Creativity in the Workplace

For me, creativity means exploration and freedom to the push the envelope to make creative decisions.

And you need human connection, headspace, and an environment that offers you these things, to develop your creativity.

What does creativity mean to you?

Because each creative mind within our business has a different perspective, I felt it would be helpful to ask this question to some colleagues here at theTeam.

It’s useful to have positive, personal insight into what it means for the individual. So we can use it when we approach our businesses as a whole.

So, to get the sparks of inspiration flying, i’m going to share a few answers:

We have the awareness, how do we create the right environment?

Physical environments

In a recent blogpost for The Team, our wonderful colleague and Director, Cliff Ettridge discussed the importance of creating spaces people want to work in.

This can influence not only your productivity, but also your creativity and your mental health.

Just like our diverse ways of thinking, we all have individual needs. But often design does not reflect this. As Cliff notes:

Chairs and tables tend to be designed to a standard height and width, as if we are all the same. We’re not. And that difference deserves recognition.

I sometimes find it harder to focus in a busy office space, and might prefer to use a break out room to really get my ideas flowing. But another person may thrive in the buzz.

It’s all dependent on the individual.

So we need to cater for this in our design – our furniture, our rooms, our spaces. And also take into account or home work environments and how to amplify them for creativity.

Cultural shifts

The paradox of creativity in business, as noted in Angus Fletcher’s article for the Harvard Business Review, is that ‘Culture kills creativity by promoting conformity.’

This is an interesting one.

When we recruit creative people to fit into our creative workplace, we can actually block new ideas.

Because we are promoting one creative voice. Rather than celebrating individuality.

Fletcher suggests a team building exercise, to help shake this off.

We all anonymously write down something that we like, but for whatever reason, are too embarrassed to say.

I might put down…decorative garden gnomes, for example.

Then someone else will have to action how we would go about incorporating this into the office space.

According to Fletcher, this exercise forces us to disregard logic and celebrate nonconformity – the bedrock of creativity.

Food for thought

There are lots of ways to rejig your workspace to make way for new thinking. And it will probably be specific to your type of work, your team size, your types of working.

But even just discussing creativity with a colleague, a friend, a mentor – or reading about it online, can help to fuel innovative thinking.

So, let’s ruminate on a final response to ‘What does creativity mean to you?’, to mark the day.