I came across this talk by John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) from 1991 about the process of building creativity. I could not help but think of the applicability of building organizations that are creative. In my opinion getting people out of the grind, the day to day blocking and tackling, into a place where they can begin to solve for things is more about the attitude and engagement of the team. Its also one of the key cultural things I try to build in an organization. The video highlights the impacts of being too serious, to solemn, The importance of giving yourself the time and permission to think, how to think, the struggles of thinking, the importance of play, and the impact and multiplication of effort of play with others. It’s a serious talk with lots of jokes thrown in…but if you are tasked with bringing out the most of your teams its well worth the 36 minutes investment of time. He ends by telling you how to stop your subordinates from being creative. Its all in fun, but I bet you can relate to his examples and managers and leaders you may have had in your work life!
John Cleese on Creativity Video
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** EDIT **
Thanks to Patrick Dugan and Dave Ohara for pointing out that the original Vimeo link had expired. Switched to the YouTube version.
LooseBolts 
The vimeo link in the post didn’t work for me. However, I was able to find what I believe is the same video on YouTube at http://youtu.be/VShmtsLhkQg. It’s also 36 minutes long and touches on the points raised in this post. Enjoy!