If imagination and inspiration are fueled by rich, unexpected inputs to our thinking - experiences and insights that connect the dots in new ways - then the challenge is deliberately seeking new inputs and allowing ourselves the time and space to synthesize them into fresh connections. When it comes to innovation, effectiveness is what counts. Today’s organizations need to move away from defining work in terms of efficiency and productivity creativity is rarely efficient. These expectations about what work looks like are dampening creativity for everyone. Managers use time tracking software to ensure that workers are doing something - anything - that seems useful. Our time in meetings has tripled since before the pandemic. They’ve stifled nascent creativity with busy work and bureaucracy - think boring, in-office whiteboarding sessions, remote workdays packed with meetings, or advanced software that monitors worker “productivity.” In fact, one study found that “the single largest behavioral shift among employees (during the pandemic) was a statistically significant decline in curiosity.” In our work with companies and as design professors, we’ve found that most leaders who are frustrated with a lack of employee creativity have day-to-day systems and processes in place that don’t reflect their innovation goals. And the reason teams aren’t creative is because leaders have failed to understand how creativity really works.
Even with the best innovation strategy in place, companies can’t develop new ideas and products until their teams become more creative. For all the hype around innovation and creativity - one recent survey of 1,500 CEOs pegged creativity as the top skill for business leaders – these muscles remain some of the most underdeveloped in organizations.
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