16 January 2015

Don’t disturb my distraction. I’m working here!

At work… how to be creative? A small question with such a complex answer (if there’s even one).

When starting a job in a new company, first days are mostly observing and breathing in organizational culture. Soon, we perceive how much we identify ourselves with company’s culture and its ways of working. Usually organizations value one kind of working style over others. Some organizations will see more commitment and productivity in you staying over hours, while others will find it a sign of bad performance. Some organizations promote meetings and teamwork, whereas others believe it to be a waste of time. Which way is the better way?

There’s no clear answer to this question. It will depend on a series of factors, such as the product/service you are working on, the company’s strategy and the managerial style. One thing seems right: we won’t all prefer the same way. But, what is the big problem? Shouldn’t organizations value people who easily adapt to the work environment? Yes, they should. Now, think about this:

How many times were you at work, behaving exactly as expected of you, but knowing you’re not performing at your best? Unfortunately, people frequently answer this question with “too many times”. Also, we often find people looking for new jobs because they feel frustrated by this situation. Having the ability to easily adapt to diverse environments, ways of working and colleagues is one thing, losing what makes you competent is another thing. With creativity happens the same.

How to be creative at work? Maybe there’s no simple solution to this problem, however, most authors associate two different types of thinking with creativity: Divergent Thinking and Convergent Thinking.



In divergent thinking, our brain accesses its database and starts making associations between ideas. People, who easily zoom out, tend to be more effective in this task. If successful, at the end of divergent thinking we will have a wide set of potential interesting ideas, or already the promising idea, which we will want to pursue. Convergent thinking implies much more focus. Our brain will need to concentrate in the promising idea and turn it into a bright solution. To do so, it will need to focus on the challenge,  analyze, and use evaluation and decision-making processes, thus being perseverant.

Now comes the interesting part of this magic balance between divergent and convergent thinking: one frequently happens while our brain experiences alpha waves, whereas the other happens when our brain experiences beta waves. That is to say, one is emitted when we are in a state of physical and mental relaxation and the other is emitted when we are consciously alert or tense.

So, at an individual level, how can we enhance our creativity at work? It appears that for creative production, distraction is needed as much as concentration. When working in challenging projects, new products or trying to innovate in company’s policies, we need surprising ideas that may rise to be outstanding solutions. 
Therefore, we will need time to relax and look out the window with a notebook in our hands, or even get out of the office and walk for a while.

In these moments, we might appear distracted, but our brain is boiling with connections and flourishing ideas. Additionally, we will also need time to be alone and not interrupted by others. We will need to get focus and work intensively through the ideas. At this point, a coffee and a quiet space will be perfect. In sum, depending on the task in hands and on the moment in the creative process (do we need inspiration or to improve an idea?), we choose the type of thinking to use; hence we should either take a walk or take a coffee.

Practically speaking what this means is that during our working hours we will need different kinds of stimuli and behaviour to enhance our performance and creativity. Why not take the most of each one of us? Standardization may create a fake sense of order and productivity, but does it lead us to be exceptional? More and more companies focus on flexible working conditions: flexible working hours; teleworking; percentages of working hours used in personnel projects; vacation and absence days not tracked. This kind of policies support, not only sense of responsibility, but also efficiency, motivation and commitment. The key is no longer in doing what’s in job description, but it is in following objectives and exceeding expectations.

As for creativity, it needs a specific organizational environment to grow. (Which is an entirely new topic)
Individually, we may enhance our creative potential and bring value to our work by giving our brain what he needs to get “out of the box”. If you need a completely new and creative idea, don’t expect it to appear while looking incessantly to the computer screen. Experience says you will have more luck by relaxing and taking a shower.



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