GWS Event #2: Creativity at Work
A capability that is innate in all: how it manifests, is enabled or suppressed in the workplace
The second public discussion of The GoodWork Society took place last week at Perch in Rosebank.
The GWS’s mission is to identify more human ways of working: to change the way we talk about work, to encourage everyone to think differently about work, workplaces and the way work is done in South Africa.
At this event the discussion focused on the role of creativity in the workplace, and just as in our previous event, the conversation and insights that were generated on the night by our panelists and ±80 attendees were exceptional.
Our panelists for the evening were:
- Suhana Gordhan, creative director for FCB Africa and Chairperson of The Loerie Awards
- Dr Same Mdluli, curator and gallery manager at Standard Bank Arts
- Adam Pantanowitz, Lecturer in Engineering & Medicine at Wits University since 2009, business founder and inventor of Brainternet
- Amandine Robin, founder of MATTERS, an innovation lab using mathematical thinking
The event was hosted by Vincent Hofmann and MC’d by Thabo Ngcobo.
The premise of the evening’s discussion was to explore the idea that to be human is to create, and therefore to be creative, and to understand why it is that creativity is such a taboo word in the business context and why it has such abstract qualities in society? Are all South Africans allowed to be creative and if not, will they be able to succeed in a future where creative problem solving abilities will distinguish humans from robots.
Given the diversity of our panelists and attendees the conversation was full of incredibly useful insights, and ideas and as a result summarising the most salient themes is in itself an exercise in creative editing.
Three predominant themes emerged over the course of the discussion:
- How do we define creativity?
- Society, education and its implications on understanding the value of creativity
- The environments that encourage (or discourage) creativity: space, time and negativity
What is Creativity?
One thing that was agreed by all is that creativity is not a type of person — a creative. Rather it is a capability that is inherent in all human beings, at all times.
Creativity is finding connections:
“Creativity is about being alive inside” believes Suhana, and being able to connect magic, logic and empathy to find connections in the world. It is the ability to scratch beneath the surface and see things from different perspectives. She believes she struggles the most to use her creative capabilities when she is feeling “dehydrated”, exhausted and depleted of energy, yet when she is excited and energised her ability to make these connections is much greater.
Creativity is Curiosity:
For Adam, creativity is about observing the world with curiosity, and applying that intrigue into different contexts and domains.
Creativity is taking a step back and seeing things differently:
To Same, thinking creatively means approaching problems with different wiring and using the other side of your brain to solve them, “not just using your eyes”.
Amandine believes it’s about allowing yourself to take a step back, and see things differently.It is the ability to detect hidden patterns and being able to take something from one space and seeing it in another environment.
Society and Education
If creativity, according to our panel, is such an incredibly important capability in a world full of complex problems to be solved, why is it viewed as trivial by society (and parents)?
Children are inherently creative and creativity is apparent in many areas of their lives: how they play, talk and make sense of the world. According to Adam “the plasticity of the brain allows anyone to achieve any state at any phase, but it is something that is more likely to be developed in your early years when your brain is highly plastic”.
There are millions of naive questions children are unafraid to ask as they approach the world with curiosity, and as a result make sense of it. What happens to them over time that suppresses this capability?
Something that came up continuously is the way we are taught to learn at school. We are formatted and framed and constrained by a syllabus. When we ask questions we are laughed at and told that this is the way things are. There is little encouragement to understand the ‘why’, or principles of the fundamentals.
Its very difficult to apply creativity to a complex problem when you are solving for X and you’re not exactly sure why X needed solving to begin with.
It is very rare for students to be able to approach subjects in a multi-disciplinary way. Can architecture students spend time in medical lectures or can maths and physical education or art be combined to see the principles of geometry in a visual way?
In addition, parents believe that creativity is the domain of pretty things or craftiness. “You’re so creative” to a child can often be interpreted as you’re not so smart but you make lovely paintings. Because of our unique South African context, creativity is often frowned upon with parents urging their kids to restrain themselves and choose a safe, predetermined path towards a stable pay check, to have the solutions imposed on them.
The challenge is, that with the rise of AI, robotics and other technological innovations that will affect the workplace, does an education system that formats how you learn and teaches children to learn off by heart really develop the capabilities that will allow people to succeed in these new environments, or are we just setting children up to be better robots?
The environments that encourage (or discourage) creativity
What emerged in our discussion is that if creativity is an innate capability in all humans, something that distinguishes us from other organisms, what enables this capability to be utilised and harnessed to solve complex challenges, and conversely, what diminishes this ability and suppresses it?
Space
Space, both physical and psychological, is important in enabling creativity to emerge. Leaving the office and walking outside helps our panel arrive at their most creative solutions. Outside, your perspective is bigger than the screen in front of you and you are able to understand your problems as they apply to different contexts and make connections between seemingly disparate things.
Having the correct psychological space is equally important. When someone has conflicting demands, such as this must make money first, or must be within the clients deadline, one loses the ability to be creative.
Time
People are not given sufficient time to allow their brains to identify patterns and scratch beneath the surface. Children especially are being deprived of the time to play with ideas as they get bogged down with the pressures to be the best, and to do the most. No one has the ability to see the big picture when they are staring down the tunnel of a task deadline or looming exam.
Historically, some of the most creative solutions were developed by people who had the time to think about the best way to achieve a result or solve a challenge, including the double entry booking keeping system,(can accountants be creative? came up quite a bit in this discussion).
Out of the Negative: Scarcity (and Frustration)
Creativity can also emerge when people are confronted with scarcity or frustrations. This is particularly prevalent in an emerging market context where the ‘have nots’ are filling the immense voids with creative solutions. Children who aren’t able to buy toys make them with what they are able to find, informal transport systems emerge from a lack of formal public transport and space is utilised in incredibly creative ways when it needs to be used for multiple purposes. When there is an absence of something, the ways people fill that gap are incredibly creative, connecting disparate elements together to serve an entirely new purpose.
In the workplace, and in life, when something appears to be unachievable because the task is too great or something critical has been removed, those with creative capabilities arrive at extraordinary solutions, that exceed anything anyone had imagined possible.
In addition, another way creativity emerges out of a negative context is when people are frustrated by a status quo that doesn’t make sense, seems to be too time consuming or bureaucratic. Circumventing these has led to some of the most creative solutions emerging, particularly in the workplace. It’s also led to some incredibly creative, not entirely ethical choices being made by those who find the system weak or limiting.
Fundamentally, creativity is a capability innate in all human beings, it is not distinct from clever or professional, but has the potential to be embedded in everything we do. It is the characteristic that distinguishes us from robots and will ensure that we adapt, survive and thrive, in any environment.
Workplaces that value creativity are more innovative and profitable, and create conditions that enable this type of thinking. Those that don’t are rapidly learning that repeating tasks continuously will almost guarantee that their employees will one day be replaced with robots and automation.
Practically how do we harness, encourage and enable creativity in ourselves and in those around us?
Firstly we need to start changing the perception that creative is pretty, or a role in an ad agency. Try replacing smart with creative when commenting on a solution someone has presented, make creative a more commonplace word in the workplace, “that is an incredibly creative solution to our problem” should be as valuable as “that is an incredibly smart solution to our problem”.
As leaders (and people in society) we need to encourage people to have more perspective and make more connections. To do this we need to give people the space, time and correct challenges to harness this. Ask questions like, “ if we removed this function/step/task, how would we achieve a better result?” Push back when asked to solve a complex challenge in an unreasonably short amount of time by asking the question, “Do you want the easiest, most obvious solution or would you be able to give me more time to come up with a better, more creative one?” Most people aren’t given the option to decide, but if given the choice, the hope is that they would want the better outcome.
Ask lots of questions. Make asking questions a priority in all meetings and at all social events. Change the perception that the person in the room asking the questions is the one with the least knowledge, and is actually the most intelligent. Encourage curiosity in children, and don’t be scared that not knowing the answers will undermine you in their eyes. Make creatively exploring an answer something that is valued: the quality of thought and potential for new connections to be made will significantly increase the value people will be able to add to society, and their workplaces.
Take a multi-disciplinary approach. Refer to art, science, maths and literature to find new ways of solving problems. Look at how doctors, or architects are approaching their work and see if there is something that can be learned from them that can be applied to your challenges.
At the GoodWork Society we believe that if creativity is redefined the glass ceiling will be removed. As a society we have alienated ourselves from our species, we are training to be good chimpanzees. Yet all people are creative, our job as people who have come to this discussion, or who have read this article, is to acknowledge this.
The more you label your work as either creative or professional, the more you do a disservice to humankind.
If you want to have conversations about the ways you can make your workplace good, or to find out how you can contribute to our mission visit Thegoodworksociety.org.
