Are you building a culture where ideas and innovation thrive?

We see a lot of organisations that are not embracing the principles of a ‘learning culture’, where innovation, creativity, and challenging the status quo are at the forefront of the way things are done. We think this is missed opportunity. We think that cultures that let great ideas go to die, will struggle for high-performance outcomes.

The definition of creativity that we like is; “the ability to think and produce something new, novel, appropriate, or useful.”

According to psychoanalyst Dr. James Hollis, creativity is essential to being human, it is the urge to grow, develop, and improve the world around us. If harnessed, creativity has the ability to generate meaning in one’s life. Conversely, a life without creativity can lead to frustration and disengagement.

In today’s world, where change is the only constant, analytical thinking will only get you so far. When problems are complex, ambiguity is high and the way forward is unclear, creative thinking becomes the difference between maintaining a competitive advantage and meeting goals—or not!

Businesses need a fresh perspective, original ideas, a new approach. I know what you’re thinking…”but how? I’m not a creative person”, or maybe, “there’s no point; no one wants to do anything differently”.

Fear not! As a leader, you are not responsible for coming up with all the ideas. Your responsibility is to create an environment where creativity thrives, recognise moments of brilliance, empower your team to experiment, and role model that failure is a necessary step in the process as it leads to lessons learnt and breakthroughs.

“When problems are complex, ambiguity is high and the way forward is unclear, creative thinking becomes the difference between
success and failure”.

We all know what creativity feels like, it’s energising. A thought or idea gets raised, people jump in to add to the concept, juices start flowing, the energy shifts, it’s exciting. Researchers in this field like Anita Williams Woolley, Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University describe this as ‘burstiness’. The more bursty, the more effective.

Ideas move forward, people are really listening and quickly get that if they contribute, they will get a response, there will be momentum and ideas build. BUT, it takes technique and intent. If you’re still running old-school brainstorming sessions you are unlikely to generate “bustiness”.

We suggest the following 6 tips to start generating creativity in your organisation:

1. Trust & Confidence

We are like a broken record here - no trust, no chance!

Does your team stop talking when you walk into the room? If the answer is yes, you may have a trust problem. Highly creative teams only exist where trust is high, vulnerability is encouraged and people feel psychologically safe. Start by showing vulnerability yourself, share lessons learnt, failures, embarrassing stories. Studies have shown that groups are more creative when personal stories are shared and genuine connection is fostered. To be creative you need people to lower their inhibitions and share freely. Be vulnerable.

2. Room to think

One of the aspects that makes the creative process difficult is its reliance on the subconscious mind. Our brains collect and store data, and then rearrange it into new ideas, usually when we’re doing tasks that don’t involve thinking, and studies show often not at work.

Why not at work? There is too much “busyness” and creative thinking takes time and rarely occurs when people are receiving new information. Strategic brainstorming days are great (if executed well) but how often are people told what the topics are before hand and given time to download the information and think?

This is easily fixed. Have you ever wondered why ideas come to you in the shower, washing the dishes, or driving your car? Neuroscience shows that doing tactical activities can engage different motor circuits in our brains that deeply imbed and shuffle information, increasing the likelihood of a breakthrough. This reordering process can be encouraged by writing the problem down by hand, drawing it, building the problem with blocks (yes actual blocks), and even bouncing a ball while thinking.

Give your people time and a different way of thinking by changing the environment for “brainstorming”, lose the whiteboard and stock standard facilitation approach, and change the methodology. Maybe not get in the shower together, but bounce a ball or walk and talk.

3. Structure…but not too much!

There is a falsehood that creativity is born from chaos, artists are carefree, reckless, live without rules, but some structure is helpful. You want enough structure to give people focus, remove distraction and provide safety. Too much structure and you’re in trouble. In my experience, businesses can get lost in bureaucratic continuous improvement programs, that kill creativity through red tape, creating frustration and distrust that inhibits dreaming. You have to start with limited rules and and avoid jumping straight to the solution. Project management offices have stifled creativity, it puts things in boxes and tailors thinking too much.

Provide a framework for focus, but avoid solutions until all the ideas and thoughts are generated.

4. Autonomy

Autonomy is key, creative cultures empower innovation at every level. If it’s within the scope of their role, and it’s a good idea, why stand in their way? More resource time should be spent experimenting. Trying something new shouldn’t require senior approval all of the time. In research undertaken by Google, when ideas were tracked, those executed in the ranks and without senior approval, had a higher success rate. 

So, get out of the way!

5. Quality Control

This is probably the most difficult to get right, because let’s be honest most ideas on first draft aren’t great but this is the power as the few that are brilliant make it all worthwhile. So how you react in the moment, to raise the bar, while also acknowledging the effort of your people is critical. It takes courage to share a new idea, in particular in front of a team, recognise and reward the effort, regardless. If ideas are way off the mark, ask questions, seek to understand – perhaps you don’t think it’s a good idea because you haven’t opened yourself up enough to “out of the box” thinking or you haven’t been clear enough on the vision and purpose, and you are not on the same page. 

Don’t overcontrol quality, let it flow.

6. Diversity

When people from diverse backgrounds come together, they are more creative. Interestingly, people from the same backgrounds are naturally more comfortable, and groupthink takes over. Diverse teams full of people from different backgrounds can be a disrupter in that a sense of “outsiderness”, and can make them more inclined to want to learn and collaborate, especially when this is encouraged. Outsiderness is uncomfortable and creates a sense of urgency to try harder and share more information.

Diversify your teams. 

If the thoughts raised in this article have you wanting more, we recommend the following additional readings and listenings:

Amabile, T & Khaire, M, 2008, Creativity and the Role of the Leader, here.

Buchman, L 2018, Dr James Hollis on the psyche, Uncertainty and Uncovering Creativity, Podcast, 4 December 2018, available here.  

Grant, A 2018, The Daily Show's Secret to Creativity, here.  

Gourley, D 2018, SuperMind – The Neuroscience of Creativity, Podcast, 16 October 2018, available here.  

Jacoby, A 2022, Three Steps to Building a Culture of Creativity at Work, here.    

If you would like to know more about our leadership and culture programs, or how create different environments to drive creativity, reach out for a discussion. It’s a passion subject for us!