Managing the Dark Side – The Creative!
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Your team member is truly creative – they ‘think outside the box’ and well beyond! Keeping up with their ideas can be tricky but we have some useful tips for managing the downside.
Truly creative people are relatively rare. When it comes to change management, most of us are good at suggesting incremental improvements; and some of us can go further and see the possibilities for a new product, or find a new way of working that we can adapt creatively. But truly innovative people are in a different class. They provide an endless flow of ideas into the team. Able to think outside the box, they question assumptions or well-established beliefs, and are very open-minded and flexible in their approach to solving problems. Their ideas often completely rethink the problem from a new perspective, giving the rest of the team a jolt while they get to grips with this new perspective. They are also likely to be well above average in intelligence, and good at thinking on their feet.
People in an organisation with these skills are unusual, and they need to be supported to contribute effectively. They often have so many ideas that they find it difficult to focus on one and develop it effectively. They can move from one idea to the next with confusing rapidity, so they may not articulate their ideas well, and can lose people. They are often bored by implementation, preferring to move on to the next issue where their creative thinking can have full sway.
Where might such creativity become a weakness? Imaginative, off the wall ideas are often combined with unconventional views, and creatives may be seen as eccentric – not always great for their career. The desire to look or act differently, or voice very different views comes naturally to them but often results in others feeling threatened, contradicted, or overwhelmed. Creative people also don’t stop having ideas after something is decided. They can drive organisers crazy with requests for different features, changes or new and even better things to do – when plans are already finalised.
So how can you best support your creative people?
- Partner these people with others who both appreciate their creativity and can harness it effectively. Leaving an inventive person to develop and implement their own ideas can be a disaster – when Steve Jobs was removed from Apple, his ‘NEXT’ project failed – but his parallel investment in Pixar where the team knew how to handle creativity (and kept Jobs away much of the time) was highly successful. It was only when Jobs returned to Apple, and formed a bond with creative designer Jony Ive and the bigger team that he was highly successful.
- Avoid promoting original thinkers to roles which involve routine work or people management as this is unlikely to suit them – they may even play up their eccentricity for a bit of fun! Instead steer them towards a change agent or troubleshooter role where a dramatic rethink is required to ensure success.
- Coach them about the value of staying in touch with projects to ensure their ideas are successfully understood, transferred and implemented. This will bring them greater career success and build on their desire for ownership.
- Encourage them to share their ideas with others in the team to get feedback on what the idea might require in order to work. Help them see this as a way to develop a more refined product or process that makes them proud.
- Use their ability to generate ideas, via brainstorming or coffee chats about different projects. Contributing an hour of ideas might give others exactly the breakthrough thinking they need.
- Innovators can get a big kick out of generating ideas – they can over-promise and under-deliver. Don’t compound this by rewarding them for their initial off-the-wall thoughts – instead, get enthusiastic when they deliver the fully-fledged design that you need.
- Sometimes, you just need them to be somewhere else. What do they love doing that can distract them while the team gets on with delivery? It could be working on a creative slide deck, going to a conference, or reading and writing about the latest technical developments. Develop ways to get them to ‘go quiet’ when this is needed!
Make the most of your truly creative, innovative team members by giving them difficult problems to solve, where ground-breaking thinking is needed. Support them with great implementers who will make them feel valued for their highly original ideas – but also be assertive enough to take control over development and implementing them successfully.
If you would like to know more about career derailers talk to Talent and Potential about this series and the Hogan Development Survey psychometric which can be used for both recruitment and development.