Creativity is a shy creature. Creativity is a resource you cannot steer, it needs freedom
Pressure and stress are counter-productive, they are the enemies of any creative thought process. People working in content, art, music, literature or any other profession which is fueled by creative thinking and doing know that the more pressure they put on themselves, the less outcome of creative thoughts, words, actions there will be.
If pressure does not work to get creative, what does?
The current crisis challenged existing rules and there is an authentic need for solving problems in all areas of our life, social, professional, personal. We were forced to question old rules - like working in the office, hierarchies, deadlines, concepts. We also are forced to look at the ways we consume, we cooperate, communicate and co-habitate.
I strongly believe that questioning old rules leads to the deconstruction of the presence, and this thinking process creates opportunities for a different future - it is a true paradigm shift.
Creative energy is released when we allow ourselves to think differently about the world, when there are no limits in this thinking. Creativity intends to break rules, and therefore cannot be produced by setting up rules, by planning, by setting up workshops or brainstorming sessions.
To tap into our resources of creativity, we first must create an atmosphere of trust in which we feel safe to think out of the box, in which we can experiment and discuss, without the pressure to deliver. We need to be allowed to make mistakes, and learn from them.
If companies want their employees to get creative and motivated, they should switch into the open learning mode, there should be a truly agile culture, space to ask questions and freedom ideas which seem challenging, crazy or unrealistic.
What we need now are ideas that focus not only on economic growth and monetary profit but who take into consideration the bigger picture. We as a society are vulnerable. Efficiency and pressure for innovation do not help us to master crisis.
Resilience, curiousity, open-mindedness are skills that are needed to face the challenge of this and future crises.
Adaptability and agility towards changing conditions of our social, economic and ecological environment, creating the trust that we all together can solve the problems ahead, unleashing the creative potential in people, those are the most important managerial skills of the future.
To be creative is not a method, it is a modus, a mindset of dealing with challenges and problems of reality, and it all starts with daring to think differently. Do you want to re-think your future and spark your creativity? Happy to hear from you!
Artwork: Gabriel Rico, installation in Museum Voorlinden
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