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Creativity at work

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Creativity at work

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Content CREATIVITY AT WORK by Stephanie Pulido ______________________________________________________________________________ A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) May 2017 Copyright 2017 Stephanie Pulido 2 Dedication “Creativity takes courage.” Henri Matisse I want to thank my mom and dad for instilling within me the courage to fight for what I want in life with grace and hard work. Without them there would be no thesis and certainly no me. I also want to thank my sister and friends for being my biggest fans. I deeply appreciate you all so much, this thesis is for you. 3 Acknowledgment The idea for this thesis came to me during my last semester of college at the University of Alabama when I took a class on creativity by Dr. Glenn Griffin. I want to thank him for being hard on me and pushing me to expand my mind and acknowledge creativity is something everyone can achieve. This thesis is very much inspired by Dr. Griffin and everything I learned during my time at the University of Alabama. I would like to give a special thanks to my professors Fred Cook and Ellen-Linnea Dipprey for allowing me to pick their brilliant brains. Without their expert opinion and advice throughout this process this thesis truly would never have come to fruition. Lastly, I would like to thank Jennifer Floto and Matthew LeVeque for not only chairing my committee but for always keeping an open door. Knowing I was always welcome to pop into their office for a quick chat was a huge comfort throughout the writing process. None of this would have been possible without any of you and for that you all deserve infinite praise. 4 Table of Contents Cover Page 1 Dedication 2 Acknowledgment 3 Table of Contents 4 List of Figures 5 Abstract 7 Chapter One: Creativity Defined 8 Chapter Two: Creativity is a Process 17 Chapter Three: Creativity in the Workplace 28 Chapter Four: Creativity at Work - Case Studies 47 Chapter Five: Creativity and How it is Perceived 55 Chapter Six: Analysis and Conclusion 62 Endnotes 65 Bibliography 67 5 List of Figures Figure 1: Adobe’s Infographic for the Global Creativity Gap Study 12 Figure 2: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 13 Figure 3: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 13 Figure 4: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 14 Figure 5: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 14 Figure 6: Starbursting map 16 Figure 7: Fred Cook, CEO of Golin 22 Figure 8: Ellen-Linnea Dipprey, Professor at USC 24 Figure 9: The authors creative process illustrated 27 Figure 10: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 29 Figure: 11: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 30 Figure 12: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 30 Figure 13: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 32 Figure 14: Chart from study conducted by IBM 33 Figure 15: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 35 Figure 16: Interior of Golin’s office in Dallas 36 Figure 17: Interior of Golin’s office in Dallas 37 Figure 18: Interior of Edelman’s office in D.C. 37 Figure 19: Interior of Edelman’s office in D.C. 37 Figure 20: Interior of Porter Novelli in Atlanta 37 Figure 21: Interior of Porter Novelli in Atlanta 38 Figure 22: Interior of David & Goliath in LA 38 6 Figure 23: Interior of David & Goliath in LA 38 Figure 24: Interior of Weber Shandwick in NYC 38 Figure 25: Interior of Weber Shandwick in NYC 39 Figure 26: Interior of Ogilvy & Mather in China 39 Figure 27: Interior of MSL Group in the Netherlands 39 Figure 28: Interior of Mother in London 40 Figure 29: Interior of Mother in London 40 Figure 30: Interior of Create & Cultivate in LA 40 Figure 31: Interior of Wieden + Kennedy in Portland 41 Figure 32: Interior of Wieden + Kennedy in Portland 41 Figure 33: “Enhancing the creativity of the physical workspace” graph provided by Harvard Business Press 46 7 Abstract Big ideas are what fuel innovation within our society. However, big ideas need to be nurtured into maturity to bring forth their impact on culture, technology, individuals, etc. The birth of these ideas stems from a spark of creativity cultivated to a flame. All of which begins with an individual or perhaps a team, but the success of the idea triumphs or fails based on the encouragement of creativity within the workplace. The focus of this paper is essentially what does it mean to be encouraged and stimulated within a working environment that acts to foster creativity. I will define creativity and hopefully inspire reader to know and understand that everyone is creative and every working environment should operate on the premise that all employees are creative. This thesis also aims to provide insights as to how to become a more creative being and ignite creativity on your own terms in a working environment. The goal of this paper is to ultimately chip away at the notion that there is this divide between those who are creative and those who are not. I want it to become the status quo that every working environment actively attempts to foster creativity and continually supports and motivates employees to think differently. 8 Chapter One: Creativity Defined “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!” Dr. Seuss If I were to ask you to define yourself in three words what would they be? Would your first word be creative? Would using the word creative to describe yourself even cross your mind? We are often plagued with this question during job interviews and find ourselves mentally scrambling to come up with the best three words to describe who we are in a professional setting. These words are often curated towards what we think our prospective employer wants to hear, but what if they want to hear us describe ourselves as creative? In an article written for USA Today, Andrea Kay stresses that what employers really value is creative thinking and those who are able to identify themselves as creative.1 But what does it actually mean to be creative when you have never considered yourself to be artistically inclined? Creativity is defined as the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns and relationships to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods and interpretations.2 This definition is all encompassing, which makes it applicable to all of us. Meaning we all have the potential to be recognized as highly creative individuals. Yet creativity continues to be viewed as a skill only artistic individuals are capable of fostering. This misconception is rooted in history due to prevailing notions that creativity is something you are born with or that comes to you in moments of inspiration but cannot be cultivated or called upon when needed. 9 Plato attributes mankind’s artistic creations to nine goddesses known as the Muses. These goddesses would visit mortals and act as a source of inspiration for their creative enterprises.3 However, according to Plato, humans were not capable of creativity on their own accord. The idea that creativity stems from an out-of-body experience continued to prevail even several hundred years later when Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book and other key titles, proclaimed that his works were an act of a “daemon” living in his pen and not a product of his own being.4 “When your Daemon is in charge, do not try to think consciously. Drift, wait, and obey.” Rudyard Kipling What we continue to see time and time again is this projection that creativity is an exclusively artistic endeavor. The artists of the world are constantly being told their ideas are unique and original because they are perceived as being creative in the traditional sense of the word. Those of us who do not share a way of expressing ourselves through traditionally artistic outlets feel less comfortable taking on the role as a creative and thus have to work much harder entering a creative mindset. What further complicates the matter of creativity is that it is so hard to study because it does not exist in the physical realm but rather entirely in one’s mind. Technology is not yet advanced enough to understand the inner workings of the human mind at this level, which makes it difficult to reach a universal agreement of what defines creativity. However, despite lack of quantitative data to study, research on the subject of creativity does exist. Frank Barron, a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz, studied creative psychology in the 1950’s and 1960’s to gain a better understanding of what characteristics pertained to truly creative individuals. He invited leading thinkers and creators in numerous 10 industries such as architecture, mathematics and science to live in a former frat house on the University of California at Berkeley’s campus for a short period of time. These individuals spent their time within the confines of this house being interviewed extensively, completing evaluations of their work and personality -- all while being observed by researchers. What Barron discovered was that the personal traits most creative individuals seemed to share were:5 • Non-conformity • Inherent risk taking • Preference for ambiguity and complexity • Independence • Introspective These insights provide society with a foundation for recognizing creativity and solidified the creative process as unique and personal to each individual. It also acted as a framework for the creation and implementation of the Torrance Test in the late 1950’s, which tests for creativity. E. Paul Torrance designed the test to be a 90-minute series of discrete tasks administered by a psychologist.6 The test has since been used on a yearly basis to measure the creative levels of not only individuals within the United States but those from other countries, as well to act as a benchmark to understand where the United States stands comparatively. Traditionally, citizens of the United States have always viewed their country as highly imaginative and at the forefront of innovation. However, research shows that the United States has been facing a creativity crisis since 2010. In a Newsweek article titled The Creativity Crisis, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman tackle this issue head on. They explain that since 1958 when the Torrance Test was first created to measure creativity within elementary school children our 11 scores as a country have been on the rise. It was not until 2010 that we began to see for the first time ever our creativity test scores as a country decline. There is no conclusive reason why creativity scores are declining but some believe it is because children are spending more time doing mind-numbing activities like watching television or playing video games as opposed to engaging in creative activities like playing outside. Another factor could be the lack of development geared towards fostering creative thinking in our school system, which places a strong emphasis on art bias -- meaning creativity is reserved strictly for the arts and taken out of everyday practice within the classroom. Jonathan Plucker, a researcher on creativity from Indiana University toured schools throughout China and was amazed by their emphasis on idea generation and encouragement of children to take unorthodox approaches to problem solving. When asked by Chinese academic officials what the trends were in the United States school system Plucker spoke of standardized curriculums, memorization and nationalized testing. These officials laughed at Plucker’s response and told him that the United States was racing towards their old academic model.7 From a global standpoint creativity is seen as a key component in promoting economic and societal growth, yet less than half of the individuals surveyed in a study conducted by Adobe in 2012 titled State of Create Study: global benchmark study on attitudes and beliefs about creativity at work, school and home believe they are creative.8 The study surveyed 1,000 individuals from five different countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan to identify the attitudes and beliefs from their countries in regards to creativity. The image below highlights some of the insights the study was able to uncover. 12 Figure 1: Adobe’s Infographic for the Global Creativity Gap Study 13 The survey found that there is universal concern that the educational system in place within every country is stifling creativity. Individuals also felt there is more pressure within the workplace to be productive as opposed to creative. Japan as a whole was deemed the most creative country; however, the Japanese don’t view themselves to be the most creative. Americans on the other hand believe the United States is the most creative country, but expressed strong concern that the country as a whole is not living up to its creative potential. Only 1 in 4 people feel they are living up to their creative potential. Figure 2: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study The workplace promotes productivity over creativity which makes individuals feel they are not living up to their creative potential. Figure 3: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 14 Individuals feel they are increasingly being asked to think more creatively at work. Figure 4: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study Our education system currently is not conducive to fostering creativity. Figure 5: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study If our ability to be creative is being stifled from a young age in an academic setting, which lays the foundation for how we conduct and perceive our future selves in a professional setting. It really should not come as a surprise that creativity in the workplace is not something that comes natural to most employees. Our structured working environments are a direct product of what we have grown accustomed to from a very young age within the classroom. Instead of learning about our creative process as children and spending the rest of our developing years fine-tuning it so that by the time we are ready to enter the job market we feel 15 empowered by our creativity. We are instead spending time as adults re-teaching ourselves metacognitive skills to elicit our creative process that came so naturally to us as children. As we seek to define our creative process as adults we are bombarded by countless articles and books promising to teach us how to be more creative or how to even become creative. The truth of the matter is that creativity is really a lifestyle that cannot simply be turned on or off when needed for special circumstances. This includes the energy you bring to your workplace, which is an integral part to your creative lifestyle and should reflect what works best for your creative process. Before we move forward to gain a better understanding on how creativity functions in the workplace let’s take a moment to reflect on an exercise intended to provide clarity when we are faced with a new idea. This activity is referred to as starbursting and in this case the new idea is creativity as a lifestyle.9 Step 1: Take a sheet of paper and write “creativity as a lifestyle” in the middle. From there draw six points so that the phrase in the middle looks like it is surrounded by a star. Step 2: Write the words: who, what, where, when, why and how at the tip of each point of the star. Step 3: Instead of answering the six points like questions, do the opposite and instead come up with as many questions as you can for each point. For example: under “what” you can ask yourself: What is creativity? What is a lifestyle? What does it mean to have a creative lifestyle? What kind of person has a creative lifestyle? What kind of job does this person have? 16 Step 4: Reflect on your questions and see if you already know the answer to some of them or if there are any that stand out to you significantly that you would like to have answered. You can do this activity with virtually any question or idea but for our intents and purposes we are starting off with this activity so we can begin to get our minds thinking laterally. Figure 6: Starbursting map 17 Chapter Two: Creativity is a Process “If you stop your creative process every time you think you need to cheer yourself up, or rid yourself of emotional conflicts, your life will be over before you can create anything of any real significance.” Robert Fritz What is your creative process? This question seems simple enough but have you honestly sat down and really thought about it? I mean really thought about it to the point you could logically construct a sequence of mental and physical acts that put you in a creative mindset. Furthermore, your creative process needs to be so clear to you that if asked, you could articulate it to another individual like you would instructions. Everyone, whether they are conscious of it or not, has a creative process that is unique and personal to them. These creative processes are described to us in many different ways: -Being in the zone -Experiencing flow -Surrendering all mental striving And, of course, there’s the dreaded, overused “thinking outside of the box.” Regardless of your creative process the outcome is the same, creativity. The kicker here lies in the fact that even though there are parts of the creative process we may share with others, for the most part it is highly personal and fluid. Your creative process may vary situationally depending on the domain you are working within to optimize your ability to think things through. It may also be a product of your subconscious, which means you must shift your way of thinking to become aware of what works for you. 18 The most conclusive theory to define the creative process in structured terms is by Graham Wallas, a British political scientist and sociologist. In his book, The Art of Thought (1926), Wallas outlines the four stages of the creative process based on his own observations and the knowledgeable accounts of some of the world’s greatest minds. Wallas’s process is defined as10: Preparation “The problem to be solved is carefully considered and resources are gathered in order to confront the task. The conscious mind is focused on the problem” (Griffin and Morrison 7). Incubation “Drawing upon these resources, consideration of the problem is internalized and becomes a largely subconscious activity. The mind makes connections more freely and abundantly” (Griffin and Morrison 7). Illumination “Possible solutions to the problem transition from subconscious to conscious thought. This is a moment of insight and optimism” (Griffin and Morrison 7). Verification “Solutions are tested and may be applied if shown to be viable” (Griffin and Morrison 7). However, any of the stages can be revisited if there is no verification in regards to the problem the first time around. Wallas’s Four-Stage Process Model is a highly accepted proposal to describe how the creative process works for most individuals. It provides structured steps to understand an 19 otherwise fluid process. The Four-Stage Process Model can thus be interpreted as a foundation of sorts to build upon so that we may understand other ways of describing the creative process. We often refer to our most optimal level of productivity as “being in the zone.” As we enter our zone our subconscious kicks in and leaves us in a state of flow. Flow, which is interchangeably referred to as being in the zone was first coined by renowned psychologist and national best-selling author, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who defines flow as: “The state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great costs, for the sheer sake of doing it” (Csikszentmihalyi 4).11 In essence, flow is the feeling of being so in the zone we lose track of ourselves and enter a state of euphoria where we experience a heightened spirit of creativity and feel we are our most creative self. This ties back to the incubation period in Wallas’s Four-Stage Process Model when we let go of mental striving and enter a state of flow to come up with solutions and connections subconsciously. Csikszentmihalyi lists the key identifiers to achieve a state of flow as the following12: -Setting up clear goals for yourself every step of the way. -Receiving immediate feedback from your actions. -Finding a balance between the challenges you face and your skills. -Merging action and awareness together. -Distractions are excluded from consciousness. -Elimination of worry of failure. -Self-consciousness disappears. 20 -Your sense of time becomes distorted. -The activity becomes an end in itself because you are completely in the present. Experiencing flow during your creative process is what allows you to fully immerse yourself in a task. This complete absorption indicates that you are no longer aware of yourself and thus able to completely throw yourself into the task you are engaged in without a sense of ego or state of consciousness to hinder you. As part of our creative process there comes a time where we need to drop mental striving and surrender to active thinking. But to surrender we must trust that creativity is possible from within, it is with this confidence that we can move forward with our process. Professor’s Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers created a famed course on Creativity in Business at Stanford University. In this course business students are taught how to tap into their creative essence by surrendering. They believe that surrendering can be achieved through four general pathways: -Drop mental striving -Apply yourself to a task -Maintain a spirit of inquiry -Acknowledge that you do not know how things are going to turn out The ability to surrender is a crucial part of everyone’s creative process. As Ray and Myer state in their text Creativity in Business, “Devotion to a task at hand puts us into harmony with our 21 creative source. We dedicate ourselves to the work itself, not to a false personality” (Ray and Myer 31).13 The false personality being your own fear, personal judgment and the chattering of your mind, which inhibits you as an individual from accessing your creativity.14 Surrendering thus allows you to be intrinsically involved within the task at hand to achieve your highest level of creativity during the incubation period of the Four-Stage Process Model. However, when we think about creativity in relation to our creative process we do not think in terms of a Four-Stage Process Model, flow or surrendering. We think in terms of doing and feeling whatever feels right. Our creative process is something that comes natural to us without us thinking very long or hard about it. That is why when we are asked to describe our creative process most of us our dumfounded as to where to begin because the question itself is foreign to us. The author asked two highly creative individuals who are experts within their own respective fields to define their creative process so that one could try to understand the idiosyncratic nature of the creative process and how it relates to the workplace. The author has compiled their responses in a short biographical manner so that you can get to know them, and understand what works for them as highly-creative individuals. 22 Figure 7: Fred Cook, CEO of Golin Cook spent his early years completing a series of odd jobs that allowed him to travel the world and attain many life experiences during the process. He recently wrote a book highlighting his unusual career path to CEO in a book titled Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO and now brings his expertise to the classroom. Cook is a professor at the University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism and Director at its Center for Public Relations. What is your creative process? “I like brainstorming, I like creative sessions where a group of people are bouncing ideas off of each other. I love doing that and I could do that all day long because I like interacting with other people and sort of building off of each other’s ideas and sometimes that can happen in a very spontaneous way. I am not methodical in terms of I have to analyze all the data and I have to interview a thousand people I prefer things that are more spontaneous, more improvised. I do think of a lot of ideas when I am running. Sometimes when you are running for an hour or two you don’t have much to think about and you can go over things in your mind. You can come up with the spark of an idea and then refine it and develop it because you have all this time and no Fred Cook With over 30 years of experience within the public relations industry, Fred Cook the current CEO of Golin is accredited with the creation of Golin’s innovative g4 model that restructured the agency from generalists to communities of specialists. However, prior to joining Golin, 23 one is there to bother you. If you read a lot about the open workspace some people like to say that open offices provide a more creative environment, but some studies show that people create most great ideas when they are by themselves and have time to think and react. So, there are some people who don’t believe that an open environment is more creative it is just more distracting and keeps you from being able to think because there are more people interrupting you every five minutes. But I think interacting with other people is a great way to develop ideas and I like it when people bring me ideas that I can improve on. It’s not that you’re creating the idea from scratch but you can say, ‘Oh I think it can be better if you do this, that and the other.’” Insights from Fred Cook’s process Cook has the ability to work both communially and independently and reach the same level of creative output. He feels stimulated creatively conversing with others as well as by spending time alone thinking things through usually while running. His creative process is more internalized in the sense that he does not need to explicitly write anything or physically act anything out. He simply goes about his daily life and ideas are constantly coming to him because he himself believes in his creative abilities and process. Ultimately, he describes himself as an ideas man and as an ideas man he is constantly thinking of new ideas and new ways to do things differently no matter the situation or task at hand. 24 Figure 8: Ellen-Linnea Dipprey, Professor at USC What is your creative process? “I am very aware that gardening with my animals is where I come up with some of my very best ideas. I derive great analogies from nature about life and living, which I appreciate very much. I love the playfulness of my animals when I am out in my yard and the fresh air. The physical labor of working in your garden helps you focus your attention and be mindful and present. I am away from this constant churning of my world, so I feel very involved in a creative process when I am gardening. I always think that I paint with flowers, that I am solving problems all the time (in my garden) and so I see it as very much an expression of the creative process. I also think there is great meaning in beauty in our lives. I don’t quite yet know how, but I know I am creating beauty for myself and for other people that appreciate my garden and I think there is a lot of meaning in that (in regards to the creative process).” Insights from Ellen-Linnea Dipprey’s process Ellen-Linnea Dipprey As a Professor of Clinical Management Communication at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business Ellen-Linnea Dipprey is well versed in the realm of creativity and how it relates back to business. She has taught courses on critical thinking, creativity and managerial communication within Marshall for over 30 years, but prior to her tenure at USC she acted as a consultant for the university and did some screen writing for television shows such as Cheers. 25 Dipprey’s creative process stems from the act of physically working through her thoughts and in her case, that means gardening. She gets lost in thought and feels she is in a state of flow when she is alone in her garden with her animals focusing on the physicality of nurturing and admiring her plants. She attributes her ability to generate ideas and solve problems from the heightened sense of beauty she experiences in nature. This beauty acts as a stimulus to help her generate a clear open mind as she thinks things through. Dipprey’s creative process comes naturally to her as she goes about her daily; part of that routine is to garden. She feels the joy that goes along with working with your hands to create something and it is in that joy that she fosters creativity. Is there a formula for creativity? As we can see in the way Cook and Dipprey describe their creative processes they differ in how they are structured and the steps they follow to achieve creativity and produce ideas. Cook internalizes his creativity in the sense that he is constantly thinking of ideas both by himself and with others and appreciates the stimulation of brainstorming sessions. Whereas Dipprey feels best alone thinking things through as she physically works away at her garden surrounded by beauty and nature. Both individuals understand creativity in the purest sense of the word and how it functions. Yet their processes are completely different from one another because they themselves are completely different from one another. The creative process, as demonstrated by Cook and Dipprey, is not a cookie cutter formula that applies to everyone. Instead, it is a process that is highly idiosyncratic to each individual and requires a defined cognitive understanding of what works independently for each individual. 26 Are you visual or experiential? Do you need silence or noise? Do you want to be alone or with people? These are all questions you should be asking yourself to decipher what works best for your creative process. Your Creative Process: Exercise You now have a basic understanding of the structure a creative process might take on like that described by Graham Wallas or Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. But what about your creative process? These processes simply act as a foundation to build upon so that you may have a better understanding of the structured components that go into the creative process as a whole, but they by no means offer an end all be all formula for how your creative process might be described. With that being said please take the time to sit down and think through your creative process and what works for you. 1. Think about your creative process holistically and the steps you might take to achieve innovation, solve problems and generate ideas. 2. What works for you? Do you need to write your process down, illustrate it, physically act it out or can you simply visualize it? 3. How does time factor into this? Do you feel best working under deadline, procrastinating or having all the time in the world to do as you please? 4. What kind of environment works best for you? Is it right before you go to bed when everything is dark and quiet, in a crowded noisy coffee shop, when you’re doing a physical activity like surfing or out in nature, with others or alone? Below is a depiction of the author’s creative process. It’s unique and personal and reflects a distinct need for visuals and to write things out in list form. 27 Figure 9: The authors creative process illustrated Think your creative process through and when you are satisfied with what you believe it to be make sure you have it written down or recorded somewhere to save it to memory. The more you practice acting your creative process out, just like practicing anything else in life, the better you will become at it. 28 Chapter Three: Creativity in the Workplace “If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.” John Cleese Now that we have a better understanding of what defines creativity and what our creative process is has been established, the discussion can turn to what it means to be working in an environment that encourages creativity and allows you to be your most creative self. In a book written by the Harvard Business Press titled, Innovators Toolkit: 10 Practical Strategies to Help You Develop and Implement Innovation there is a chapter dedicated to “practical steps toward a creativity-friendly workplace.” In this chapter, it is recommended to follow these six steps to ensure your working environment promotes idea generation and innovation. Creativity is often compartmentalized within our mental toolkits as a skill we utilize when we are presented with opportune circumstances such as time, money and encouragement. If individuals feel they are not being supported and presented with this type of working environment they inherently feel as though their creativity is being stifled. Thus, fostering creativity in the workplace stems from creating an environment that is friendly towards innovation. The author analyzed six components aimed at increasing creativity within the workplace as well as the physical working environment of differing organizations across multiple sectors. What became obvious was that these organizations all shared the same underlying themes as expressed below: 29 1. New ideas and new ways of doing things are welcome Organizations should treat creativity and innovation as a normal part of their business practiced by all employees, not a special activity reserved for a select few. Proctor & Gamble has done just that by making creativity within their company ordinary.15 “What we’ve done to encourage innovation is make it ordinary, by that I mean we don’t separate it from the rest of our business. Many companies make innovation front-page news, and all that special attention has a paradoxical effect. By serving it up as something exotic, you isolate it from what’s normal… At P&G, we think of creativity not as a mysterious gift of the talented few but as an everyday task of making nonobvious connections – bringing together things that don’t normally go together…” said Craig Wynett, General Manager of Future Growth Initiatives at Proctor & Gamble. As shown statistically by the State of Create study most individuals understand that we all have the ability to think creatively and live creatively. Figure 10: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 2. People communicate freely 30 The ability to communicate with team members consistently is key in idea generation. When barriers exist that limit communication between team members, departments and executives it creates mental roadblocks that hinder the intersection of new ideas from differing viewpoints within an organization. In the United States time and money were considered the biggest barrier in terms of disrupting creativity in the workplace. However, lack of tools meaning lack of communication between employees and finding others to support you were among the top listed barriers that frustrated participants as well. Top barriers faced when trying to create. Figure 11: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study Figure 12: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 31 The barrier stemming from lack of communication and support can easily be fixed if managerial support provides individuals with the opportunity to converse. This can be done through: • Physical co-location: being in close proximity to team members • E-mail, text, Skype, phone calls, etc. Any type of communication is better than no communication • Routine joint-sessions or meetings that require team members to get together and brainstorm frequently • Food: simply sharing a meal together as a team builds camaraderie and allows for more free flowing non-judgmental conversation 3. Knowledge is Shared The distribution of knowledge across teams can help tremendously in fostering creativity by freeing up team member’s time. This sort of accessibility allows team members to tap into information that has already been researched by another member or team. Which allows them to use their time to create new ideas and build upon what the other team has discovered already instead of conducting the same research all-over again. Encouraging the formation of communities of interest within the workplace allows individuals who share similar interests to come together from differing departments and share what they know, which in turn will hopefully contribute to the creation of a new product or idea. As shown by the graph below increasing the number of tools made available is seen as a way of increasing creativity within the workplace by most individuals. 32 Figure 13: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study 4. Good ideas find supportive executives It does not matter how great your idea is if you have no one to support you especially if this support does not stem in part from some higher ups. In order to see the implementation of a disruptive big idea within your respective sector you need the backing, protection and resources provided from managerial and executive support. In a study conducted by IBM with over 1,500 corporate heads and public sector leaders across 60 countries and 33 industries. IBM set out to uncover what drives the managing style of these leaders within their company in today's world. About 60% of CEO’s said the most important leadership quality to them is creativity.16 Figure 14: Chart from study conducted by IBM 33 This finding stems from an executive understanding that innovation within the workplace begins with leadership that is willing to think creatively. Creativity is fostered within the workplace when leaders encourage and accept risk-taking and allow for failure to take place so success can take root. With that being said, there is no such thing as creating completely on your own. Everyone with an idea that wants to see it through needs financial, emotional and/or physical support from external forces. Artists during the renaissance had patrons, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have angel investors and those within the workplace have a strong support system from higher ups. 5. Innovators are rewarded Creativity ultimately stems from a place of intrinsic motivation, meaning your enjoyment in regards to the work you produce stems from a place within. However, extrinsic motivators, such as money, recognition and praise, contribute to feelings of enjoyment and happiness as well when creating. Individuals need to be primarily intrinsically motivated by the work they produce to be at their most creative however, a reward system is also needed that provides extrinsic motivation within the workplace to encourage individuals to go beyond the bare minimum and motivates them to take the work they produce a step further by really “pushing the envelope.” This can be done by providing individuals within their working environments incentives such as: • Recognition Everyone wants to feel and be recognized for the great work they produce. In fact, most of us thrive off of recognition. It is the very reason why the 34 Grammy’s and Oscars exist or any award, plaque or public announcement for that matter. • Control Giving individuals the liberty to call the shots on their own project or allow them to voice their point of view in a team project is a great way to reward individuals for their hard work. The message here being that if you produce great work then you will be given more liberty and support to continue to pursue and produce the work of your choosing. • Celebration As the saying goes, “work hard, play hard” every working environment should also celebrate their achievements. Great work should be celebrated and sometimes that means throwing a party or taking some time off. • Rejuvenation There is no better way to be rewarded for great work than by being given time off to relax. Providing time off work to employees to recharge after going beyond the call of duty for months on a campaign for a client or giving them the opportunity to attend a technical conference really can make all the difference. 6. The physical surroundings bring people together The key in fostering creativity in the workplace is co-location. Providing employees working towards the same goals with proximity to one another so they can converse both casually and strategically provides a sense of community. This workplace community is 35 what helps individuals open up to one another to brainstorm and generate ideas efficiently. MIT researcher Tom Allen states: “People are more likely to communicate with those who are located nearest to them. Individuals and groups can therefore be positioned in ways that will either promote on inhibit communication.” With that being said, individuals should also be provided with places that allow for solitude because constant stimulation and interruption can work against creativity as well. The workplace needs to capture a state of balance between community and solitude. The graph below shows that statistically speaking individuals prefer to work alone when being creative. Figure 15: Chart from the Global Creativity Gap Study However, this graph does not factor in a number of other variables that need to be considered such as what sector these individuals work in. The type of work you are producing coincides heavily with whether or not you need your own personal space. Therefore, it is very important to create spaces throughout the workplace that serve different purposes and offer 36 individuals the opportunity to move around so that they may find whatever working environment works best for them. In a Ted Talk titled: Igniting Creativity to Transform Corporate Culture, Silicon Valley design leader Catherine Courage states that there are three key components needed to foster creativity within the workplace: a good environment, encouragement of experimentation and storytelling.17 Providing employees with a working environment they value is the most essential component in generating creative thinking within the workplace. This is done by creating an open space filled with bold colors that provides employees with the freedom to move around, personalize their space and converse. Giving employees the opportunity to work from different locations throughout the office also work towards fostering creativity. All of which, as a whole adds to the notion of creativity in the workplace. The author has selected ten global public relations and advertising agencies to take a closer look at what these agencies are doing in regards to shaping their working environments to foster creativity. Figure 16: Interior of Golin’s office in Dallas Golin – Dallas, TX Communal and personal workspace available? Yes Environment – Open workspace Amenities – Kitchen, comfortable couches and chairs everywhere Uniqueness – Brand new office, very trendy, lots of bright colors 37 Figure 17: Interior of Golin’s office in Dallas Figure 18: Interior of Edelman’s office in D.C. Figure 19: Interior of Edelman’s office in D.C. Figure 20: Interior of Porter Novelli in Atlanta Edelman – Washington D.C. Communal and personal workspace available? Yes Environment – Open workspace Amenities – Kitchen, comfortable couches and chairs everywhere, bar, private pitch rooms Uniqueness – Brand new office, very trendy, lots of bright colors, piano bar, “Winning Words” wall Porter Novelli – Atlanta, GA Communal and personal workspace available? Yes Environment – Open workspace Amenities – Kitchen, comfortable couches and chairs everywhere 38 Figure 21: Interior of Porter Novelli in Atlanta Figure 22: Interior of David & Goliath in LA Figure 23: Interior of David & Goliath in LA Figure 24: Interior of Weber Shandwick in NYC David & Goliath – Los Angeles, CA Communal and personal workspace available? Yes Environment – Open workspace Amenities – Kitchen, comfortable couches and chairs everywhere including bean bag chairs, and a bar Uniqueness – Brand new office, very trendy and modern, lots of bright colors, giant works of art and a giant slingshot at the entrance Weber Shandwick – New York City, NY Communal and personal workspace available? Yes Environment – Open workspace Amenities – Kitchen, comfortable couches and chairs everywhere, communal eating area Uniqueness – Brand new office, very trendy and modern, lots of bright colors 39 Figure 25: Interior of Weber Shandwick in NYC Figure 26: Interior of Ogilvy & Mather in China Uniqueness – Brand new office, very trendy, lots of bright colors, carnival of ideas theme, full- size carousel, faux Ferris wheel, façade covered in circus lights, cinema marquee in boardroom Figure 27: Interior of MSL Group in the Netherlands Ogilvy & Mather – Guangzhou, China Communal and personal workspace available? Yes Environment – Open workspace Amenities – Kitchen, comfortable unique couches and chairs everywhere, trees located inside MSL Group – Houthavens, Netherlands Communal and personal workspace available? Yes Environment – Open workspace Amenities – Kitchen, comfortable couches and chairs everywhere, amazing waterfront views Uniqueness – Brand-new office, very trendy, lots of bright colors, artwork including graffiti on walls 40 Uniqueness – Brand new office, very trendy decor, lots of bright colors, employees take time out of their day to play games such as foosball together each day Figure 28: Interior of Mother in London Figure 29: Interior of Mother in London Figure 30: Interior of Create & Cultivate in LA Amenities – Kitchen, comfortable setting areas, a bedroom for naps and guests Uniqueness – New office, very trendy with funky wallpaper, lots of bright colors, rooftop deck Mother – London, United Kingdom Communal and personal workspace available? Yes Environment – Open workspace Amenities – Full-service kitchen, 250 ft. concrete desk that can fit the entire staff, auditorium fits all employees Uniqueness – Vintage office design, an entire wall is dedicated to photos of the mothers of employees, employees don’t have their “own” desk Create & Cultivate – Los Angeles, CA Communal and personal workspace available? Yes Environment – Open workspace 41 Figure 31: Interior of Wieden + Kennedy in Portland Figure 32: Interior of Wieden + Kennedy in Portland What do all of these offices have in common? These images comprise the working environments from global offices of some of the top public relations and advertising agencies in the world. Some of these offices are located in the United States and some abroad but what they all have in common is that they are consciously and actively promoting creativity through their workspace. Wieden + Kennedy – Portland, OR Communal and personal workspace available? Yes Environment – Open workspace Amenities – Comfortable seating areas everywhere, kitchen, communal eating area, outdoor lounge space with views, indoor basketball court, large auditorium for employees, games Uniqueness – Warehouse converted to office, very geared towards nature, lots of wood and Native American motifs, “the nest” nest like meeting area, “fail harder” motivational wall art 42 They all share: • Open Workspace • Bright aesthetically pleasing environments • Art • Proximity • Natural motifs • Communal dining These agencies have created their respective workplaces to feel as though they are an extension of home. By offering employees amenities such as places to work-out and sleep, it encourages employees to stay for as long as they please. They build a sense of community and transparency by eliminating walls and doors to create free flowing spaces. Bright colors and artwork act to create these beautiful environments that inspire individuals to think differently. Ultimately, every office depicted has successfully created an enviable workplace environment that instills a sense of pride and joy within each and every employee, which translates into intrinsic motivation to do well, to make their employer proud by producing and being their most creative selves. What is considered to be the perfect working environment for creativity? From a scientific standpoint, the perfect creative environment in essence offers employees a personalized atmosphere while tying elements of transparency and nature.18 Personalization of workspace Craig Knight and S. Alexander Haslam in their study titled, The Relative Merits of Lean, Enriched, and Empowered Offices: An Experimental Examination of the Impact of Workspace 43 Management Strategies on Well-Being and Productivity showed us how impactful the idea of ownership had on individuals within their workspace. The study consisted of 47 employees in London some of which were given the opportunity to curate their own workspace as they saw fit with personal items such as plants and pictures. The study found that those who were given the opportunity to design their own space were 32% more productive, felt a stronger connection with their employer, as well as increased commitment to their team compared to those who were not. Essentially, the study found that employers should encourage employees to personalize the immediate working environment to foster creativity.19 Furniture matters, too Round furniture has been scientifically proven to stimulate collaboration because it makes individuals feel as though they belong. The study titled, “The Geometry of Persuasion: How Do Seating Layouts Influence Consumers, was co-authored by Assistant Professor of Marketing, Rui Juliet Zhu from the Sauder School of Business and Professor of Marketing, Jennifer J. Argo from the University of Alberta. They discovered a collective mindset could be easily promoted by having a group of individuals sit at a round table as opposed to a table with edges. This leaves individuals feeling more comfortable with contributing and sharing their thoughts because they feel they belong.20 Lighting and open space have psychological effects By manipulating the lighting within your working environment, you can encourage different working behaviors. Ideally a light system will be in place that allows you to change up the brightness of the office space to be conducive for the kind of work you want to produce. Dimmer environments are thought to foster creativity in terms of idea generation where as bright 44 lights are best for analytical and evaluative thinking. High ceilings, which give the illusion of open space, are believed to promote freedom within individuals as well. Plants really do help In a study for the Journal of Environmental Psychology titled “Benefits of Indoor Plants on Attention Capacity in an Office Setting” it was proven that the presence of indoor plants could prevent fatigue, restore attention and lower stress levels for employees within their workplace. These same benefits can also be achieved by looking out a window to a view of nature. Since all offices do not come with a view, a desk plant is a simple fix to reap the benefits of a more creative working environment.21 Organized Chaos Having a messy desk has been scientifically proven to be more beneficial in fostering creativity as opposed to a very clean neat desk. Eric Abrahamson and his co-author David H. Freedman outline in their book A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder, the merits of disorder and argue that many of us spend too much time trying to stay organized, which in turn leads to inefficiency. They state that individuals with extremely organized desks often struggle to find things because their filing systems are so complicated. Studies that test for idea generation in a messy room vs. a clean room found that those who were in a messy room came up with more creative ideas then those in a clean room. The insight behind this stems from the notion that an office is an extension of your home. Your office should be comfortable to you, therefore structured environments that place an emphasis on organization instead of comfortability hinder creativity and the promotion of idea generation.22 These are simple tweaks and suggestions that can be easily exercised within any working environment to help foster creativity. Combined they are believed to create a working 45 environment that is highly conducive for creativity, however these suggestions can be expanded upon and can act as a foundation to build upon for other sectors outside the realm of public relations. Keeping all of this in mind, companies can take the first step towards creating a more creative working environment by analyzing their current workspace to gain a better understanding of what needs improvement or what works. The activity on the next page is called “enhancing the creativity of the physical workspace” and is meant for individuals to do on their own as a means of reflecting on the merits and improvements that are represented by their office space. 46 Dimensions Current State Ideas to Improve Accessible, casual meeting space Physical Stimuli (examples: plants, art, windows, bold colors) Quite Space Communication Tools (examples: whiteboards, notebooks, colored markers) Employee-only space Customer Contact Space Space for Individual Expression Relaxation Area Figure 33: “Enhancing the creativity of the physical workspace” graph provided by Harvard Business Press 47 Chapter Four: Creativity at Work - Case Studies “Creativity requires taking what Einstein called ‘a leap into the unknown.’ This can mean putting your beliefs, reputation, and resources on the line as you suffer the slings and arrows of ridicule.” Frank Barron To foster creativity within the workplace we must create a safe space where judgment is eliminated and failure is encouraged. Those that do this best are considered outsiders within their industries because they make work more about the experience as opposed to the deliverables. We are going to look at two companies that take on two different approaches to foster creativity within their workplace through the elimination of judgment and fear of failure by promoting the notion of a safe creative space. Case Study One: Golin Since 1956 Golin has been offering its clients skilled public relations work of the highest quality. It has since evolved to encompass over 60 offices globally and employs around 300 individuals from around the world. Golin has through the years established itself as a powerhouse integrated communication agency with clients such as Nintendo and McDonald’s. Under the leadership of its current CEO, Fred Cook Golin has abandoned generalist roles such as “account executive” in favor of its g4 model23, which has created four specialist titles: Explorer: Delivers insights and measurement through research, analytics and planning 48 Creator: Generates ideas and designs to bring creative content to life Connector: Engages consumers and business audiences across earned, owned, shared and paid media Catalysts: Leads business, grows client relations, drives change and champions campaigns Golin also offers employee’s unlimited time off and the opportunity to work remotely once a week through the implementation of its Lifetime program. The Lifetime program conveys the emotion of “Go All In,” a play on the founders name Al Golin to describe the agencies mantra. Golin aims to cultivate the idea that working there is not just something you do, but rather very much a part of who you are as a person. However, despite the innovative nature of Golin’s hierarchical restructuring and Lifetime program what really sets them apart and puts them at the forefront in the realm of fostering creativity within the workplace is their offering of the Unternship. The Unternship is the opposite of an internship in that it takes you out of the office to gain a fresh perspective through real life experience. Golin pays its Unterns to take a two-month adventure of their choice that aims to provide them with a new outlook on life. This is followed by a full-time placement within one of their offices. When Unterns return from their two-month journey to their respective office they are encouraged to use the experiences they gained while exploring to enhance the work they produce for Golin. The idea for the Unternship arose from Fred Cook’s successful, yet unconventional career in public relations. In his book, titled Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO, Cook, goes into detail about the many life adventures he had prior to beginning 49 his career in public relations and how those experiences shaped his ability to generate ideas by drawing from them to think outside of the box.24 “I did so many more things than the average person, I went to so many different places, and I met so many different people. I experienced so many different kinds of things that I had this wealth of data and experiences to call upon and I have always been really good with ideas and brainstorms because I could always dig into my own experiences and find something for the situation at hand.” Cook began his career in public relations at 36 and despite the fact he is now the CEO of Golin he was told by one of his managing directors that had he applied now for a job at Golin they would not have hired him because of his eclectic past work experience. This was a problem, which led to an ah-ha moment within Golin that something needed to be changed if they wanted to preserve the creation of big ideas. Cook established that the promotion of routine and sameness of individuals within their agency was only going to hinder them. “People entering the business world today are a commodity. They’ve gone to the same schools, taken the same courses, read the same books, and watched the same movies,” said Cook. “Every summer they’ve dutifully worked at internships in their chosen field in hopes of landing the perfect job the day the graduate from college.” There is nothing overtly wrong with following the status quo except that it promotes sameness within the workplace. And when you are in the idea business, as Cook likes to refer to public relations, sameness will simply not do. “There are lots of different paths to success, but if you follow the straight and narrow you miss the opportunities and experience you might have had if you take a more interesting route in your life.” 50 Golin believes the easiest way to foster creativity within the workplace is for individuals to experience more outside the workplace. Thus, the notion of paying Unterns to not come to work and instead cultivate unique life experiences was born. Even the interview process for the Unternship highlights this idea. Candidates for the Unternship during their interview are given $40 and told to go and do something they have never done before and when they return they need to describe and share what they experienced. The idea behind this as Cook said, “The more information you have stored away in your brain the more raw material you have to create new connections and you get that raw material from the experiences in your life.” Golin is not alone in thinking that creativity stems from experiences. Steve Jobs the former CEO of Apple also strongly agrees that creativity stems from life experiences and that society does itself a disservice by promoting young adults to take premeditated tracks into the workforce. “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So, they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.” Steve Jobs, Wired, February 1995. 51 The Unternship is an excellent example of a step in the right direction as companies continue their advancement of creativity in the workplace. Golin through this program will reap the benefits of instilling within its employees that it places an emphasis on experiencing life outside the workplace. This type of mindset encourages employees to be different, to think different and to produce work and ideas for clients that reflects just that. Case Study Two: Google X Alphabet, formerly known as Google, acts as the global umbrella company for the search engine powerhouse along with several other companies ranging from letters A-Z. Its portfolio encompasses companies within the sectors of technology, research, investment capital, entertainment and life sciences. Alphabet was created so that Google could easily pursue different avenues of creation without feeling it was deviating from the core values of Google. Google is the largest company within Alphabet and has long ago established itself as a trailblazer within the realm of creativity and innovation. Larry Page and Sergey Brin who still continue to manage the company as CEO and President of Alphabet founded Google in 1996. Google has done an impressive job in instilling a sort of cult like following within its employee base and those that aspire to be a part of the conglomerate. With over 57,000 employees worldwide, Google has still managed to maintain a sense of camaraderie that transcends cultures and demographics. All employees lovingly refer to themselves as googlers and can be found for the most part in clusters throughout Mountain View, California where both Google and Alphabets headquarters are located at the Googleplex.25 What makes Google so special in terms of workspace creativity is how it essentially set the standard for fun working environments across the globe. It provides its employees with so 52 many amenities such as volleyball courts, colorful bicycles to commute around campus and gourmet food, but it also goes beyond that. It maintains this fun working environment by always keeping employees intrinsically motivated by allowing them to pursue whatever projects inspire them through their 70/30 rule. This essentially means employees are encouraged to spend 70% of their time working on their actual job and 30% of their time pursing something they are truly passionate about. There is no such thing as boredom at Google because there is always a team or a project to join. Failure in the pursuit of doing what inspires you is also encouraged. This way of fostering creativity within the workplace is what led to the creation of X. X is a secret research and development laboratory on the outskirts of Google’s main campus that was created back in 2010. It was developed on the premise that it would pursue “moonshot ideas.” Astro Teller, one of X’s founders and its current CEO is referred to as “Captain of Moonshots” and insists that there is no real hierarchical order within X. Employees are free to work with who they please and if someone is not a good leader it becomes evident because no one will want to work with them and that’s how individuals get voted off the island as Teller put it.26 Ultimately the goal of X is to launch moonshot ideas that will eventually make the world a better place for the masses. They start with a problem that would improve the lives of many individuals and then from there propose radical solutions that sound almost impossible. The solutions they seek are grounded in new technology that has the potential to mature into its final functioning form 5-10 years from now. Hence the name X, which stands for 10 meaning making a problem 10 times better in the span of 10 years. Teller in an interview with the BBC stated:27 53 “One of our most important principles is to run as fast as we can at all the hardest parts of a problem, and try to prove that something can’t be done. We want to force ourselves to learn. We actively embrace failure: by making mistakes, we make progress. In this way, our ideas get stronger faster, or we discard them and move on to new ones.” Teller believes that the only way anyone can truly fail at X is if they try something learn that it doesn’t work and continue to do it anyway instead of moving on from the situation and trying a different approach. Thus, at X they reward failure. “You must reward people for failing. If not, they won't take risks and make breakthroughs. If you don't reward failure, people will hang on to a doomed idea for fear of the consequences. That wastes time and saps an organization's spirit.” Ultimately X, has been able to capture the true spirit of Essence, which is the source of creativity described to us in the text Creativity in Business by Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers. “Your creative Essence is often blocked by what is called the false personality, the ego of the external self” (Ray and Myers 9).28 By the elimination of the fear of failure, which is attributed to the destruction of Essence X has been able to get employees to maintain a constant state of creative bliss. Their employees are in love with what they are doing and believe they are truly making a difference, which acts to eliminate the false personality. Companies who can successfully incorporate a working model within their offices that eliminates the voice of judgment stemming from employees and their fear of failure will inherently always be at the forefront of creativity within their respective sectors. What both Golin and Google have shown us by going against the norm through their special initiatives is that it takes courage to inspire creativity. The Unternship acts as a reminder 54 that one cannot foster creativity out of thin air. It takes drawing upon unique life experiences to adopt a unique perspective that can then be translated within your work. X shows us that the elimination of failure by instead rewarding it can do wonders for workplace morale and idea generation. Your creative Essence is working at its best when there is no false personality present to deny the feasibility of your ideas. Instead, one must learn to fail fast and move on from that failure quickly. Both of these initiatives represent ideals that can be incorporated into most working environments to produce creativity at its greatest capacity. The exercise left to you at the end of this chapter is more of a request. Take the time to go out and have a new foreign experience. This could be anything from getting in your car to visit a nearby city you have never been to before or simply saying hello to five strangers. Do something different, have a unique experience and then deeply reflect on it by writing down how it made you feel. Stepping outside of your comfort zone is scary, but being boring is even scarier. 55 Chapter Five: Creativity and How it is Perceived “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” Cecil B. DeMille It’s easy to put on a fake smile and power your way through another day at work. But are you really happy? Does your working environment stimulate you creatively? Content Analysis Goal Creativity in the workplace has been defined to us as an environment that offers community, personal and communal space, amenities and managerial support and encouragement. Through content analysis of social media postings, one may detect how individuals truly perceive and portray their working environment. Objective In the Fall of 2016 the author conducted content analysis of 255 pieces of data gathered from a mix of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook posts. • The author wanted to see if individuals viewed their creative working environment positively or negatively. • The author wanted to see what types of individuals or organizations where speaking out on behalf of creativity in the workplace and what sector were they coming from. • The author wanted to see what creative working environments looked like on social media and what hashtags and words were being used to describe said environment. 56 Summary of Content Analysis After much research of the physical and emotional factors that go into creating a creative working environment based on expert opinion, the author wanted to gain some insight as to how working professionals actually interact with and view their perceived creative environment’s through social media. The author played around with phrasing of the concept “creative environment” and looked for images, hashtags and articles that were being shared by individuals and organizations regarding workplace creativity on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The author coded 255 pieces of data, 85 posts from each platform and found from this research that on both Twitter and Facebook creativity in the workplace was being discussed holistically through article sharing as opposed to personally. While on Instagram creativity in the workplace was being discussed from a more personal standpoint because Instagram is an image based sharing platform thus forced its users to share personal photos. On Twitter and Facebook individuals and organizations alike shared articles for the most part to their following as connectors. They wanted to share information with their friends and followers via social media, but were not necessarily advocating on behalf of their working environment or delving into personal information as far as how the articles related to them. Instead articles were posted posed with a question such as, “What helps spur creativity in business? Check out this great article and find out!” Instagram was a bit more personal because it is easier for users to take a picture of their desk or office space and share that with their following than to find a photo from the internet to post. Hashtags were used extensively on this platform so images often times did not correlate with workplace creativity at all. All in all, creativity in the workplace across all platforms was viewed as an extremely positive thing both organizationally and personally by users. 57 Coding and Analysis of Data The author coded for the perception of creativity in the workplace and mostly focused on the hashtags that were being used, what organization the speaker was posting from or about and whether it was a personal post or one done by an organization. The author searched for three hashtags across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram: # workplace creativity Twitter: N/A Hashtags used: #creativity #innovation #corporatetraining #diversity #getcreative #timeformindfulrefection Posted by: Mostly businesses as opposed to individuals. Out of 41 posts 34 were attached with an article. Insight: If no article was present with the post then there was an inspirational quote or an image attached suggesting users associated visuals with this concept. Facebook: 37,639 people are talking about this Posted by: Entrepreneur Magazine, Harvard University, and The Walt Disney Family Museum. Out of 28 posts only 3 were from people. The rest from organizations such as companies and universities. Insight: Every single post was accompanied by an article and expressed praise or posed a question toward its users suggesting these individuals and organizations wanted to simply connect their following to more information regarding creativity in the workplace. 58 Instagram: 18 posts Hashtags used: #officedesign #interiors #corporateinteriordesign #workplacecreativity Posted by: 14 personal posts, 4 by organizations. Insights: Most of the posts were irrelevant towards creativity in the workplace. They were mostly highly “creative” ironic acts done at work such as messing around with office supplies to pass time from boredom. # creative workspace Twitter: N/A Hashtags used: #innovation #workspace #happydesk #workhard #brainstorming Posted by: Out of 20 tweets 15 came from organizations and 10 had an article attached. Insight: 50% of the tweets included an article, however the other 50% showcased images of individual’s workspace, speaking panels or events highlighting the external factors that contribute to making a workplace creative. Facebook: 1,000 people are talking about this Posted by: Many notables posted about this topic including Ivanka Trump and Whitney Port. However, the majority of posts were done by organizations such as Flourish Creative Workspace. 59 Insight: 16 out of 28 posts were geared towards art related fields with pictures of art or DIY’s to create art suggesting this continues to be a concept heavily associated and reserved for art related fields. Instagram: 3,344 posts Hashtags used: #inspiration #trendhunting #branding #designthinking #graphicdesign #innovation Posted by: 12 out of 34 posts were personal the rest were by organizations mostly depicting ideal personal workspaces at work and home. Hashtags were heavily used with undertones of art and only 6 photos showed creative office settings. # creative environment Twitter: N/A Hashtags used: #inspiringspaces #vibrant #workstation #goodlocation #bigspace #coolfurniture #greatboss Posted by: Out of 24 posts 7 included articles and 15 were derived directly from Instagram. These posts were mostly personal work related posts by individuals. Insight: Individuals were more likely to showcase their work produced in a creative environment through an image with this hashtag. Facebook: 1,000 people are talking about this Posted by: Out of 28 posts, 8 were personal posts, 14 were posts with a photo and 13 were article posts. 60 Insight: The words “creative environment” created a much broader topic that went outside the realm of creativity in the workplace so content here was a bit all over the place. Instagram: 566 Hashtags used: #discover #inspiringspaces #officeinteriors #nature Posted by: Only 4 of 33 photos depicted a working creative environment that served as an office. These images for the most part, were heavily posted by bloggers and organizations geared towards health and the environment. Insight: This particular hashtag lent itself more towards being hijacked by users to promote their own feed. Most of these images expressed environmental motifs. Limitations Although the content analysis conducted via social media was found to be quite insightful the author would have liked to of gathered some data that was opposed to creativity in the workplace. Namely, for the sake of having a different perspective on the topic. The information that was found was heavily biased in that no one viewed creativity in the workplace as a negative thing, everyone had very strong positive reactions towards it and viewed it as something everyone should be doing or striving towards. Hashtag hijacking on Instagram was also an issue because many individuals chose to use certain creativity hashtags because of their popularity. This in turn led to many posts having little to nothing to do with creativity in the workplace. Ultimately through content analysis of how creativity in the workplace is perceived on social media the author found that it truly is viewed as something every individual and 61 organization should embrace. However, the stigma that creativity in the workplace is still reserved for artists still remains considering how many posts were art related. Exercise The creativity exercise at the end of this chapter is quite simple. Take a picture of your working environment. Don’t look at the picture for 24 hours than look at the picture with a fresh set of eyes and critique the photo as if it did not belong to you. Do you see anything wrong with it? Anything that sticks out to you that needs improvement? If you like what you see what could you do to further enhance your workspace? 62 Chapter Six: Analysis and Conclusion “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” Edwin Land This thesis provides individuals a working definition of what it means to be creative and how to utilize that creativity within a working environment. After all, everyone is creative and this creativity can be amplified under the right conditions. The three main components that go into fostering creativity in a working environment stem from your: 1. Physical environment 2. Organizational dynamics 3. Personal experiences Evoking creativity within the workplace requires employers to be willing to adapt and listen to what their employees really need. Creativity can be achieved easily with a couple tweaks to your physical environment, however gets a bit complicated when those tweaks need to be applied to organizational dynamics. Furthermore, creativity in the workplace can be entirely generated by the individual and how they interact within their working environment. Ideally, your employer will encourage and help foster a creative working environment but many of these tactics can be implemented on your own. The biggest take away being to not be afraid of failure or changing things up. Embrace new experiences and the differing perspectives of others. Change the way you view things, specifically how you view your working environment and the work you produce within 63 that environment. Ask yourself why are things the way they are and can you change them for the better? As discussed: Define what creativity means to you. Don’t get caught in the typical conundrum that creativity only takes place in brainstorms. Crafting a unique pitch to the New York Times food critique requires as much creativity as devising a public relations stunt. Uncover and perfect your creative process. As stated before, creativity is a lifestyle. Defining your creative process can be as simple as lighting a candle before you start writing or drinking your morning coffee outside. Being open and conscious of the creative processes of those around you can also lead to some very big ideas. Practice creativity in the workplace by changing your environment to fit your needs. Creativity is not something you can sit around and wait for to hit you in the head with an idea. It is important to constantly be stimulating your brain in ways that spur your creativity. Leave the office during your lunch break once a week to try a different cuisine with a colleague. Anything can be viewed as a creative outlet if you approach it with that mindset. Look towards companies that evoke creativity best, such as Google and Golin and see what you can replicate from them. Working in an agency that promotes creativity can make life easier to be innovative, but is not necessary. Look towards companies you admire that are maybe outside the realm of public relations to see how they inspire their employees to be creative. 64 Don’t allow negative perceptions of creativity to affect you. Creativity goes way beyond art. Do not allow how your friends on social media perceive what it means to work creatively to affect your confidence that you are a hyper-creative individual. Public relations practitioners need to know that creativity goes beyond artistic endeavors even if those who surround us continue to portray it on their social media accounts as paintings and art spaces. As the profession of public relations continues to shift away from its traditional job description and become more closely related to that of marketing and advertising. The encouragement of creativity in the workplace is more important than ever before. But creativity goes beyond the workplace to encompass society as well. As stated in this thesis, the forward progression of society as a whole through innovation depends on individuals being, feeling and thinking creatively. Stay curious and nimble. 65 Endnotes 1 Andrea Kay, "Teamwork, Creative Thinking among the Traits Employers Value," USA Today, 29 May 2011, 18 Jan. 2017 <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/jobcenter/workplace/kay/2011-05-23-employers-value- creativity-teamwork_N.htm>. 2 "Creativity," Dictionary.com, 18 Jan. 2017 <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/creativity>. 3 "The Muses in the Platonic Academy,"Academia.edu – Share Research, 18 Jan. 2017 <http://www.academia.edu/4380867/The_Muses_in_the_Platonic_Academy>. 4 Glenn Griffin and Deborah Morrison, The Creative Process Illustrated: How Advertising's Big Ideas Are Born, (Cincinnati, OH: HOW, 2010) 4. 5 "Frank Barron," Esalen Institute - Big Sur, California, 18 Jan. 2017 <http://www.esalen.org/page/frank-barron>. 6 Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, "The Creativity Crisis," Newsweek 23 Jan. 2014. 7 Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, "The Creativity Crisis," Newsweek 23 Jan. 2014. 8 "Study Reveals Global Creativity Gap." Study Reveals Global Creativity Gap, April 2012, 18 Jan. 2017 <http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pdfs/Adobe_State_of_Create_Global_Benchmar k_Study.pdf>. 9 "Starbursting: Understanding New Ideas by Brainstorming Questions." Brainstorming Techniques from MindTools.com, 18 Jan. 2017 <https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_91.htm>. 10 Griffin and Morrison 7. 11Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (New York: HarperPerennial, 1991) 4. 12 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Pursuit of Happiness, 10 Sept. 2016, 18 Jan. 2017 <http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/>. 13 Michael L. Ray and Rochelle Myers, Creativity in Business, (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1986) 31. 14 Michael L. Ray and Rochelle Myers 30-33. 15 "Five Ways to Make Corporate Space More Creative," Harvard Business Review, 21 Aug. 2014, 18 Jan. 2017 < https://hbr.org/2012/03/five-ways-to-make-corporate-sp>. 16 Austin Carr, "The Most Important Leadership Quality for CEOs? Creativity," Fast Company, 18 May 2010, 18 Jan. 2017 <https://www.fastcompany.com/1648943/most-important- leadership-quality-ceos-creativity>. 17 Catherine Courage, “Igniting Creativity to Transform Corporate Culture,” YouTube, 17 Oct. 2012, 18 Jan. 2017 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Y7qlPFpqw>. 18 "The Perfect Workspace (According to Science)," 99U by Behance, 09 Mar. 2016, 18 Jan. 2017 <http://99u.com/articles/17437/the-perfect-workspace-according-to-science>. 19 “The Relative Merits of Lean, Enriched, and Empowered Offices: An Experimental Examination of the Impact of Workspace Management Strategies on Well-Being and Productivity,” American Psychological Association, 18 Jan. 2017 <https://adobe99u.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/2010+jep+space+experiments.pdf>. 20 "Sauder School of Business," New Sauder Research: Want Consensus in the Boardroom? Get a Round Table | Sauder School of Business at UBC, Vancouver, Canada, 18 Jan. 2017 66 <http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/News/2013/New_Sauder_research__For_consensus_in_the_boardroo m_get_a_round_table>. 21 "Benefits of Indoor Plants on Attention Capacity in an Office Setting," Benefits of Indoor Plants on Attention Capacity in an Office Setting, 18 Jan. 2017 <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494410001027>. 22 "Good News: Living with Messiness Has Its Benefits," The Globe and Mail, 06 Nov. 2013, 18 Jan. 2017 <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/good-news- living-with-disorder-has-its-benefits/article12395131/?page=all>. 23 "G4," Golin, 26 Jan. 2017 <http://golin.com/about-us/g4/>. 24 "Unternship," Golin, Jan. 2017, <http://golin.com/uk/unternship/>. 25 "Company – Google," Company – Google, 18 Jan. 2017 <https://www.google.com/about/company/>. 26 "X – The Moonshot Factory," X – The Moonshot Factory, 18 Jan. 2017 <https://x.company/about>. 27 David Grossman, "Secret Google Lab 'rewards Staff for Failure'," BBC News, 24 Jan. 2014, 18 Jan. 2017 <http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-25880738>. 28 Michael L. Ray and Rochelle Myers 9. 67 Bibliography Applied, Journal Of Experimental Psychology:, 2010, Vol. 16, No. 2, 158 –172, © 2010 American Psychological Association, and The Relative Merits of Lean, Enriched, and Empowered Offices: An Experimental Examination of the Impact of Workspace Management Strategies on Well-Being and Productivity(n.d.): n. pag. Web. "Benefits of Indoor Plants on Attention Capacity in an Office Setting." Benefits of Indoor Plants on Attention Capacity in an Office Setting. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494410001027>. Bronson, Po, and Ashley Merryman. "The Creativity Crisis." Newsweek. N.p., 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. Carr, Austin. "The Most Important Leadership Quality for CEOs? Creativity." Fast Company. N.p., 18 May 2010. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. "Company – Google." Company – Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <https://www.google.com/about/company/>. "Creativity." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: HarperPerennial, 1991. Print. "Five Ways to Make Corporate Space More Creative." Harvard Business Review. N.p., 21 Aug. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. "Frank Barron." Esalen Institute - Big Sur, California. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. "G4." Golin. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2017. <http://golin.com/about-us/g4/>. "Good News: Living with Messiness Has Its Benefits." The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail, 06 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/good-news-living-with-disorder- has-its-benefits/article12395131/?page=all>. Griffin, W. Glenn., and Deborah Morrison. The Creative Process Illustrated: How Advertising's Big Ideas Are Born. Cincinnati, OH: HOW, 2010. Print. Grossman, David. "Secret Google Lab 'rewards Staff for Failure'." BBC News. BBC, 24 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-25880738>. Http://tcd.academia.edu/JohnDillon. "The Muses in the Platonic Academy."Academia.edu – Share Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. 68 Igniting Creativity to Transform Corporate Culture. Perf. Catherine Courage. YouTube. TEDxKyoto 2012, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Y7qlPFpqw>. Kay, Gannett Andrea. "Teamwork, Creative Thinking among the Traits Employers Value." USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 29 May 2011. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. "Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi." Pursuit of Happiness. N.p., 10 Sept. 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. "The Perfect Workspace (According to Science)." 99U by Behance. N.p., 09 Mar. 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <http://99u.com/articles/17437/the-perfect-workspace-according-to-science>. Ray, Michael L., and Rochelle Myers. Creativity in Business. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1986. Print. "Sauder School of Business." New Sauder Research: Want Consensus in the Boardroom? Get a round Table | Sauder School of Business at UBC, Vancouver, Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/News/2013/New_Sauder_research_- _For_consensus_in_the_boardroom_get_a_round_table>. "Starbursting: Understanding New Ideas by Brainstorming Questions." Brainstorming Techniques from MindTools.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. "Study Reveals Global Creativity Gap." Study Reveals Global Creativity Gap. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. "Unternship." Golin. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <http://golin.com/uk/unternship/>. "X – The Moonshot Factory." X – The Moonshot Factory. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <https://x.company/about>.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Big ideas are what fuel innovation within our society. However, big ideas need to be nurtured into maturity to bring forth their impact on culture, technology, individuals, etc. The birth of these ideas stems from a spark of creativity cultivated to a flame. All of which begins with an individual or perhaps a team, but the success of the idea triumphs or fails based on the encouragement of creativity within the workplace. ❧ The focus of this paper is essentially what does it mean to be encouraged and stimulated within a working environment that acts to foster creativity. I will define creativity and hopefully inspire reader to know and understand that everyone is creative and every working environment should operate on the premise that all employees are creative. This thesis also aims to provide insights as to how to become a more creative being and ignite creativity on your own terms in a working environment. ❧ The goal of this paper is to ultimately chip away at the notion that there is this divide between those who are creative and those who are not. I want it to become the status quo that every working environment actively attempts to foster creativity and continually supports and motivates employees to think differently.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Pulido, Stephanie (author)

Core Title Creativity at work

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 02/13/2017

Defense Date 05/12/2017

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag creative environment,creative workspace,creativity,OAI-PMH Harvest,office,Public Relations,Work,workplace

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Cook, Fred (committee chair), Floto, Jennifer (committee member), LeVeque, Matthew (committee member)

Creator Email musiclover.sp@gmail.com,pulidos@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-336291

Unique identifier UC11256146

Identifier etd-PulidoStep-5055.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-336291 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-PulidoStep-5055.pdf

Dmrecord 336291

Document Type Thesis

Rights Pulido, Stephanie

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA