Ducks in a Row: Fostering Creativity
by Miki Saxon
In the intro to yesterday’s post, about how boredom often triggers creativity, I referred to the hoops being jumped through to foster creativity in the workplace.
Unfortunately, it’s not working and that’s what to day’s post is about.
You may have noticed that creativity is all the rage—and not just among artists. American culture, and indeed the world, has become obsessed with manufacturing creative kids, who will turn into inventive workers, who will then become the innovative leaders we need in these rapidly-changing times. (…) As creativity is increasingly touted as the “premiere skill” of our time, [Diane] Senechal argues, there’s little interest in just letting this ability develop independently. Instead, it is being quantified, dissected and tested, taught and measured.
That approach may work on some talent, but developing creativity isn’t one of them.
In reality, that approach does more to destroy creativity than almost anything else.
The enormous number of major discoveries grounded in serendipity should be enough to convince people that structure and pressure don’t work.
If institutions really want to encourage creativity, in other words, they’ll have to develop the requisite patience to wait for it—and the ability to recognize what inventiveness is really made of. Insisting on innovation will never work, according to Senechal. “Perhaps the worst thing for creativity is dogma,” she argues. “Dogma delights in nothing; it insists on its own rigid ways.”
Of course, humans are notorious for believing they can improve any process by structuring it — even when it goes against research and proven results.
Bottom line, if you want your people to be more creative you need to let go, not hold on.
Image credit: Rigby Financial
