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The Joys And Perils Of Working With Creatives

Forbes Coaches Council

Abe Brown is passionate about supporting flourishing in people and organizations. He is the founder & CEO of Certified Flourishing Coaching.

Creativity is a crucial skill because creative people are often willing to go against the status quo in their industry and are quick to pivot and create innovative solutions. However, working with creatives can come with its own set of challenges.

As my own team has grown, I have found stark differences in how self-identified “creatives” and “analytical” employees work and relate with one another. While creatives tend to think big and enjoy coming up with new solutions, they often fall short on execution. On the other hand, analytical workers get the details and the job done, but they tend to stay inside the box.

The Creative Conundrum

Within a team, creatives can have a strong affinity toward other creatives, which unintentionally comes across as exclusionary toward those who aren’t. Creatives are passionate about their ideas and their strong opinions can diminish an openness to feedback. Despite all of this, the future belongs to those who think creatively, solve problems and come up with new solutions.

According to the World Economic Forum, creativity was ranked the No. 10 skill needed in the workplace in 2015 but moved all the way up to No. 3 in 2020.

A Different Way Of Relating

In my company, there is an employee who we’ll call Sara. Sara works in a creative managerial role. She’s highly talented, ambitious and deeply skilled. One day she said to me, “I want to do my best and produce the results that you need, but I need you to adapt to the new process that I’m implementing.” In that moment I had a simple choice: Seek to enforce a power dynamic that gave me positional authority or adapt to her creative strategy and believe she would produce results.

The most effective leaders first lean into strengths and then look at opportunities. Working with creatives has elevated my life and empowered my leadership in more ways than I can describe. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. The big picture matters. Help the creatives on your team not view their work as an 8-to-5 grind, but as a place where true innovation and transformation can occur. Creatives need to see and understand the big picture as it helps their performance. If a team member is not performing, it might be because they can’t see what you see.

2. Small steps matter too. As much as creatives are big-picture thinkers, for some, the big picture can be too much. Fixating on the big picture can lead some to a sense of overwhelm. Take the time to break the big picture down into small steps. Some can struggle to see how small steps today can lead to the fulfillment of the big picture tomorrow.

3. Offer regular support. Creatives can come across as self-reliant, however, don’t be completely fooled by appearances. Simple and cost-free practices such as regular check-ins, scheduled one-on-ones and open forums for conversation and feedback will help. Leaders can act as a limiting ceiling or a supportive floor. Can you guess which one creatives prefer?

4. Practice light micromanagement. Though creatives like heavy support, most dislike heavy micromanagement. What’s the difference? Support tends to be emotional, logical and practical, with resources and active engagement high on the list. Micromanagement tends to be hierarchical, impractical and controlling with a heavy emphasis on policy and procedure. Be heavy on support while light on micromanagement.

5. Put people first. One thing that seems to unite most creatives is a people-first philosophy. They tend to thrive when they know that what they’re doing will benefit people and make a difference in the lives of others. I have often pleasantly discovered a connection between the productivity of creatives and their perception that a project or task is putting people first. If a creative is light on production, it could be because the project is light on people benefit. When creatives see the benefits to people, it aligns with the innovative parts of their brains and brings out their best.

6. Have fun! As much as possible, keep it fun. According to research compiled by Harvard Business Review, introducing fun into a work environment has a positive impact on engagement, creativity, purpose and retention. Like Kobe Bryant said, “Have a good time, enjoy life. Life is too short to get bogged down or be discouraged. You have to keep moving, you have to keep going. Put one foot in front of the other and keep on rolling.”

In the end, most creatives are just like you and me. They want to see the big picture, take small steps, be well supported and not micromanaged, put people first and have fun. Consider adopting these approaches when working with creatives to see the benefits.


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