we have failed to define ‘creativity’ in a commercial context  Thus, unlike in other professions, there are few objective criteria for the skills or academic qualifications required  This contributes to the undervaluing of the talents of the people employed in Adland and makes it harder to recruit and retain the necessary talent

8. 8 Possible solution  To develop the world’s first test for ‘creativity’ in a commercial communications context  If successful, the mere existence of this test for creativity would demonstrate that special skills and aptitudes are required in our industry

9. 9 Possible solution  To develop the world’s first test for ‘creativity’ in a commercial communications context  If successful, the mere existence of this test for creativity would demonstrate that special skills and aptitudes are required in our industry  People from all sorts of backgrounds could see if they have the thinking skills and aptitude to succeed in advertising (and perhaps other creative industries)

10. 10 Possible solution  To develop the world’s first test for ‘creativity’ in a commercial communications context  If successful, the mere existence of this test for creativity would demonstrate that special skills and aptitudes are required in our industry  People from all sorts of backgrounds could see if they have the thinking skills and aptitude to succeed in advertising (and perhaps other creative industries)  Recruiters could be more successful in identifying the talent for creative thinking in candidates

11. 11 Government acknowledgement  Government’s key strategy document ‘Creative Britain, New Talents for the New Economy’, acknowledged Diagonal Thinking in the context of Commitment 3  “The DCMS will work with its NDPBs, and through them its sectors, to agree actions to promote a more diverse workforce.”

12. 12 Diagonal Thinking

13. 13 ‘Diagonal Thinkers’: hypothesis  People who can oscillate between linear and lateral thought processes  People who often have a combination of arts and sciences in their academic background  People who combine both practical and emotional intelligence  People who think creatively, but commercially

14. 14 Diagonal Thinking: hypothesis Linear Thinking Lateral Thinking Diagonal Thinking Artists Adlanders Scientists

15. 15 ‘Diagonal Thinkers’ spectrum Creative Planners Linear Thinking Lateral Thinking Diagonal Thinking Adlanders Client service

16. 16 Team  John Gage of consultancy, AgencyPeople, and Sarah MacPherson appointed to work on hypothesis validation and test development  V-On appointed to website development  IPA Professional Development / People Management Forum / Creative Forum involved  IPA Secretariat support

17. 17 Validation  Initial pilot completed during 2004  small sample of ‘industry exemplars’  positive indications i.e. very high scores on standard industry tests for inductive logic and creative thinking  Tests of cohorts of Account Management, Creative, Account Planning, Media Planning and Media / DM Buying completed during 2005-8  Creative & Cultural Skills match-funded latter stages of research with IPA

18. 18 Validation  Over 100 advertising industry luminaries, drawn from five job disciplines in agencies, has been profiled using psychometric tests  Research has validated the hypothesis with average scores being higher than the comparison or norm group score  Results are statistically significant. Sub disciplines, with 20 participants in each, represent a valid recruitment benchmark

19. 19 Application  The full Diagonal Thinking appraisal is based on a ‘cocktail’ of established psychometric tests  License fees are required, as is professional moderation and debriefing of candidates  Given the cost, application likely to be limited to graduate recruitment and mid-career hirings  So there’s a need for a low cost or even free application that can be very widely used, including for non-graduate, school leavers

20. 20 Diagonal Thinking Self-assessment  Solution is the free on-line Self-assessment  Key deliverable of the Diagonal Thinking project  Enables anyone to see for themselves if they have this special thinking style  Should increase the diversity of applicants  Should manage expectations of ‘creative’ people

21. 21 Diagonal Thinking Self-assessment  Critical reasoning (linear) questionnaire after reading passages on every-day occurrences, and answer questions such as: “Can this statement be inferred from the previous passage?”  In the lateral thinking test participants are given scenarios such as: “How would you encourage people to recycle more?’’ and asked to think of as many answers as they can, in a set amount of time.

22. 22 Current status  www.diagonalthinking.co.uk holding page www.diagonalthinking.co.uk  Visitors can register for alert when site goes live  Visitors can read further information  Diagonal Thinking Self-assessment live Summer 08  Visitors can see whether they have this thinking style  ‘Certificate’ can be printed with scores for CV  Full comms programme to maximise awareness amongst educational and student communities

23. 23 Summary  If successful, we will have created a world’s first  A robust test for ‘creativity’  A basis for widening the talent net  Applicable at graduate and school leaver levels  Potentially a tool for all ‘Creative Industries’

24. 24 www.diagonalthinking.co.uk