Businesses large and small are focused on creativity and innovation to stay relevant and lead their field.
For those who aren’t creating, they feel they are falling behind.
Companywide goals are set. Yet many individuals and teams struggle to find space for creative thinking in between all the required day-to-day deliverables.
In listening to a meditation, there was a quote that really stuck with me.
“The mind is limitless to do anything. We hold it back with the clutter in our minds.”
– Headspace
My Perspective – Focused on the Wrong Goal
The quote got me thinking about the creativity challenge and wondering if the clutter in our minds is what is holding creativity back?
The clutter in our mind can take many forms:
- Stress over a full calendar.
- Nagging emails.
- Ruminating over a conversation that didn’t go well.
- Worrying about personal deliverables that are running behind.
As I continued to think about this, I started to wonder if companies are focused on the wrong goal.
What might happen if a company added a training goal to their creativity and innovation goal in their annual plans? What if they focused on understanding the types of mental clutter the team is dealing with and developed solutions to address? Ideas might include:
- Internal research to identify the types of clutter holding creativity back.
- Reviewing and shifting policies that might be adding to mental clutter.
- Training the team on strategies to cope with their specific types of mental clutter.
- Providing creativity workshops and spaces where the clutter is “checked at the door”.
The list of possible actions could go on. While this approach might seem counter-intuitive, my perspective is that teams might become more creative be treating the root cause of what is holding them back.
Creativity is a muscle. Training and practice are needed to make the muscle strong for both individuals and teams. Focusing on the training and process instead of the desired outcome could make all the difference for an organization.
Your Turn
Do you have mental clutter?
Does it get in the way of creativity?
Do you see this happening more broadly at your work?
What could you do to shift the focus?