Inspiring Creativity at Ferrari

The latest Harvard Business Review (HBR) has a story on innovation processes at Ferrari. I previously posted on an HBR story about Porsche's innovative use of students within their R&D process--I guess Ferrari is making sure that Porsche doesn't steal all of the innovation limelight!

Mario Almondo, head of Ferrari's HR, tells how Ferrari has on-site creativity classes outside of business hours that are open to its 3000 employees. These classes are on a variety of topics, but they all relate to creativity: sculpting, photography, writing. The classes usually involve an artist describing their craft and talking how they create and obtain inspiration, with questions from the Ferrari attendees. Sometimes a moderator leads the discussion (Almondo mentions once using a local TV talk show host), and the classes are purposefully kept small to allow interaction between the artist and Ferrari employees.

How does this help Ferrari? Well, that is unclear, but the intent is to nurture creative thinking in their employees and hope that it flows into their work--classes are in Ferrari buildings and not at local schools to create an association between creativity and their jobs. Almondo states that

We want to let the creativity metaphor work at the level of their unconscious.

I'd like to hear from an executive within Ferrari's R&D department about whether this initiative has increased employees' creativity in their job performance and generated useful ideas.