Design Observer: Structured for Creativity

Structured for creativity

At Taproot, our passion is strategically building capacity for nonprofits using quality pro bono resources. But to provide the best services, we need to know what organizational models are best suited for promoting both efficiency and creativity to bring about social change.

At Taproot, no one knows this better than Laura Weiss, our vice president of Service Innovation. As a former architect and executive of innovation firm IDEO , Laura brings a keen design perspective to the challenges facing nonprofit organizations. In her latest essay, she writes:

“Organizations that enable some freedom of activity are naturally structured for creativity. They are often characterized less by prescribed roles, functions or departments and more by the types of human interactions their culture desires. Typically these are reflected in such things as a strong sense of community, interdisciplinary collaborations, a ‘one-team’ mentality, and an open environment (both literally and figuratively).

When thinking about what kind of structure is the right kind of structure, we need to ask ourselves what kinds of behaviors we are trying to encourage so that our relationships — both internally and externally — deliver unique value and have real impact.”

Check out the complete article featured on the Design Observer blog!