According to LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends 2019 report, the number one skill that business leaders are looking for is creativity. That should perhaps come as no surprise, given we are living in a (business) age of innovation, disruption, and out-of-the-box thinking.
Being the founder of an arts social enterprise, changing the way people engage with art by literally changing the physical artwork in corporate workplaces has taught me a lot about how different workplaces encourage “creativity”.
But before we get into hacks, let’s take a step back to define what we mean by ‘creativity’ and how it contrasts with ‘innovation’.
As per the Oxford dictionary:
- Creativity – the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.
- Innovation – the act of making changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.
The key difference between these two terms? Creativity is personal, innovation is organisational.
Here are the top five “hacks” I’ve seen spark creativity in the workplace:
- Stop referring to particular individuals as “creative” – When people think about being creative, the most common association is with people who have graphic design or artistic skills. As a result, people who don’t exhibit those skills often don’t think of themselves as creative when in fact, they absolutely are. When someone – anyone – is introducing something new, encourage their creativity!
- Get rid of your “Creativity Corner” – Creativity does not belong in a corner. At worst, it can impart the wrong message that creativity doesn’t belong anywhere else. The best way to encourage creativity is to free it from any constraints, meaning encouraging people to be creative wherever they are.
- Give people space and time to play and fail – Being creative means having the capacity to try new things. That comes with two precursors: 1) Actually having company time in which employees are allowed to try new things. 2) Knowing that the vast majority of the time, those new things may not amount to anything. However, the ideas that do take off can sometimes wildly overperform. Don’t take it from me: Google and Atlassian – two of the biggest tech companies in the world – give their staff entire days off each quarter to just be creative.
- Encourage doodling with your non-dominant hand – The physical act of doodling around can often be seen as frivolous or not paying attention, however the activity of doodling primes the brain to be creative. But doodling with your non-dominant hand? This is to prime the mindset that everyone can create something ugly. Once we’ve ‘failed’ once, we can get over fear of failure and start working on new ideas.
- Stop and look at the art. But like…really look – This is similar to “stop and smell the roses”, the idea being that taking time to not be productive allows people to take stock, and to reflect. But this is about more than just a picture on a wall. Don’t see it as a collection of colours or brush marks; let it represent a new idea or perspective. Focus on a single colour and see how the artwork changes. Find something you haven’t seen before. Superimpose the artwork on to a memory. Use your imagination and envisage the artwork as a song. All of these activities may sound frivolous, but what they actually do is exercise the mind and open it to new ideas and perspectives.
Creativity is a muscle! That means it needs space to work out, it needs to be encouraged, and it needs to be supported. Hopefully, these five “hacks” kickstart some new ideas for how you too, can spark creativity in your workplace.
Scott Ko, Founder and Director, ColourSpace
