In our diary study, people often thought they were most creative when they were working under severe deadline pressure. But the 12,000 aggregate days that we studied showed just the opposite: People were the least creative when they were fighting the clock. In fact, we found a kind of time-pressure hangover -- when people were working under great pressure, their creativity went down not only on that day but the next two days as well. Time pressure stifles creativity because people can't deeply engage with the problem. Creativity requires an incubation period; people need time to soak in a problem and let the ideas bubble up.
In fact, it's not so much the deadline that's the problem; it's the distractions that rob people of the time to make that creative breakthrough. People can certainly be creative when they're under the gun, but only when they're able to focus on the work. They must be protected from distractions, and they must know that the work is important and that everyone is committed to it. In too many organizations, people don't understand the reason for the urgency, other than the fact that somebody somewhere needs it done today.
There's this widespread notion that fear and sadness somehow spur creativity. There's even some psychological literature suggesting that the incidence of depression is higher in creative writers and artists -- the de-pressed geniuses who are incredibly original in their thinking. But we don't see it in the population that we studied.
We coded all 12,000 journal entries for the degree of fear, anxiety, sadness, anger, joy, and love that people were experiencing on a given day. And we found that creativity is positively associated with joy and love and negatively associated with anger, fear, and anxiety. The entries show that people are happiest when they come up with a creative idea, but they're more likely to have a breakthrough if they were happy the day before. There's a kind of virtuous cycle. When people are excited about their work, there's a better chance that they'll make a cognitive association that incubates overnight and shows up as a creative idea the next day. One day's happiness often predicts the next day's creativity.
There's a widespread belief, particularly in the finance and high-tech industries, that internal competition fosters innovation. In our surveys, we found that creativity takes a hit when people in a work group compete instead of collaborate. The most creative teams are those that have the confidence to share and debate ideas. But when people compete for recognition, they stop sharing information. And that's destructive because nobody in an organization has all of the information required to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
Maybe it's only the public-relations departments that believe downsizing and restructuring actually foster creativity. Unfortunately, I've seen too many examples of this kind of spin. One of my favorites is a 1994 letter to shareholders from a major U.S. software company: "A downsizing such as this one is always difficult for employees, but out of tough times can come strength, creativity, and teamwork."
Of course, the opposite is true: Creativity suffers greatly during a downsizing. But it's even worse than many of us realized. We studied a 6,000-person division in a global electronics company during the entire course of a 25% downsizing, which took an incredibly agonizing 18 months. Every single one of the stimulants to creativity in the work environment went down significantly. Anticipation of the downsizing was even worse than the downsizing itself -- people's fear of the unknown led them to basically disengage from the work. More troubling was the fact that even five months after the downsizing, creativity was still down significantly.
Unfortunately, downsizing will remain a fact of life, which means that leaders need to focus on the things that get hit. Communication and collaboration decline significantly. So too does people's sense of freedom and autonomy. Leaders will have to work hard and fast to stabilize the work environment so ideas can flourish.
Taken together, these operating principles for fostering creativity in the workplace might lead you to think that I'm advocating a soft management style. Not true. I'm pushing for a smart management style. My 30 years of research and these 12,000 journal entries suggest that when people are doing work that they love and they're allowed to deeply engage in it -- and when the work itself is valued and recognized -- then creativity will flourish. Even in tough times.
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Recent Comments | 11 Total
February 11, 2008 at 4:43am by Sherrilene Collymore
Good article, and very relevant to me at this time. Will be reviewing it again definitely in the near future...
February 11, 2008 at 1:59pm by Jennifer Hofmann
Oustanding article - and timely. The US economy will flourish if this research is put to good use.
February 12, 2008 at 2:18am by Jay Thomas-Burrows
A great article. From my experience, innovation is not something that is fostered very successfully amongst employees in China. This gives us Western countries a little breathing room only if we can continue to provide the right environments that cultivate innovation as mentioned in the article.
September 30, 2008 at 1:28pm by Michael Plishka
Excellent Article! Should be copied and placed on your bulletin boards. Okay, maybe not. At least sit down with your team and leaders and discuss this. You won't be sorry.
January 7, 2009 at 12:36pm by Wily Walnut
Thanks for the great article and the research!
Myth#1 Creativity Comes From Creative Types
Human beings have evolved an intrinsic capacity for creative thinking. It just needs tapping in the right way. Deciding that you are creative and giving yourself permission to be creative are half the battle. Get that out of the way and you off to the races!
Myth#2 Money is a Creativity Motivator
I think the definition of "creativity" is called into question here. Creativity is a broad term for a range of activities. For many people, creativity is almost synonymous with productivity. If I'm getting things accomplished, then I feel like I'm being creative, because I've "created" some work that wasn't there or hadn't been done yet. On a practical level, money does act as a spur to action, which can initiate a sequence of events that lead to creative thinking taking place. Motivation for creativity is multi-faceted and the desire for more money may be one facet of it for some people (I agree that many people have little interest beyond comfort needs) -- it just doesn't reside as high up the values list as many of us have come to believe. Creativity ticks the boxes on a lot of values.
Myth#3 Time Pressure Fuels Creativity
I agree with your second paragraph that given a "zone" in which to work undisturbed, a hot house climate of creativity can be generated. Without that focus funnel, and with too many other distractions, deadline pressure turns most minds to mush.
Myth#4 Fear Forces Breakthroughs
I agree, I feel most creative when I am happy and "full of myself". You can feel your energy is full and wanting to radiate out, to express, to create... That said, if you are basically a happy, healthy, easy going kind of person, or even if you've simply made the decision that you are a creative person and choose to live creatively, you can turn any emotion into a stimulus for your creativity.
Yes, creativity at its root is a joyous act but that joy is often tinged and tinted by other colors. You can take a joyous revenge in writing the downfall of a character in your novel who is based upon your real life nemesis, for example. You can take a vicious delight in plonking your rage upon a canvas in a carnage of color. You can feel a kind of joyous relief in sharing your grief in a melody or poem.
At the very least, creativity of a sorts can be engaged to help you transition more quickly from negative emotions. Expressing your feelings in print, paint, song, dance, or the way you sweep the front path can channel your negativity outward and hasten your return to a more optimum state of mind.
Whether you can use creativity to express and release fear is a tricky one, dependent upon the character of the person in question. Many of us freeze and lock up so tight that there's nothing but darkness and terror. A few experience the fight response, and warfare has always engaged creativity in its lethal pursuits. And others engage great lateral thinking and lateral action in fleeing from fear. But for me, I no likee the fear! Fear is the great inhibitor.
Myth#5 Competition Beats Collaboration
The 'top that' mentality can fuel creative thinking. But collaboration exponentially multiplies the effect (and frees those otherwise turned-off by competing against the alpha voices). At the fundamental level, you are multiplying the possible computing power with the extra brains that you add to the work. Getting people fully engaged in a truly collaborative effort is the art. You need to create an environment where all voices can be heard (at times!) so that you don't just create an environment where the alpha people assert their ideas as the best by the force of their will or charisma alone. At a core level, creativity is most free flowing when it is engaged in a work that benefits the most people or serves a high ideal or group vision.
Myth#6 A Streamlined Organization Is a Creative Organization
It would seem that today organizations are more in danger of outmoded systems and entrenched ways of doing things than from the over-abundance of potential computing power of their people assets. As mentioned in #3, the clutter is in what gets in the way of people performing and thinking at their best. That's what needs streamlining.
There is a heirarchy of creativity. At the top are thoughts/actions of a truly inspired and innovative nature. They shake the ground. Then there are the more common and yet still impressive thoughts/actions that make small improvements upon existing ideas. Some creativity is just a sequence of actions that take advantage of opportunities already present that others may or may not be already pursuing. And there is the creativity of expressing the best of oneself through artforms, hobbies or daily living. We probably need to invent or clarify some new definitions for the different interpretations for creativity.
Warmest Regards to All,
Wily
September 19, 2009 at 4:56am by Gaintwee Gaint
Most of the fluid solving code is straight from Jos Stam's paper. I tried to wrap it up in an easy to use API to provide methods for adding & getting forces and color at any position. Also many thanks to Maa (www.lagraine.com) for some serious optimizations and contributing some ace features. Hopefully next version will be openCL ;)
Regards
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September 19, 2009 at 9:35am by Gordon Clarck
nothing to say, exept thanks for all the great work As usual my only saying is that's it's really worth to read Software Design Software Development or fatcow coupons
October 1, 2009 at 7:34am by Christopher Chapman
Im a designer and Creative Catalyst for a fotune 100 company and would enjoy hearing more of your creative thoughts, quotes, process..mental floss. You can follow me to spread quality creative conversation.
http://twitter.com/ChapmanCatalyst
October 1, 2009 at 7:35am by Christopher Chapman
Im a designer and Creative Catalyst for a Fortune 100 company and would enjoy hearing more of your creative thoughts, quotes, process..mental floss. You can follow me to spread quality creative conversation.
http://twitter.com/ChapmanCatalyst
October 12, 2009 at 7:20pm by Michael Jameiosn
You have some good points, but I do believe that certain people are more creative than others in certain areas.
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November 21, 2009 at 12:29pm by Chris Reich
Excellent material here. There are two very difficult barriers to overcome. 1---Getting management to accept new ideas that are not their own. It's cliche, but management ego is often the stopping point of new ideas. 2---In line with number 1, getting people to express creative ideas without fear. If your people think every new thought starts a round of the "Devil's Advocate" game, they won't want to speak up even when they see problems and have simple solutions.
Get these these two under control and you've got a chance. Otherwise, forget it. Don't even consider using a consultant for this stuff until management is ready to hear the painful truth: You're Not Perfect.
Chris Reich, Sales, Marketing and Business Consultant
www.TeachU.com