You are about to take the unabridged version of the Epstein Creativity Competencies Inventory for Managers (or ECCI-m), an inventory of eight types of skills that managers need in order to stimulate creative expression in other people. Although designed for the business environment, the test may also be helpful for parents and teachers. A Spanish version is available at MisHabilidadesCreativas.com/gerentes, and a Malaysian version is available at MyCreativitySkills.com/managers/Malay. The test has been empirically valided with a sample of 1,337 managers, mainly from the U.S. and Canada.
This test is derived from more than 25 years of laboratory and field research on creativity by Dr. Robert Epstein (follow on Twitter @DrREpstein), one of the world's leading experts on creative expression in individuals and the developer of Generativity Theory, a formal, empirically-validated theory of creativity. You can learn more about Generativity Theory and related research in Dr. Epstein's book, Cognition, Creativity, and Behavior: Selected Essays, or by downloading his chapter from the Encyclopedia of Creativity.
Most people are able to complete the test in less than 15 minutes, and there are no right or wrong answers. Just select the response that seems best. After you answer the questions, you'll be given a detailed report that will give you your scores and explain what they mean. This is just the start; once you know your ECCI-m scores, there are many avenues you might pursue to improve your creativity management skills. Forty-eight games and exercises designed to strengthen such skills can be found in Dr. Epstein's book, The Big Book of Creativity Games. A longer version of the book, Creativity Games for Trainers, is available for professional trainers.
If you are conducting research and would like to collect raw data for a group that is taking this test - for a business, research study, classroom activity, or other purpose - please see our Group Testing Instructions.
If you are interested in increasing your own creative output, you might want to take the Epstein Creativity Comptency Inventory for Individuals (ECCI-i), which measures four core competencies that are essential for creative expression in individuals. That test can be accessed free of charge at MyCreativitySkills.com.
Creativity in an organization need not be left to chance. Creativity-generating mechanisms can be embedded into every policy and procedure: incentive systems, meeting formats, evaluations, goal structuring, office design, and so on. Management training is just one of many ways to stimulate creativity throughout an organization.
Before we get to the inventory itself, we'll ask you a few basic questions about yourself. Demographic information is being collected for research purposes only and will be kept strictly confidential.
To make sure the scoring is accurate, be sure to fill in all the blanks!
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