Creative Reaction

An excellent post at Harvard Business Publishing discusses how the best leaders are especially prone to burning out and slipping into behaviors that are counter-productive. Fortunately the intent of the article is to prevent this from happening. What is required are four daily habits that the author equates in importance with eating and sleeping. (You’re eating and sleeping, right?)

1. Listen to life’s quiet wake-up calls.
2. Practice mindfulness. (Paying attention to your mind, body, heart and spirit by finding a few minutes of quiet time alone each day.)
3. Find hope, which actually helps us to counter the negative effects of life’s pressures and burdens.
4. Practice Compassion. There are always people close to us whom you can help (if you are paying attention).

Leaders/managers/bosses have a dramatic impact on the lives of almost everyone they encounter, for good or for bad. Recommended reading!

A few days after I posted about creative spaces and This Ain’t No Disco, I came across this Behance Magazine article, where Ian McCallam, the creator of This Ain’t No Disco is interviewed. Ian shares a number of excellent ways to be both productive and creative in a business setting. They include:

• Meetings where members have only 40 seconds to make their point.
• Chair-back signs to indicate frame of mind; “don’t disturb” or “inspire me”.
• Completely clearing desks each month to minimize clutter.

He also talks about actively giving and receiving feedback on ideas, “The more inspiration and ideas you put out there, the more you get back.”

A worthwhile read, though you have to dig a bit to get to the good stuff.

This Ain’t No Disco is the ad agency counterpart to On My Desk, which we mentioned last week.

“This Ain’t No Disco is a portfolio of some of the best agency interiors in the world,” according to the blog’s description. Read The Perfectly-Designed Office first to gain some perspective. Let’s hope the best interiors inspire the best work!

As a quick follow up to today’s earlier post, Designing Your Optimal Creative Environment, I’m linking to the CreativityLab, designed by Paul Williams of IdeaSandbox. Within Starbucks headquarters, “this once drab conference room, filled with corporate-stock chairs and boardroom style table, is now a 336 square foot haven for brainstorming, problem solving and thinking. The room can hold up to 15 people comfortably - and all the ideas anyone can think of.”

While not for the IKEA-averse, this room is certainly designed to stimulate the senses. The linked blog post includes a description of the room, the philosophy behind it, several photos, and floor plans. Whether you love the space or hate it, it will definitely cause you to think.

There is no formula for a creative environment. What works for some people, would inhibit others. What works for some people under certain circumstances may not work under different circumstances, depending on the weather, mood, and other factors. Some creatives have more than one creative setting for just this reason. 

Innovative Space Exploration: Designing Your Optimal Creative Environment is an excellent essay to help you answer for yourself, “Where do I get my best ideas?” and then create one or more environments to help you do just that. (You’ll have to look past the bad, early 90’s web page design, though it’s worth it.)

Of course, managers and owners have a much bigger challenge as they have several or dozens of creatives to accommodate. You may want to look at earlier posts here, or here, or here.

I recently came across On My Desk: Creative folks share the stuff on their desks, which CR readers will likely enjoy. It’s not about desks, per se, as it’s actually more about studios/work environments. Several artists have posted photos of the inspirational environments which they’ve created. 

Interestingly, all of the photos demonstrate artists with strong organizational skills. Is there a connection between order and creativity? Perhaps the messier artists are simply too embarrassed to submit photos. Draw your own conclusions.

In an NYT article entitled Even the Giants Can Learn to Think Small (free subscription required - don’t bother) we see another nail in the coffin of the “if you’re not growing, you’re dying” mantra.

Part of the “thinking smaller” movement is a desire to provide better service through personalization, and part of it is the need to be leaner in an increasingly global marketplace. In the Times article, Professor Thomas W. Malone of MIT’s Sloan School of Management offers another reason - employees’ “noneconomic goals” like freedom, personal satisfaction and fulfillment. “How much energy and creativity might be unlocked if all the members of an organization felt in control?” he asks. Thinking back, this ties in perfectly to other times we’ve mentioned globalization making good talent harder to attract and keep.

Being smaller and agile has competitive advantages as well; companies as a whole tend to be more entrepreneurial. Philip Rosedale, founder and chairman of Linden Lab (Second Life), says optimizing a company for creativity involves helping all employees regardless of position develop an entrepreneurial spirit. “Most companies erroneously focus on competition and on differentiation from their competitors…the business opportunity lies in turning creativity into productivity.” And as most entrepreneurs know, ideas are worthless unless they are executed.

(If you do read the article, you may pick up on some similarities between Linden Lab’s and Pixar’s philosophies. And if have a really good memory, you’ll remember some similar posts on company and team size here, here, and here)

So, focus on fostering a collaborative, entrepreneurial spirit company-wide, and not growth for the sake of growth, for your business’ success.

Wow. I stumbled across this amazing post, The Perfectly Designed Office, which discusses designed-to-impress ad agency offices and which is a must-read. (I’m somewhat embarrassed that I haven’t come across Leland Maschmeyer’s writing/blogging until today, though it’s safe to say I’ll be following his blog closely from now on.)

The Perfectly Designed Office drops a bombshell of a question, “should an office’s architecture communicate creativity or foster it?” then answers, “I think we’d all say ‘foster,’ but I don’t think these pristine offices do that.” Such offices are “not all that effective in generating creative thinking”, he writes, then provides four reasons why he thinks this way. Clearly not the type of person to merely observe and complain, he then offers a series of seven solutions. I’m intentionally not summarizing his points - read the article - though I will include a few quotes. “I think an agency should not look at its office as a place: it should look at it as a tool.” “After all, clients hire agencies for their thinking - not their architecture.”

While all of this is squarely aimed at advertising agencies, it is fodder for any creative or innovative business.

In another post, Maschmeyer provides a quote from another web essay, which I’ll both leave you with and use to segue into my next post:

“Clients who value your designs are good. Clients who also value your design process are better.”

Second Wind has an article this week on collaborative workspaces within ad agencies designed specifically for brainstorming, which apparently some have dubbed “think pods”. 

“They needn’t be small enclosed cubbyholes; you simply need to carve out a corner where thinkers can retreat”, says the writer. “Help your creatives think by offering them objects, music and images that create visual, tactile, aural, olfactory and taste sensations” and then describes in great detail what these items might be. Read it yourself. For some reason it reminds me of a movie star’s green room requirements.

Personally, I’d like to see a set of Oblique Strategy cards included as well. What else should be included?

On The Official Google Blog last week, there was a post entitled Our Googley advice to students: Major in learning, where Google outlined what it looks for in its employees. (The post was written by Jonathan Rosenberg, Senior VP, Product Management.)

I found this line intriguing; “At the highest level, we are looking for non-routine problem-solving skills. We expect applicants to be able to solve routine problems as a matter of course. After all, that’s what most education is concerned with.” (Emphasis mine.) In other words, Rosenberg is saying that Google is looking for problem solving skills beyond what most education provides.

After reading the ChangeThis manifesto Turning Learning Right Side Up I imagine its authors would agree; “traditional education is about teaching, not learning” they say. 

Both Google’s blog post and the Turning Learning manifesto dovetail nicely; Rosenberg’s post is about the lifelong process of learning, and not simply earning a degree; “keep on challenging yourself, because learning doesn’t end with graduation… success is inexorably determined by the lessons you glean from the free market. Learning, it turns out, is a lifelong major.”

(I won’t summarize the manifesto’s content. I’ll only say that after reading it, managers will realize they will need to focus their training on the educational system’s gaps!)

So finally, what is Google looking for aside from problem-solving skills?

1. communication skills
2. a willingness to experiment
3. team players, and
4. passion and leadership.

I would argue that the very same skills should be sought by every creative company; after all, being creative within a business setting is largely about working within numerous constraints.

This boston.com article largely covers ground we’ve covered here at CR before, even quoting a few experts we’ve already mentioned; yet we need to remind ourselves and our employees that constant interruptions by e-mail, IM, meetings, conference calls and text messages get in the way of getting actual work done.

According to the article, “workers get an average 156 e-mails a day… they switch tasks every three minutes on average… spending more than a quarter of the workday… dealing with interruptions and their needed recovery time”

Furthermore, “there’s a strong connection between trying to do lots of different things at the same time, and feeling overwhelmed,” says Ellen Galinsky, of the Families and Work Institute. There’s no need to explain that constant interruptions are stressful, and therefore unhealthy.

Are we fostering creativity in our workplaces? We need to allow ourselves and others to disconnect for blocks of time to do what we are paid to do, especially if that means being creative.

A follow up on Stephen Shapiro, an author and keynote speaker who while in Asia had his BlackBerry stolen and whom I wrote about on Tuesday. In a post today, he describes his newfound freedom. He checks his e-mail once or twice a day, and leaves the cheap cell phone he bought behind when he goes out. “I’m getting more work done in less time, because I can stay focused on the task at hand, rather than reading and responding to emails every 5 seconds.” Freedom indeed.

Author and keynote speaker Stephen Shapiro had his BlackBerry stolen in Malaysia at the beginning of a three week trip and has been detailing his “withdrawal”. In Stay Connected by Disconnecting he explains the difficulties involved and in CrackBerry Addiction he has had 24 hours to contemplate his dilemma, and decided that periods of “disconnection” are healthy, as they “should improve your productivity, increase your ability to stay focused, enhance your relationships, and reduce your stress”.

Really, you should think before any form of communication, as to whether it’s the best way to convey your message, though Voice Mail has its own particular challenges. Increasingly, many people are avoiding it altogether, especially in corporate settings, as Michael Arrington explains in Think Before You Voicemail. In fact, he declares it DEAD. (Definitely worth reading.)

The biggest issues are Voice Mail’s “linear” nature (unless your have an iPhone) and that it is simply not part of most people’s workflows - it’s easy for Voice Mail messages to fall though the cracks.

A while back, I found some tips on how to leave a perfect Voice Mail message:

1. State your name & company.

2. State your phone number s-l-o-w-l-y.

3. State the date & time (& time zone if different).

4. Make your point across in one sentence.

5. Indicate if the call needs to be returned. If it’s an FYI, say so.

6. Explain when you are available for a callback.

7. Phone number s-l-o-w-l-y again.

8. Consider leaving your e-mail address. If you do, spell it slowly, especially if it does not contain your name.

Considering all the necessary information needed to make Voice Mail work, you’ll have to weigh its efficiency, or lack thereof, for yourself. Most of this information is built into or is simply unnecessary if you instead choose to use e-mail.

In September ‘07 I blogged about which technology is best for various communication needs, which linked to this excellent article. Perhaps today is a good time to review it.

A few days ago in Workweek Creep, I made the statement that “having evenings and weekends to spend time with our friends and loved ones, and to take care of our responsibilities is what’s best for all and what’s best for our businesses” and HR World, substantiates that statement for me. “Studies have shown that too much work can lead to a variety of stress-related illnesses that sap workers’ vitality, making them more prone to errors on the job, absenteeism, burnout and turnover.” 16 Ways to Encourage Work/Life Balance in Employees offers advice to help us keep our employees happy, healthy and productive.

While all of the tips are worthwhile, I’m sure they listed this one first for a reason: “Management support for work/life balance is critical, and it must come from the top. Too often, the perception that hard work is the only way to rise in a company keeps employees at the grindstone, working themselves into illness. Top executives can set examples of good work/life balances”.

Read the rest for yourselves, and see if there’s something you could implement to better the lives of your employees.