{"id":68044,"date":"2019-10-17T15:30:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T19:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?p=68044"},"modified":"2020-09-03T05:53:16","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T09:53:16","slug":"whats-the-best-way-to-inspire-or-push-creatives-to-be-more-creative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/creativity-culture\/whats-the-best-way-to-inspire-or-push-creatives-to-be-more-creative","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the best way to inspire (or push) creatives to be more creative?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the space between work and not-work becomes ever more blurred, questions about how to do this thing we plug away at for 30 or 40 or 70 hours a week become all the more expansive. In <\/em>Work Flow<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, we delve into the novel dilemmas created by the new ways we work, as well as timeless questions about ethics, gender assumptions, and toxic work situations (and how to escape them). How we work is an important component of how we live\u2014and we\u2019re here to help you do better at both.

Something messing with your flow? Unload your work problems here, and you\u2019ll not only feel heard but you\u2019ll also get unbiased, real-world advice. (That\u2019s something your work sibling\/spouse just can\u2019t offer.) Tell us everything: <\/em>ideasbywe@wework.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I manage a creative team, but my creatives seem stuck in a rut. Their ideas aren\u2019t bad exactly; they just lack the sizzle that I remember hiring them for\u2014and they are definitely not going to cut it with a demanding client. (All of our clients are demanding!) My efforts to get them to do better\u2014mostly telling them to have another go at it or try harder\u2014haven\u2019t been very effective so far. When the work just isn\u2019t there, how do I make it better? What\u2019s the best way to inspire (or push) creatives to be more creative?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creativity is a weird, magical thing\u2014and it is really hard to press a button and just, bam,<\/em> make it happen. One, two, three: Be creative! It doesn\u2019t work. In fact, putting pressure on people to be more creative almost always ends up sucking the life out of them and their ideas. Yet the expectation that someone, having gotten a job as a creative, is able to perform creatively on the spot is a huge part of our working culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, being \u201ccreative\u201d is a tough job. New, exciting ideas need not just be ready at a moment\u2019s notice, they must also be palatable to other people (like demanding clients, as you point out) and ultimately make money for a company. This is complicated, and I feel your pain. Managing creatives is especially hard, because creativity inherently does not want to be managed! But, of course, these people are employees responsible for delivering something, just like \u201cnon-creatives,\u201d and their value to the company is connected to the job they do. And your job is connected to getting the best from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do you make your creative team members feel not like they\u2019re being managed but like they\u2019re simply being given all the support and resources they need to be as creative as possible, i.e., do their very best job? It\u2019s a multifaceted answer for multifaceted people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Build the right environment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To do their best work, creatives need a physical workspace<\/a> that is conducive to their work\u2014think good light, art on the walls, and space for downtime. Even more importantly, creatives need a safe<\/em> space\u2014one in which judgment and criticism are limited. In team brainstorming sessions<\/a>, for instance, make sure that everyone gets to share their ideas before<\/em> the critique begins. This can be hard, since schedules, budgets, and client particularities tend to limit the sense of what is possible to achieve in the workplace. But to be truly creative, sometimes you need to take the needs of other people off the table, at least at first, and allow your brain to think without the constrictions of other opinions and feelings and needs. Give your team space to do that: Have a meeting in which you let them say whatever they are thinking; give them room for their ideas to bloom. (Later you can always separate the good ones from the bad, or, even better, encourage them to do so with their own ideas\u2014a little self-editing, as it were.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provide a good (clear) creative brief<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before they get started on any tasks, make sure you\u2019re providing your creatives with all the information they need to know in order to get you what you want, i.e., a short document that explains the project, its objectives, who the audience and client are, and details on tone and style, as well as timing and any additional pertinent information that they can refer to as they work. (You\u2019ve got to answer these questions for yourself to start.) Don\u2019t just throw a sheet of paper at a creative and say, \u201cGive me your most creative ideas!\u201d and then expect to winnow it down from there or simply be given what you want. We all need some guidelines to start with. Follow up with your brief by having clear conversations about what\u2019s at stake, what the parameters of the work are, how it should look when you receive it, what refining it might look like, and so forth. Make sure there\u2019s also time dedicated to your team asking you\u2014or the client, depending on how you work\u2014questions about the project. Creative ideas that also solve the problem you want them to can\u2019t come from nothing, after all. 
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Create a culture of good feedback<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s get one thing straight: Feedback does not equal judgment or criticism. Creative people are as likely to spin out of their creative moment as quickly as they spin into it once self-doubt creeps in. (And, unfortunately, telling someone \u201cdo better\u201d or \u201ctry harder\u201d is one of the worst ways to inspire anything better\u2014it\u2019s self-doubt city from there on out!) A big part of what you need to do as a manager of creatives is to keep pushing back the self-doubt, preventing it from coming into the room, and make the creatives keep believing in the process of being creative.
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This is where feedback comes into play. You want to set up a culture of good constructive feedback<\/a>, which involves you not just telling your employees what you think in a positive, growth-focused way, but regularly asking your employees for feedback about you<\/em>. Most importantly, what can you do to help them achieve their\u2014and your\u2014goal? How is what you\u2019re doing working, and not working, for them? (Keep in mind, everyone might need something a little different here.) For you, the job is to listen and to adapt your strategy to what (reasonably) works best for each member of your team. Practice \u201ccompassionate directness\u201d<\/a> by being accessible and visible: One good way to put this in motion is to have regular meetings with your employees, both in groups and one-on-one, where you speak frankly about your goals as a team and how to achieve them. “The more people are connected with a sense of \u2018we are in this together,\u2019 the more they are open to feedback,\u201d  says Liz Burow, VP of workplace strategy for WeWork. Raise issues in ways that make them feel safe and supported not criticized. \u201cHey, I like the start of this idea, but let\u2019s talk through where it might go to help us get to X\u201d is going to be a much better start than \u201cThis idea is lame, where\u2019s that sizzle I hired you for?!\u201d
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Here\u2019s another thought: How would you want to be talked to if you were one of the creatives you\u2019re managing? Put yourself in their shoes and shape your feedback accordingly. 
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Give them a breath of fresh air<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Everybody gets stuck sometimes. What stuck creatives<\/a> need is a change. Luckily, there are millions of ways to help willing people get unstuck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n