Creativity is a big buzzword in business these days - everyone's talking about it, but it seems to mean a variety of things - innovation, adaptability, flexibility. For some it conjures images of companies with trampolines in their board room and a quote from the ridiculously young CEO, saying, “jumping on the trampoline helps to get the creative juices going and keeps meetings short!” For others it refers only to creative professionals and the creative industry. Of course, creativity at work can be those things but it is also much more than that. It is about the everyday ways in which problems are solved, thinking differently occurs, and real people do their jobs.
We sat down recently with Richard Lightbody, who is the Communications Coordinator at Maersk Training in Svendborg.
We talked about what happens when you take a guy who was once mistaken for Mr. Bean on an airplane and plop him down in the middle of a small town in Denmark to work for the largest, most successful, but at the same time most conservative and traditional company in the country.
Julie did some workshops a few years ago where Richard was involved and he recalled a story of her introducing him to the group for the first time. She said, "This is Richard, we don't know what he does. He's just Richard." And instead of being insulted (like he perhaps should have been), he said it was much more liberating than if she'd said, "This is Richard, he's creative." Because if you tell a whole group of people that someone is creative, you place a huge burden of expectations on that person. And creativity is an elusive thing - it never really comes on command.
We sat down recently with Richard Lightbody, who is the Communications Coordinator at Maersk Training in Svendborg.
We talked about what happens when you take a guy who was once mistaken for Mr. Bean on an airplane and plop him down in the middle of a small town in Denmark to work for the largest, most successful, but at the same time most conservative and traditional company in the country.
Julie did some workshops a few years ago where Richard was involved and he recalled a story of her introducing him to the group for the first time. She said, "This is Richard, we don't know what he does. He's just Richard." And instead of being insulted (like he perhaps should have been), he said it was much more liberating than if she'd said, "This is Richard, he's creative." Because if you tell a whole group of people that someone is creative, you place a huge burden of expectations on that person. And creativity is an elusive thing - it never really comes on command.
Richard credits his creative thinking ability to his years in television (though we suspect he was attracted to the medium because he already possessed it). He feels fortunate to have been with the BBC when he was, because in the old days, if they recognized something in you, they developed it, so he quickly moved from the on-air track he was on to directing. He directed an atypical travel show called Travelog, featuring the writer Pete McCarthy and this piece could rapidly end up a string of tales of that, but I will try instead to draw out some of the lessons Richard learned in doing Travelog, lessons which have served him surprisingly well in the corporate world.
Through lots of interesting examples it became clear that creativity at work for Richard is about how to achieve a goal despite limitations. How working within limitations and constraints can challenge a person to approach a subject differently, to think of alternatives, to simply do something differently. Connected to this is a willingness to be flexible, to be able to plan but also to be open to unusual solutions.
He also had some comments about how to encourage creativity in general at work. For him, the most dangerous element of corporate life to be the KPI (Key Performance Indicator). He feels they hold an organization back - nothing extraordinary can happen without an extra push and frankly, there's no way to predict at the beginning of the year where an organization will be at the end. KPIs can be dangerous for business, because they hamper adaptability. KPIs imply that at the beginning of the year, one can make a list of objectives and pursue this seamlessly throughout the year. Of course, things come up, things change and evolve. Systems need to allow this more.
Similarly, requiring the recording of time spent of discrete tasks can be tedious and off-putting to bursts of creativity. It's difficult to quantify creativity and calculate how much time a creative task will take. And it's especially hard to estimate how long a creative task will take. I don't think creativity works under time pressure, as in ok, you have one hour to be creative, starting now." says Richard. But that's different than saying that deadlines are a problem. Deadlines can actually help the freewheeling creative bring things to a closure. As Richard indicated again and again, constraints can actually promote creativity, but the balance is a fine one. It it is difficult for a creative person to work if that person is required to set a specific number of hours per day to be spent on set tasks. Again systems need to be flexible and allow for more individual control over time.
Additionally, companies need to be aware of their employees’ talents and develop them. They might not be in quite the right job for them, but they could be with a little help. Perhaps most importantly, Richard noted the consequences of the way in which we label and value jobs and activities. For example, it is easy to label/value some tasks as more challenging because the topic is more interesting than others. So, for example, it is easy to say that reporting on a car crash could be more interesting than reporting on someone’s 90th birthday party. But in order to make the content of the less interesting story, well, interesting is actually more of a challenge than a car crash. Value laden labels put people and activities in boxes and therefore can affect potential.
But, it seems that Richard is making creative inroads at Maersk Training, as you can see if you check out his latest project - eSea - Maersk Training's interactive electronic magazine. Good photos and good stories told in a 21st century setting.
Through lots of interesting examples it became clear that creativity at work for Richard is about how to achieve a goal despite limitations. How working within limitations and constraints can challenge a person to approach a subject differently, to think of alternatives, to simply do something differently. Connected to this is a willingness to be flexible, to be able to plan but also to be open to unusual solutions.
He also had some comments about how to encourage creativity in general at work. For him, the most dangerous element of corporate life to be the KPI (Key Performance Indicator). He feels they hold an organization back - nothing extraordinary can happen without an extra push and frankly, there's no way to predict at the beginning of the year where an organization will be at the end. KPIs can be dangerous for business, because they hamper adaptability. KPIs imply that at the beginning of the year, one can make a list of objectives and pursue this seamlessly throughout the year. Of course, things come up, things change and evolve. Systems need to allow this more.
Similarly, requiring the recording of time spent of discrete tasks can be tedious and off-putting to bursts of creativity. It's difficult to quantify creativity and calculate how much time a creative task will take. And it's especially hard to estimate how long a creative task will take. I don't think creativity works under time pressure, as in ok, you have one hour to be creative, starting now." says Richard. But that's different than saying that deadlines are a problem. Deadlines can actually help the freewheeling creative bring things to a closure. As Richard indicated again and again, constraints can actually promote creativity, but the balance is a fine one. It it is difficult for a creative person to work if that person is required to set a specific number of hours per day to be spent on set tasks. Again systems need to be flexible and allow for more individual control over time.
Additionally, companies need to be aware of their employees’ talents and develop them. They might not be in quite the right job for them, but they could be with a little help. Perhaps most importantly, Richard noted the consequences of the way in which we label and value jobs and activities. For example, it is easy to label/value some tasks as more challenging because the topic is more interesting than others. So, for example, it is easy to say that reporting on a car crash could be more interesting than reporting on someone’s 90th birthday party. But in order to make the content of the less interesting story, well, interesting is actually more of a challenge than a car crash. Value laden labels put people and activities in boxes and therefore can affect potential.
But, it seems that Richard is making creative inroads at Maersk Training, as you can see if you check out his latest project - eSea - Maersk Training's interactive electronic magazine. Good photos and good stories told in a 21st century setting.
Are you creating the best environment for creativity to blossom in your workplace? J2 Research can help you take the creative temperature of your organization. Are you living up to your creative potential?
