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Creative Skills and The Advanced Workforce
U.S. businesses struggle to find, and often even to define, the talent needed to generate the
innovative solutions and products demanded by the marketplace. But what skills define
talent that can innovate, or a workforce that can adopt and adapt innovations? What is
the relationship of these skills to innovation in the work place? Are such skills primarily
the purview of specific occupations or industries or certain types of individuals?
EXECUTIVE
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
2–3
OVERVIEW
OVERVIE W
4–6
4–
5
THE CREATIVE
THE CRE ATIVE
ECONOMY
ECONOMY
7
6–7
WHY DOES A
WHY DOES
WORKFORCE
INNOVATION AND
RICH
IN CREATIVE
A SKILLED,
CRE ATIVE
SKILLS
MATTER?
WORKFORCE MAT TER?
8–9
KEY FINDINGS OF
KE Y FINDINGS OF
OUR
OUR RESEARCH
RESE ARCH
10–11
INITIAL CONCLUSIONS
KE Y FINDINGS OF
OUR RESE ARCH
2
Analyzing data from the Department of Labor known as O*Net,
Creative Alliance Milwaukee (CAM)
found that a set of skills it is calling “The Innovation Skill Set” is
important across a broad set of
industries and occupations. O*Net
is the primary source of detailed
data about occupations in the U.S.
O*Net tracks the level and importance of specific skills required for
more than 900 jobs.
The Innovation Skill Set is a combination of creative and analytical
skills and includes such capacities as problem solving, creative
thinking and coming up with
multiple solutions for the same
challenge. This skill set is often
overlooked or poorly articulated
as a set of core workforce competencies; however, these skills are
more important than ever, given
the need for employees to quickly
adopt technical innovations, adapt
to the ever-changing landscape and
evolve their skills as future technologies unfold. According to human
resources professionals technology
is evolving at a pace that makes it
difficult to anticipate the in-demand
jobs of the future across industries. Advanced manufacturing
and healthcare are two industries
specifically in the M7 region that
are facing this challenge.
THE INNOVATION SKILL SET™
The Innovation Skill Set needs to
become a normal and critical
element of an employer’s hiring
criteria, of employee assessment,
and of workforce education,
training and development if the
region hopes to remain a globally
competitive region.
CREATIVE SKILLS
ANALYTICAL SKILLS
Thinks Creatively
Oral and Written Comprehension
and Expression
The ROI is clear:
•L
everaging the Innovation Skill
Set in the workforce across all
industries will positively impact
innovation output in the existing
clusters, target industries, and
the regional economy as a whole.
Fluency of Ideas
Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Originality
Critical and Analytical Thinking
Innovation
Complex Problem Solving
and Decision Making
•Identifying and assessing
individuals’ value as potentially
creative innovators beyond their
learned technical skills and work
history, and engaging employees
across industries and skill sets
has the potential to uncover new
pathways into careers for those
currently lacking cutting edge
technical training and skills, and
therefore potentially uncover and
develop a larger workforce pool
capable of contributing in the
evolving 21st century economy.
Systems Analysis and
Investigation
Active Learning and
Knowledge Application
3
THE CREATIVE ECONOMY
In the past decade, discussions about the creative economy as an economic development
opportunity have increased significantly locally, regionally and nationally. Yet, there has been
little or no agreement on the scope or the definition of the creative economy. Is it a function
of a set of creative industries? Is there a specific and identifiable creative class? Are there
specific occupations that can be analyzed in terms of their creativity or creative outputs?
The most common definition of
the “creative economy” is a cluster of organizations, individuals,
and companies whose products
and services originate in artistic,
cultural, creative, and/or aesthetic
content. But to many, including
this team, the common definition
is lacking. It overlooks or under
values large segments of the
economy and a large number
of occupations where creativity
and innovation clearly occur.
Efforts to define and measure the
economic impact of the creative
economy and creativity itself to
date have been inconsistent and
limiting. While this sector’s contribution to the economy as commonly defined can be considerable—in
some regions, it is a primary
driver of the economic activity,
and in Southeastern Wisconsin it
accounts for approximately 67,000
jobs, $2 billion in wages, 4,000
companies and 4.2% of the workforce—the hypothesis that led to
this report is that creativity has a
far broader and deeper economic
impact. But what impact exact-
ly could only be determined by
looking at creativity and the creative economy in a new way and
by analyzing exiting data through a
different lens.
on a vertical cluster of industries
and occupations that support the
creation and distribution of products and services with artistic or
cultural content as at their core.
In 2014, CAM received a grant from
the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to do
just that. CAM hypothesized that
creativity is not just the purview
of the creative economy as commonly defined, but is also a critical
driver – if not the critical driver - to
nearly all industries and companies. The CAM team therefore set
out to analyze and clarify the value
of creativity as a workforce skill
across all industries in addition to
clarifying the value of the sector
if organized into an official economic cluster along the lines of the
existing clusters of Water, Food and
Beverage, and Energy.
While there is certainly creativity
in the arts, that is not the only
venue where creative skills are
deployed. In this report we take a
different approach and ask, “Where
are creative skills valued?” Our
primary tool is a data set that gives
us detailed information about the
level of knowledge, skills, and
abilities required for a wide range
of occupations and the specific
knowledge areas, skills, and
abilities that are most highly
valued in those occupations.
This analysis follows up on a 2010
report on Milwaukee’s Creative
Economy prepared by Mt. Auburn
Associates. That report, like most
creative economy assessments
completed for other communities
and regions across the US, focused
This data set gives us a new way
to identify occupations that go
beyond the production of artistic
or cultural content. In effect, it
allows us to identify the relative
value placed on creative skills by
different occupations. It also allows
us to identify those occupations
where an equal premium is placed
on creative and analytical skills, the
combination of which is the hall-
CREATIVE SKILLS THEMSELVES
ARE OFTEN OVERLOOKED,
POORLY UNDERSTOOD OR
UNARTICULATED AS A
SET OF ESSENTIAL
WORKFORCE COMPETENCIES.
4
THE CREATIVE ECONOMY
mark of creative problem-solving
and innovation. When viewing the
data this way, we are able to see
a strong correlation between the
value placed on each set of skills,
one that is particularly strong
amongst STEM occupations.
In other words, the requirements
for Creative and Analytical skills are
highly correlated. An increase in
requirements for analytical skills is
associated with a greater increase
in requirements for creative skills
within STEM occupations than in
non-STEM occupations.
While this approach picks up many
of the occupations and industries
included as part of the creative
economy in the Mt. Auburn study,
it leaves out a number where the
value placed on creative skills are
below the threshold we set for
inclusion. Our approach also picks
up a number of new occupations
and industries that are not included in most studies that approach
the creative economy as a vertical
cluster related to the production
of artistic and cultural products.
These include scientists, engineers,
and occupations in computer
systems and software, management and others. We also see a
high value placed on creative skills
in science, engineering, and information technology industries.
Our approach changes the focus
from a set of industries and occupations engaged in the production
and distribution of goods with
artistic or cultural content, to look
at occupations and industries that
place a high value on creative and
analytical skills, regardless of the
end product. Rather than a nar-
rowly defined “creative cluster,” or
sector, we look instead at all occupations that value the creative skill
set and the industries where these
skills are concentrated. Within this
new and broader set of occupations and industries that place a
premium on creative skills, we go
on to identify those that also place
a high value on analytical skills,
i.e. the capacity not just to
be creative, but to be a creative
problem-solver.
CAM sought answers to questions
such as: Is workforce creativity
a key capacity that cuts across
industries, sectors, and functions?
Are creativity and innovation a key
to regional economic growth and
prosperity? Can creativity and innovation be the focus of tactics that
can be leveraged to drive economic development strategy? Rather
than developing a formal, creative
cluster “vertical” to add to Milwaukee’s other established economic
clusters, is it more useful to analyze
and understand creativity and innovation as a “horizontal” economic
development capacity that can be
identified, nurtured, developed,
and measured as a critical factor
that impacts the existing clusters,
and indeed the economy of the
Milwaukee region as a whole?
“IN THE COMING
AGE, CREATIVE
THINKING AND
PROBLEM SOLVING,
AS WELL AS TEAMWORK, WILL BE
KEY TRAITS FOR
SUCCESS...
DEVELOPING EVERY
INDIVIDUAL’S
CREATIVE POTENTIAL
WILL BE ONE OF
THE CRUCIAL VALUECREATING FACTORS
FOR LEADING
ECONOMIES IN THE
IMAGINATION AGE.”
––––––
Forbes, May 2014
During the course of this research,
CAM quickly discovered that,
despite numerous studies, along
with countless surveys of CEOs,
CFOs, and manufacturing executives emphasizing the need
for creativity in the 21st century
workforce, creative skills themselves are often overlooked, poorly
understood or unarticulated as a
THE CREATIVE ECONOMY
5
THE CREATIVE ECONOMY [CONT.]
set of essential workforce competencies. It is this poorly articulated,
yet oft-cited employer desire for
employees with creative skills—
the ability to problem-solve, think
creatively, and provide multiple
solutions— that has led CAM to
look at the concept of the “creative
economy” in a new way; a way
that goes beyond the traditional
creative industry definition.
Early in the research it became
evident to the CAM team that a
solution based on creating a new
vertical cluster for the Milwaukee region, while interesting and
potentially even productive, is not
likely to be significantly additive to
regional economic development
efforts or to the overall growth and
health of the regional economy.
But CAM’s analysis of a vertical
creative industry cluster approach
WHY DOES A WORKFORCE RICH IN CREATIVE SKILLS MATTER?
uncovered an opportunity: understand and leverage the creative
skills required to drive innovation
across industries, and explore creativity and innovation as a horizontal economic capacity that can be
nurtured and developed to impact
industries and companies across
the Milwaukee region.
Consequently, rather than a road
map to develop a creative cluster,
this study is an analysis of why
creative skills are critically important across sectors and industries,
where creative skills are most
valued, and where a workforce with
such skills adds the most value.
This report also provides an outline
for a strategy to:
- begin to better address and
harness the creative workforce to
establish the Milwaukee area as a
region of innovation;
- provide more opportunities to our
untapped workforce; and,
- provide companies in the fastest
growing industries with people
who make up the advanced workforce demanded by today’s innovative and growing companies.
This report should be viewed as
Phase One of an Innovation Skill
Set Initiative Strategic Plan. It
provides an analysis of the value
placed on creative skills, and sets
the stage for developing an economic development strategy that
understands, values, fosters, and
leverages a workforce with creative
and innovative skills, and leverages
its creative and innovative workforce as a marketable advantage
in its overall economic development strategy.
VALUE OF CREATIVE SKILLS TO STEM OCCUPATIONS
Most STEM occupations that place
above average value on Analytical
skills also place above average
value on Creative Skills. STEM
Occupations that place the highest
value on Analytical Skills also place
the highest value on Creative Skills.
60%
% OF ALL STEM OCCUPATIONS
The correlation between the value
placed on creative and analytical
skills is particularly true for STEM
occupations. Nearly 90% of the
STEM occupations that score above
average (0.0) on our Analysis measure also score above average on
the Creative measure. Virtually all
STEM occupations that score well
above average (1.0) on the analytical
skills measure score above average
on the creative skills measure
as well, with most scoring well
above average on both measures.
50%
40%
CREATIVE
COMPOSITE
SCORE
THE CREATIVE ECONOMY
“CRITICAL THINKING
AND PROBLEM
SOLVING WERE
CITED BY EMPLOYERS
AS SOME OF THE
BIGGEST NEEDS – AND
LARGEST GAPS– IN
EMPLOYEE SKILLS.”
––––––
Research By The Northwest
Wisconsin Workforce Investment
Board, Inc. In Cooperation With
The University Of Wisconsin-­
Superior’s Department Of Business And Economics. June 2015.
Given the undisputed role of innovation in economic growth, the drive
for innovation has also long been the focus of successful companies, and
is a priority now more than ever as a necessary response to an increasingly competitive global economy. Today’s successful companies and
the economies in which they reside understand that the ability to generate ideas and turn them into new products and improved processes
is the primary driver of prosperity, the creation of well-paying jobs, and
overall economic success. Companies that innovate and economies that
promote innovation grow faster than those that don’t. Companies and
economies that focus on and invest in innovation are more prosperous
than those that don’t.
And what today’s innovative companies require is a workforce that is
able to problem solve, think creatively, has a fluency of ideas, etc. In
other words, a workforce that possesses The Innovation Skill Set.
Economic development organizations have learned that the availability,
quality, sustainability, flexibility, and cost of the workforce is the most
common critical location factor for companies when locating new
operations or determining whether to expand or even stay in their
current locations. While the type of workforce and the specific skills
change with every location project they work with, the need for a
high quality, sustainable workforce does not. And this need does
not diminish with advanced technology; it increases. They understand that without an available skilled, educated, flexible workforce,
economic development is not sustainable. Nor can the improvement
of the other fundamental economic development capacities—infrastructure, finance and good governance. All are ultimately dependent
on an abundant and talented workforce.
WELL ABOVE
AVERAGE
ABOVE
AVERAGE
“AMERICA OVERCOMES ITS DISADVANTAGE
BELOW
AVERAGE
30%
—A LESS-TECHNICALLY-TRAINED
20%
WITH OTHER ADVANTAGES SUCH AS
WORKFORCE [LIKE JAPAN]—
CREATIVITY, CRITICAL THINKING
10%
AND AN OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK.”
––––––
0%
BELOW AVERAGE
ABOVE AVERAGE
WELL ABOVE AVERAGE
ANALYTICAL COMPOSITE SCORE
6
Occupations that require high levels of both creative and analytical skills will be the drivers
of innovation. Understanding both where these skills show up and how the region has
fared in expanding this key capacity of its workforce is central to crafting an economic
development strategy for the 21st century.
“Why America’s obsession with STEM education is dangerous”
By Fareed Zakaria of The Washington Post.
WHY DOES A WORKFORCE RICH IN CREATIVE SKILLS MATTER?
7
KEY FINDINGS OF OUR RESEARCH
The Innovation Skill Set, though often poorly understood or articulated, is important
across all industries and occupations and is an essential set of workforce competencies.
1
CREATIVE SKILLS ARE AS IMPORTANT AS ANALYTICAL SKILLS.
cross occupations, the value placed on creative skills in a given occupation is highly
A
correlated with the value placed on analytical skills.
“INCREASING CREATIVITY IN A MANUFACTURING
ORGANIZATION IS LESS ABOUT HIRING THE LONE
GENIUS AND MORE ABOUT GETTING CREATIVITY
OUT OF EXISTING EMPLOYEES.”
––––––
The Creativity Paradox, article in Industry Week: Advancing
the Business of Manufacturing,December 22, 2014. By Mike
Collins, author of Saving American Manufacturing.
eyond a small set of occupations for which artistic skills are of paramount importance, the
B
occupations with the highest requirements for creative skills require equally high levels of
analytical skills, and this relationship is even stronger for STEM occupations.
The type of occupations classified as “creative” needs to be broadened to include many of what
are commonly classified as STEM occupations, and likewise, we must recognize that occupations
that are commonly considered to be primarily technical or analytical in nature likely also have high
requirements for creative skills.
MANY STEM OCCUPATIONS THAT VALUE ANALYTICAL SKILLS
2
WHEN EMPLOYERS SEEK AN INNOVATIVE WORKFORCE, WHAT THEY APPEAR TO BE SEARCHING
FOR IS A COMBINATION OF BOTH CREATIVE AND ANALYTIC SKILLS.
iring or engaging only technical or analytical skills, to the neglect of creative skills,
H
most likely does not develop the culture of innovation or the innovative outcome today’s
companies are seeking.
ALSO VALUE CREATIVE SKILLS
HIGH CREATIVE SKILLS
HIGH CREATIVE SKILLS
LOW ANALYTICAL SKILLS
HIGH ANALYTICAL SKILLS
• Fine Artists, Including Painters,
Sculptors, and Illustrators
3
• Graphic Designers
LIKE TECHNICAL OR ANALYTICAL SKILLS, THE CREATIVE SKILLS CAN BE ARTICULATED, EVALUATED,
MEASURED AND LEARNED THROUGH EDUCATION, TRAINING AND ONGOING SKILL DEVELOPMENT.
THEY ARE ALSO TRANSFERABLE SKILLS.
Creative skills should become an important part of an employer’s skills needs assessment
and an important part of employee review and assessment.
Because creative skills are at least as important to innovative companies as technical or
analytical skills suggests that training and education based only on STEM is misguided
and wrongly discounts the growing need for creativity and innovation in today’s growth
industries and occupations.
4
OVER THE PAST 15 YEARS, EMPLOYMENT IN MOST OF THE OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES
WHICH PLACE A HIGH VALUE ON CREATIVE SKILLS HAS LAGGED IN THE MILWAUKEE REGION.
This has led to an erosion in most of the occupations and industries which had previously
shown concentration in the Milwaukee region as well as an apparent loss of those in the 25
to 44 age cohort that we would expect to see working in occupations that value The Innovation
Skill Set—including those in key STEM fields.
• Music Directors and Composers
• Craft Artists
• Actors
• Photographers
• Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance
• Floral Designers
• Film and Video Editors
LOW CREATIVE SKILLS
LOW CREATIVE SKILLS
LOW ANALYTICAL SKILLS
HIGH ANALYTICAL SKILLS
• Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products
• Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers
• Postal Service Mail Carriers
• Audiologists
• Crossing Guards
• Pharmacists
• Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors,
and Processing Machine Operators
• Genetic Counselors
• Gaming Change Persons and
Booth Cashiers
• Administrative Law Judges,
Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers
• Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticketakers
• Pourers and Casters, Metal
• Gaming Cage Workers
• Dishwashers
8
KEY FINDINGS OF OUR RESEARCH
• Physicists
• Architects, Except Landscape and Naval
• Biochemists and Biophysicists
• Mathematicians
• Astronomers
• Operations Research Analysts
• Biological Scientists, All Other
• Biomedical Engineers
• Chief Executives
• Nurse Midwives
• Physician Assistants
• Optometrists
• Financial Examiners
KEY FINDINGS OF OUR RESEARCH
9
INITIAL CONCLUSIONS
Although more input will be needed and more analysis completed, it is our initial conclusion
that there will be a significant economic benefit and competitive advantage to regions that
recognize the power of The Innovation Skill Set and commit to focusing specifically on it as an
essential workforce capacity across all key industries. For the Milwaukee region, such a focus
could become an economic development market differentiator and a key selling point for both
corporate and talent attraction and retention.
Current economic development structures will not be able to accomplish this on their own, however. Creative
problem-solving will need to be applied to re-imagine and reconfigure the current model. Creating a sustainable, flexible, ever-evolving advanced workforce will require a number of stakeholders to pull together -- for the
long term. Developing the workforce that today’s successful economy requires cannot be the responsibility of
one entity, organization, or institution. Five pillars of the area economy will need to come together with a common goal and vision to develop and maintain the modern workforce:
THE PRIVATE SECTOR
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
LOCAL & STATE GOVERNMENTS
THE WORKFORCE
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
These fives pillars will need to create a unified agenda
to focus on a workforce development strategy that
produces talent with the essential skills that comprise
The Innovation Skill Set now demanded by successful
companies. Current programs and resources
will need to go beyond the skills developed in
STEM programs to also include assessing and
training workers in the critical thinking, creativity,
problem solving, communication and teaming
skills that the innovative economy requires.
THIS STUDY IS
AN ANALYSIS OF:
WHY CREATIVE SKILLS ARE
CRITICALLY IMPORTANT ACROSS
SECTORS AND INDUSTRIES
WHERE CREATIVE SKILLS
ARE MOST VALUED
WHERE A WORKFORCE
WITH SUCH SKILLS
ADDS THE MOST VALUE
10
INITIAL CONCLUSIONS
MILWAUKEE
HAS AN OPPORTUNITY
TO MAKE A WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT
LEAP FORWARD.
There is a developing consensus that a creative,
innovative workforce is the single most important
for competing in today’s global economy.
Whether it is in the economist’s conclusion that
innovation is the driver of economic growth and
job creation, the corporate site locator’s constant
search for the skilled and flexible workforce, or the
economic development professional’s increasing
focus on workforce as the critical economic capacity,
all are coming to agree that creativity and innovation
and the advanced work force that possesses these
traits are the key to the new economy.
This report is on the leading edge nationally of
understanding the value and importance of The
Innovation Skill Set to innovation. Milwaukee has an
opportunity to make a workforce development leap
forward. Building a sustainable workforce capacity
rich in The Innovation Skill Set will not necessarily
be easy or likely to yield dramatic near-term results:
building up skills and capabilities along with the
workplace environment that supports them takes time,
effort and finances. However, the return on investment is nothing short of a thriving economy fueled
by a resilient, innovative workforce able to adopt new
ideas, technologies and concepts and adapt to an
ever-changing landscape.
INITIAL CONCLUSIONS
11
Read the full research findings at CreativeAllianceMKE.org
207 E. Buffalo Street Suite 600 | Milwaukee 53202 | 414-988-3226
The research conducted by Creative Alliance Milwaukee was funded in part
by a grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
Cover illustration by Jean-Marc Denis.