#creativity #orlackthereof

For me passion is everything when it comes to creativity. Sophomore year of college my heart was broken in a way that only a 19 year old girls heart can be. It was one of those breakups where friends were sick of me talking about it, and I had to find a way to snap out of it. So I created a Jackson Pollock style piece of art as a way to channel my emotions. I was determined to get the ill will out of my system.

Each splatter of bright colored paint represented the positivity of my usual self, and the black paint represented my terribly broken heart. The painting traveled with me to different apartments for the next seven years. Not because I wanted to remember the jerk ex-boyfriend, but because I was so proud of my painting. I had my fair share of impressed observers, and the painting became an extension of self. Side note – to this day I refuse to be his Facebook friend because I don’t think he deserves to know anything about my life. TAKE THAT.

I also especially consider myself a creative person when I am being creative for someone I love. For my husband’s birthday I created a scavenger hunt for him. In the planning stages I would use my phone to jot down ideas and flesh them out sporadically during the day. The scavenger hunt was complete with riddles of inside jokes, a mix of sentimental and handmade gifts, and a romantic homemade dinner. It took me two weeks to plan it all and I cannot remember a moment when I was not exactly sure how I wanted it to all play out.

Then there was the time that I planned my sister’s baby shower. We’re 18 months apart, and she’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember. When she was pregnant with her first child, I gladly appointed myself to throw her baby shower. My creativity was at its MAX. With the help of her husband, I created a cake that looked like a baby stroller, hand painted party bags and decorations that all connected back to the party theme, and created party games that were different than the ones posted all over the internet. Not only did the fact that I am a planner help bring the scavenger hunt and baby shower to fruition, but also my love for my husband and my sister fueled my creativity to make both occasions really fun, new experiences.

My personal creativity described above contrasts greatly with my organizational creativity. I was blessed with the opportunity of starting my career in the marketing department of the largest company in the world. At the time, the marketing department was going through growing pains and was starved for bright ideas and innovative thinking. However, in the moment I was very insecure and in my 22 year old mind I was afraid of messing up. Being creative and sharing it with your peers takes courage!

Especially in the world of marketing where there’s a stereotype that all marketers have radically exciting ideas and processes. The crappy truth is that most of us don’t. And frankly I was just trying to manage all the projects that were being thrown at me without falling behind (read: no time to be creative). Gradually I became more comfortable with the workload, and was not as intimidated of my peers, or the thought of being creative.

I began to break out of my shell and propose new ideas, but found that most ideas – across all marketing – were never funded or approved. At best, an employee would receive half-hearted support from a manager who had given up trying to change things up.

To me, this is the point where creativity dies in an organization.  I would argue that the progress of organizational creativity is directly related to the confidence in the organization’s leaders to implement change. For a few months there was a reoccurring meeting on the calendar to propose new ideas to the CMO. Unfortunately, the checks and balances of the middle managers would stifle ideas. The managers were so protective of not tainting their reputation that anything too creative, or left field would be examined with a microscope – stripping the associate’s confidence in an idea that could have been the creativity the company was craving.

I am confident in my ability to be creative by myself, but have found that I have much better ideas when I bounce ideas off two to three close friends. They are able to spark new ideas, or build on ones already suggested. I am not creative when I feel insecure that I don’t have the “right” idea or the tools necessary to be creative, so using trusted relationships for brainstorming is critical for me to produce my best work. Most times I need validation that my idea is good before I can really take off with it. I believe groups within an organization work the same way. There has to be either established relationship or a level of trust to keep producing new ideas. There also has to be cultural norms that allow the group to be creative – not like at my old job.

Brainstorming is a means to source effective ideas in organizations, but unfortunately I have only seen the ineffective side of group brainstorming. I was once involved in a brainstorm for how to launch a new product line. We had no budget, and had only been approved to speak about certain items in advertising. However, the full-day brainstorming session was spent discussing innovative, expensive ideas that would never see the light of day. The “realist” in me was cringing as my manager assured me that if we have a really creative, new idea then the funding would surely followed. We never received funding, and to this day the product line has never officially been launched. In order to overcome ineffective brainstorming, and increase the success rate of group organizational creativity, I believe there needs to be boundaries set at the beginning of the conversation so that the group fully understands the constraints the company is facing and can create realistic solutions.

Ultimately the answer is not only in the structure of the brainstorming session, amount of alcohol, or sporadic moments as referenced in our class readings that makes people more creative, but it is also (and even more so) about what is in it for the employee. Organizations must prove why employees should care, how it is going to impact their performance review, or get them a promotion.

Creativity takes energy and energy stems from passion. Fostering an environment of creativity is a process that relies on rewarding employees for their concerted effort, and influential leadership that motivates change and spurs passion.