HP hires dancers to juice out creativity

Tech giant Hewlett-Packard has gotten dancers on-board to help the company juice out its creative flair, particularly in conceptualizing new products, creating new policies and developing marketing strategies.

In 2008, the company partnered with Trey McIntyre Project, a Boise, Idaho-based creative organization that uses arts and dance to empower and transform communities, groups and companies.  Since then, HP executives have seen remarkable results in the way employees complete a task or resolve problems.

"They really create positive energy, and that translates into our engineers and scientists. It helps people open their minds," said HP General Manager of Future Technologies Von Hansen. According to him, working with TMP’s dancers "pulls our staff out of the same way we do things so that we can better design solutions and solve problems."

The “engagement” strategy is simple: To create a perfect synergy of business and art. During each session, the dancers show up and render a performance right at the employees’ work area. Afterward, they facilitate a discussion of the creative process involved in creating and refining a dance.

"We teach them the dance after we've discussed it so that they can experience that translation of verbal cue to action," said TMP’s Executive Director John Michael Schert.

"We're changing the role of the artist," Schert said. "We can help with how ideas are generated and harnessed. It helps companies, and it helps artists state their value."

Aside from this innovative strategy, HP also promotes workplace diversity as a way of growing its bottom line while also empowering employees to give positive contributions to the growth of the company. Find out more about what HP is up to at diversityworking.com.