Seeking the Creative Cubicle 

What exactly is creativity? There are probably as many answers to that question as there are people to ask. I’m not sure what the scholarly answer is, but to me creativity is the ability to envision something new and the stubbornness to follow through with the hard work it takes to transform a daydream into concrete reality.   It’s the ability to think ‘sideways’ and the courage to stray from the conformist path.  It’s the ability to work anonymously for years on a project that ultimately fails, and the optimism necessary  to wake up the next morning with a fresh idea. 

Without creative people, there would be no new inventions, no innovative solutions to problems, no ground-breaking works of art. Most people give lip service to the importance of creativity,  yet the nonconformity that is often an attribute of creative people is anathema in the typical workplace. Personally,  I learned long ago that it’s often best to keep my more unique ideas to myself, especially from 9 to 5. I’m not sure exactly when I first adopted this policy, but I do remember having the point driven home during a college course on psychological testing.

As I recall, one of the IQ tests involved giving a person several cards depicting the various stages of a bank robbery and asking them to put the pictures in the proper order:  the thief walks into the bank, points a gun at the teller, and runs out with the bag of loot. Sounds like a simple enough task. Unfortunately, I’d been writing fiction since childhood and I knew that there was more than one way to tell a story. If you start from the most intense moment, for instance, the sequence would open with the bank robber pointing the gun at the teller, then tell the beginning of the story in retrospect. If you happen to be James Joyce, you might start the story as the man leaves the bank, tell the entire history of mankind in obscure terms, and then circle back to the moment when the thief enters the building. When I asked the professor –in complete sincerity– if the test made allowances for people who didn’t tell stories from A-Z, he gave me a look that I’d seen all too often in my Catholic grade school. The look that said that my act of nonconformity was not appreciated, and was quite possibly a sin. When I tried to explain that there really is more than one way to tell a story, my professor responded that I’d have a hard time finding a job in the ‘real world’  if I kept thinking that way. Tell me something I didn’t already know! 

In truth, I’ve left many jobs over the years rather than work in atmospheres that were openly hostile to my Muse. I’ve sat through my share of  meetings that seemed specifically designed to stifle creative ideas, watched helplessly as inane edicts from distant corporate offices destroyed the morale of innovative teams and listened to endless lectures from obsessive supervisors about the proper way to do paperwork. And cubicles – don’t get me started on cubicles! 

On the other hand, I have been blessed to work with a few supervisors who went out of their way to encourage their employees to share their ideas – no matter how odd – in a supportive and respectful environment. These exceptional managers fostered an environment where divergent thinking and risk-taking were rewarded, even when individual ideas weren’t always successful. It’s this type of leader who can bring out the creativity in even the most hesitant employee, to the advantage of the entire department. It’s the nation’s loss that there aren’t more of them.

As I continue my study into the nature of creativity, I’d love to hear from you about your own experiences blending the Muse and the workplace.  Or let me know about techniques that you’ve found useful for fostering innovation and creativity in your employees.