Practices to enable creativity: towards future with a touch of fear

Enhancing creativity in organizations is not an easy task. Firstly, because it takes more than just claiming how important creativity is for innovation. Secondly, creativity defies the status quo and not everyone is ready for that. Also, creativity is unpredictable. Creativity it’s not something we can teach or learn, however we can stimulate and enhance it within work environment.

We might say two types of organizations exist: one stuck in past, other looking to future. The first keeps using winner solutions already tested and used many times before; whereas the second seeks new solutions and constantly reinvents itself. The second type believes what we don’t know is more important than what we already know. Both types of organizations may survive, yet one is far more prepared to deal with present challenges, such as constant change and scientific and technological advances, than the other. In order to keep up with progress, organizations need to innovate.

For an organization to seek innovation, it needs to build an environment that encourages creativity. Organizational culture, mission, structure and practices, they all should be aligned and embedded with specific characteristics enabling employees to foster new ideas, new ways of thinking and doing things. For most organizations, this is clearly out of their comfort zone. But, as one says: “nothing ventured, nothing gained!” For innovation to happen new roads must be taken and that means facing the unknown and the possibility of failure.

In what way may work environment encourage creativity? 

- Sending clear messages. Management should be clear in supporting creativity, meaning they actually value imagination, idea sharing, novelty, and development. Opposing to conformism and replication. 

- Accepting mistakes. To reach “eureka”, employees need to feel confortable in trying new things and sharing eccentric ideas. Problems and failures are seen as opportunities to learn and move forward more efficiently.

- Allowing time to think. Bright ideas not always come in a flash of a second. Like exceptional and useful solutions, they need active thinking, in other words, thoughts and actions directed to idea development. Thinking is probably one of the most essential tasks at work; even in routine jobs we can always find ways to be more efficient.

- Focusing in the right question. The focus changes from the “right answer” to the “right question”. Looking for the right answer, not having stated the right question, keeps a lot of companies engaged in fruitless efforts. Exploring the problem allows the company to find new perspectives and eventually the right question to be addressed.

- Being open to change and risk. Walking towards what has never been done before is scary. It involves taking risks (we might not get it right at first time) and involves realizing things change. When we move into future some habits need to be replaced for new ones and we need to accept that what was once true and correct might not be anymore.

- Promoting communication. Fluid communication between colleagues allows idea sharing and growth. Fluid communication between employees and management avoids misunderstandings and guarantees that everyone is in the same page. Moreover, good communication lines allow faster action in dealing with problems and new challenges.

- Having enthusiastic leaders. Leaders who inspire their teams with meaningful and challenging objectives. Leaders who encourage their teams to dream, to think and to create. Also, leaders who understand the importance of enjoying work.


From what was said, we can understand why no consensus exists towards managing creativity in organizations. For some is still not clear the benefits creativity brings for business, but for others the real problem is that it creates a sense of losing control. Imagine this: you’re driving your car through a road you know well. A road leading you to your goal. But, suddenly, you have to stop. A giant rock is blocking your way. What to do? 1. Keep insisting in the same road, try to push the rock or wait for help. 2. Go and try another road, an unknown road, which could lead you to your goal or get you lost. What would you do?

The situation above represents what happens when organizations face any given problem. At this point they must decide how to solve it. Option 1 represents safety: insist in going through the same road, meaning relying on known data and old solutions that have been successful in the past. Option 2 represents risk: look for new roads, gathering new information, investing in original solutions and accepting the risk of the unknown.

Both options are valid and needed. The secret may hide in knowing when to use each one of them. Recognizing the time to be cautious and the time to take risks. Either way, no innovation is possible if we keep driving the same road, over and over again. We will see the same landscape and find the same solutions than before. In order to stand out and find novelty, new places must be discovered. 

Work environments grounded with practices that enable creativity, they prepare its employees to face problems and challenges with open minds. Also, employees are trained to assess risk and consequences and then decide which road to take. But, how to get here?

Each company should assess and draw its own way towards innovation. There is no right answer or single path. However, there is a common strength leading each step forward –> Creativity.

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.