Bring out the Best in Your Creative People

Everybody is creative. It’s sometimes quite awkward when you’re in meetings and people say, “you’re the creative one”, or they start a sentence with, “I’m not creative, but…”. There’s a perceived divide between creative people and non-creative people.

Everyone is creative, but people who work in the creative space work differently. Their personalities are also generally different from a salesperson or a tech person, but that doesn’t mean all creatives fit neatly into a box, either. The common trait between all creatives is that they need flexibility. Other than that, creative people don’t fit into any kind of box. One thing is for sure – with creative people, the work that needs to be done doesn’t always happen strictly between nine to five.

There’s a misconception that creative people are lazy: they’re more likely to be late for meetings and dislike sitting in the same place in the office for example. With creative work, ideas and inspiration can strike at any time. People who work in creative careers don’t usually stop thinking about work. So a designer could be out hiking, at a concert, or in the shower when they’re hit with a brilliant idea for the project they’re working on. Each one of their pursuits is an opportunity to come up with ideas and to connect the dots from their myriad sources of inspiration to their work. So while a creative person may not always physically be where you expect them to be, they might actually be putting in a lot more time into their work.

Learn by Doing

I love art and studied design. And with that background, there are lots of routes you can take. I started on the client side, doing branding and communication for a hotel group. After that, I moved into an agency without knowing fully what that would entail. I just dove in, headfirst. But my experience helped pave the way for each next step, allowing me to hone my creativity along the way.

You can take on creativity in bits and pieces. This will help you understand your process, and give you a sense of what you enjoy working on.

When it comes to creativity, the best way is to just get started. You’ll be surprised at how much great work started off as a bad idea. People also learn by inadvertently replicating work that’s already out there. Or maybe they learn from other creative people. The point is, it’s a skill that you learn and develop.

Traits to Succeed

Curiosity is one of the most important traits that a creative person should cultivate. The best of the best are those who don’t rest on their laurels. They’re the ones who are constantly seeking new ideas, different ways of doing things, soaking up information, and learning from people they admire. Ultimately, curiosity will give you a bank of ideas and information you’ll be able to draw upon. So the next time you encounter a problem, you can connect the dots and come up with an idea that is creative.

Creative people are pros at connecting the dots. This is because people who work in creative jobs tend to be mental gatherers. They take in all the details, be it the texture of the wall at a restaurant they visited, sights and sounds on their travels, how people behave at a cafe, or a movie they watched. While other people might just be having fun, creative people are taking in ideas. So when they’re given a brief, a creative person is just connecting the dots between all these ideas to find a solution that works.

However, without observation, you wouldn’t be able to connect the dots. Creative people are constantly observing people, interactions, colours, textures, and light. Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, if you’re a creative person, you will have an interest in observing.

It’s important to acknowledge that not every creative person may be working in a creative profession. Some creative people are happy to be creative in another aspect of their life, and that’s completely fine. Other creative people might not be interested in applying their creative talents at work. They might want to crunch numbers or work with clients, and could be excelling at it too.

So don’t look at someone who isn’t working in a creative role and assume that they’re not creative. Sometimes, creativity may not be the pursuit that occupies 100% of their time at work. It could even be the data analyst who finds a way to process his numbers in a unique way. Creative thinking can be applied to any role; it’s not all about making music or art.

When you’re managing creative people, you have to develop a customised approach.

Feedback, for instance, has to be actionable. Not only should you offer feedback, you should also set clear goals and expectations of how the issue should be resolved. Most creative people struggle with not being able to measure the quality of their work. It’s always subjective: what is amazing to one person might be complete rubbish to another. So helping to set clear goals, defining what “good” work means, and having clear expectations will help creative people feel confident in executing their work.

The other thing to bear in mind is that creative people tend to be in touch with their emotions. So if they’re going through a difficult phase, that will likely reflect in the work they’re doing. As a manager, you’ll need to show care and empathy towards them during these times. For example, if a scriptwriter is experiencing sadness, it might not be the best time to get them to write a funny script.

So, just be mindful of what your colleague is dealing with and assign work that is appropriate in order to get quality work done.

In order for a creative person to shine, a flexible working environment is ideal. So a nine-to-five situation isn’t exactly the best way to stimulate your creative team. But timings are just one part of the story. Flexibility includes allowing a creative person to be able to decide how they work on a project, or even who they work with.

If you’re working with a creative person you can trust, let them take the lead on projects. You can also get a sense of how they delegate and the people they feel comfortable collaborating with. If they prefer to take on the project solo, that’s not a good sign. But giving them autonomy over which parts of the process they want to take ownership of will get you stellar results. Trying to control a creative person will only make them lose passion and accountability.

As a manager, you’ll work best with a creative person if you’re able to trust them. They might not work exactly how you expect them to, but trust that they will deliver when the time comes. On your end, think less about managing them and more about enabling. You can do this by asking them about roadblocks they’re facing and how you can help remove them. Don’t just be the person who sets deadlines and assigns tasks.

A lot of companies try to micromanage their creative teams, but this isn’t helpful. If you assign specific tasks and define how work needs to be done, the projects you work on will end up looking very similar to each other.

Instead, ask questions. Ask how you can help a creative person with their process rather than telling them what needs to be done. Don’t be afraid to challenge creative people either. Don’t give them solutions, give them problems that need to be grappled with. Give them the space to figure out creative solutions.

“If you hire smart and creative people and tell them what to do, it’s a waste. Instead, give them a problem to solve. The most unexpected ideas are born as a result.”

Freedom to Create

So you have a project that needs input from your creative team. How do you get started? One common misstep that managers make is to set too many rules from the get go. From the briefing stage, you’re already giving your creative people very rigid guidelines of what, how, and when things need to get done. All of this is a big no. The more guidelines you have in place, the more difficult it is for your creative teams to do what they’re best at – be creative.

As a manager, you shouldn’t push a strategy that has been working for 10 years. If new ideas are suggested, be open to trying new things. It is up to you to encourage creative thinking, and you should certainly not be killing the experimental and dynamic mindset that creative people embody by saying, “I know how to do it, follow my lead.”.

It’s more constructive to approach your creative team with a problem and give them the freedom to explore possibilities. You might be surprised by the ideas they come up with! On your end, be open to following them on their creative journey. You may have expected a TV ad that adheres to your media plan, but they might come up with a social media ad that you had not considered. Being open will allow you to work better with creative people.

You will also get brownie points if you’re open to giving creative people a much-needed break from monotony. If you find a creative person not working at their best, why not ask them if they’d like a change. This could be a change in environment or a different project to work on.

Buddy Up

When you’re assigning people to work on tasks, it is important to play to your teammates’ strengths. For example, you may have someone on your team who is very conceptual and always coming up with great ideas. However, these ideas aren’t always feasible given the timeline or budget you have. Such a person would pair well with someone who is realistic and analytical, someone who will bring them out of their heads and back to earth.

Similarly, you’ll need to balance creative people with technical people and project managers. Have a good mix of dreamers and doers to make your business unit work. So you should pair your designers and producers with the people who actually translate their work into a product or campaign. They’ll help put the checks in place for your creative teammates.

In actuality, sales people actually work very well with creative people. They’re usually organised, process driven, and are thinking about how an idea would be executed in the real world.

On the other hand, keep your creative teammates away from people who need to control everything. These are the types of people who want to know that things are going to work for sure, and have an opinion on how things should be done – down to the minute details. This is a recipe for conflict, and your creatives understandably aren’t going to be happy about working with such personalities.

Room for Error

Always create an environment that is accepting of mistakes. Creative people are always trying to do new things, and not all of them will work out the way you hope they will. You don’t want to be stifling this experimental energy in your creative people by coming down harshly when mistakes happen.

Look at the way banks, schools, or hospitals are run. They know what needs to be done, and largely, the protocol is just to keep doing things the way they’ve always been done. They also hire people who are very good at following these protocols. These industries tend to kill creativity slowly, because they don’t welcome new ways of doing things. Everything is driven by results. This will change slowly.

“If all employees need to do is follow the guidelines, they could easily be replaced by machines or robots in the near future. The ones who survive are going to be the creative ones, who can put a new spin on the status quo.”

Creative Procrastination

One thing to be wary of is that creative people will need to take time off from work. That’s perfectly fine, and you should support their decision. However, you might find that during their time off, creative people really disconnect from the work. And it’s important that you fully allow them to disconnect and take a real break before coming back to work. Don’t try to give them bits and pieces to work on while they’re away. The more work they are tasked with, the less they will be inclined to actually finishing it. That’s dangerous.

Of course, this is a generalisation and it depends largely on the individual. I have noticed that creative people are most productive when they are working simultaneously on a few projects at once. Tight deadlines also help productivity. When a creative person is given too much time, the perfectionist in them might awaken, and they’ll want to push deadlines even more.

It’s a classic case of creative procrastination, where you’re not creating but just soaking up new ideas and learning new things. At some point, you’ll need to stop doing that and figure out how to apply those ideas into the business.

So if you give a creative person too much time, you’ll find that they lose interest in working. The allure of creative procrastination will have made returning to work quite a chore. That’s when you start seeing issues with performance. As a manager, you just need to be wary of the deadlines you assign. Know that if a creative person needs time off, they’ll approach you for it. You don’t necessarily need to be the one creating that space for them.

Deadlines are paramount to working with creative people. They’ll always try to add elements to their output to make it better, and will continue to do this until you effectively force them to stop. A deadline is a great way to establish the end point they need. In any case, most creatives actually start executing closer to the deadline. A longer deadline just means that they have a longer period of time to think about the project.

Ultimately, you have to have a balance. Don’t set too many guidelines, but set a few that are important to the business. Let them know what is expected of them by setting clear directives and goals. But balance that out with autonomy and flexibility.

Ongoing Reviews

Look at revamping how you review your process when you work with creative people. Don’t say, “I need to see the finished work by tomorrow”, but instead ask to see what progress they’ve made. During these review sessions, throw around some of your own ideas and encourage them to do the same. Talk through why an idea would potentially work or flop. If an idea is bad, don’t feel bad to disagree.

The point is that you’re constantly challenging your creative people, because that’s what usually stimulates them. Constantly asking why will give you a sense of how they’re thinking through the problem. You’ll also find that with each of these review sessions, your creative teammate is coming back with developed responses, and work that is tightly packaged.

As a manager, you should be intentional about setting these short review meetings before the final deadline. You’re helping your creative people further think through their work, but also making sure that their output is serving its purpose and adding value to the business.

A Fine Balance

Now, what if you task a creative person with something they’re not entirely comfortable doing? You’ll sometimes hear creative people saying, “I’m creative, how do you expect me to understand an Excel sheet?”. Or, they could just dislike targets. That’s how conflict usually happens. You’ll find the creative person may postpone these tasks, or apply themselves creatively to find ways to get the work done by someone else. As a manager, you’ll need to have empathy towards them as you push them out of their comfort zone.

When you task a creative person with work that’s outside their comfort zone, don’t be aggressive or forceful about it. Rather, explain to them how their actual work will benefit from these additional skills, and show them how it can be made enjoyable. Acknowledge their discomfort, but also highlight the importance of learning new skills.

I came from a background in digital creative agencies. When I joined Facebook, I found that 50% of my role was business related. I had to run point on strategy and business plans that align with the country, decide how to grow the platform in each market, and drive product adoption. I also had to prioritise clients and manage people. While all of this is not necessarily creative work, I realised the impact I could have on the creative work that was done on the platform. That’s where I saw value and felt a sense of fulfillment.

That said, striking a balance is important. If my business responsibilities took up 100% of my time, I wouldn’t enjoy my work. But since I know that 50% of my time will be spent applying myself creatively, and the other 50% is spent aligning with the business, I feel much more empowered and engaged.

So when you’re managing creative people, highlight to them how doing the not-so-creative work is going to benefit the quality of their output in the long run, and they’d be able to better understand how their work adds value.

1. Accept Differences

The next time a creative person executes a task in a way you aren’t comfortable with, don’t shut them down. Instead, try to appreciate the new perspective, and be open to what can come of it.

2. Set Clear Expectations

Set clear deadlines, expectations, and goals, but don’t tell a creative team how to reach them. Challenge and question them along the way, but don’t enforce your way of doing things.

3. Allow Space to Have Fun

Get out of your comfort zone. With a creative person, approach their ideas with a sense of curiosity and fun. Don’t simply stick to the status quo, or the way things have always been done.