Why this idea means business : We explore the people side of business creativity. Learn how to encourage creators and deal with critics and coasters. Read this for ideas on how to be a more creative company.
You grow your business by having great ideas that lead to actions that meet customer needs.
However, coming up with ideas and getting them approved is often a challenge.
People react to creativity differently. Some love it, some fear it, and many don’t even think about it.
How people in your business, especially the leadership team, see creativity determines how creative your company is.
It might be innovation launches, new advertising campaigns, or setting up an online store. Whatever it is, you have to persuade people your creative idea will work.
Influencing people to do stuff is how you get things done. It’s part of your business’s culture. You want to encourage those who bring ideas to life. And manage those who like to get in the way.
Simple, right? But wait a minute.
Challenges to being a more creative company
These people who “get in the way“, who are they and why do they do that?
Maybe it’s the factory manager telling you the production line is at full capacity. They can’t fit your new product in until next year.
Or maybe it’s finance asking you to justify your idea’s budget with a 3-month break-even plan so the P&L hits the next quarterly target.
Maybe it’s even IT and procurement?
The ones who want to see the business case for that piece of marketing technology. Or, who want to go through a formal Request For Proposal process to find a new agency.
These processes, systems and checks are all business controls that prevent risk. But, as our creative problem-solving article shows, controls don’t help you become a more creative company.
Hmm, not so simple.
The 3 responses to creativity
How people respond to creativity varies. Some of this come down to different creative personality types. Sometimes it’s your job role. For example, marketers deal with creativity regularly but often have to explain it to non-marketers who don’t.
However, these responses can be categorised into 3 main types based on people’s openness and positivity towards new ideas. Think of it as the 3C types of creative people – creators, critics and coasters.
The creative company - Creators
Creators (as opposed to creatives) are those people who come up with new ideas and actions which grow the business.
They lead your innovation process by creating new products and services.
They build relationships with new customers through advertising, public relations or CRM.
Or they create new sales channels, such as dealing with new retailers or setting up an online store.
Creators are catalysts for change. They’re vocal, visible and vociferous at bringing ideas to life.
They’re positive and helpful in idea generation workshops. They regularly check consumer trends for new ideas to help customers.
Yet, in most businesses, creators are a minority. They’re free-thinkers, who are flexible, agile and push the boundaries. However, many businesses actively discourage such behaviours. (Check out our barriers to e-Commerce article for a real-life example). Even if the leadership team say otherwise. The reality is creators are risk-takers. And most businesses dislike risk.
Creators challenge
Most creators soon realise being creative within existing ‘set’ businesses is tough.
Those existing businesses have a history. They have control mechanisms which made them the business they are today.
But it’s that history and those controls which stop creators from bringing in new thinking to make the business into something better tomorrow.
Current rules, processes and systems which drive the efficiency of the current business often block creative ideas needed for future success.
For example, evolutionary marketing innovations like new flavours or pack sizes get through business stage-gates (which we’ll come to in a second). But only because they’re imitations of what’s gone before.
But revolutionary innovations get killed early, when they run into our next creative type – the critics.
The creative company - Critics
The expression ‘everyone’s a critic’ is especially true when you’re trying to navigate something new through a business. Approval processes seem geared to promote critical behaviours.
Many businesses call each stage of the approval process a gate. You get through the gate to get to the next stage.
A gate.
Think about it.
Gate meetings don’t encourage creators to be creative. They encourage critics to raise objections to an idea. Occasionally, it’s to make the idea stronger. But usually, it’s to kill them off. Because that’s the mindset set up in ‘gate’ meetings. The focus is on preventing risk.
Have you researched your idea enough? Have you given the trade customer at least 6 months’ notice? Will it fit on their shelf? How much money will it make? How many people will it need? Is it better than what we’re doing now?
And on, and on, and on. A relentless barrage of questions from the critics. Prove us wrong, they say. Let’s make sure the company doesn’t make mistakes. Make sure the proper controls are in place to protect the business from risk.
But businesses need to take risks to survive and thrive. Like the famous quote, a ship in harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.
Facing the critics
Creators going into those stage-gate meetings can feel like Luke Skywalker taking on Darth Vader at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.
That scene where shortly before revealing the old Skywalker family tree, Darth (an obvious critic by the way) is throwing the weight of The Force at Luke.
But in gate meetings, it’s not bits of spaceship getting thrown at you. It’s forecasts. Investment thresholds. Risk matrices. And those are mentally if not physically painful to fend off.
And before you know it, your idea’s slipping down into a deep dark hole.
Now, we’re not proposing a free-for-all and total anarchy in the way you do innovation. You need some checks and balances. (Like the Black Hat in the Six Hats creative thinking approach).
But if you look at what most innovation processes deliver, and how damn long it takes, surely there must be a way to swing the balance more towards creators?
To let people experiment, make mistakes, and learn from them. To assume it’s better to do something than do nothing. (See how Amazon do this in our creative approval article).
We’re not against critical analysis. But it has to be done constructively. In the spirit of making innovation more likely to succeed.
And not in the spirit of luring new ideas into an organisational cul de sac to quietly die. And here’s where we come to our third group. It’s where the creativity battle is won or lost.
The creative company - Coasters
Most critics are unlikely to change. They’ve already gone over to the Dark Side.
They’ll see you trying to challenge them and their approval process as part of the ‘sport’ of them keeping control over the business.
You have to navigate past them because you’ll struggle to ever change them.
However, in terms of pure numbers, most people are neither creators nor critics.
Most people are happy doing the job they were hired to do. It pays their mortgage and bills. They feel valued for their expertise when called upon. And they enjoy the benefits the company throws their way.
Health insurance. Company conferences. Free booze or biscuits. Whatever it is, they like it.
These are the ‘common people’ (thank you, Jarvis Cocker) who keep businesses going. They keep their heads down when creators and critics clash with each other because they don’t like conflict.
We call them the coasters.
Find out what coasters want
Continuity and consistency are the underlying motivations for these types. A savvy ‘creator’ can tap into this motivation to help drive through new ideas.
Coasters like to follow processes. They love writing and reading reports. Going to all the regular town halls and business review meetings. They like these because they’re predictable and certain.
Appreciating that is how you get their support for your new idea. Show them how your idea helps their continuity and consistency motives, and you get their support in return.
Invite them to a creative thinking session so they can see the benefit of your new ideas.
Show how your idea adds to a long-term business and brand story which enhances the future growth of the business.
Highlight how NOT doing marketing innovation threatens the future of the business.
Those are motivating and scary words to anyone coasting through the business.
But persuasive creators can use that fear of creativity to motivate coasters to stop coasting.
So what’s our point?
Creators, critics and coasters is just one model to describe how people work with creativity. It’s a useful short-hand way to work out how to make your business a more creative company.
Everyone has a bit of ‘creator’ in them at some point. And probably a bit of a ‘critic’ too. But in reality, most people spend their time coasting.
So, we’re all creators, critics and coasters at some point. We can’t change the critics’ behaviour, but we can aim to nudge coasters out of their comfort zone and bring out their creator side. (See our Six Hats creative thinking article for more on this).
When you go into that ‘stage-gate’ meeting, ask them to decide which side they’re on. When you’re coasting and you spot a creator struggling, think about how to help. The next time it might be you on the receiving end of a critical attack. Because if it’s your business and your creative culture, you know more creators are what you need to be a more creative company.
Conclusion - how to be a more creative company
If you want to be a more creative company, it’s important you encourage the creators, handle the critics and prod the coasters to be more supportive.
We’ve got a lot of experience in how to bring better marketing innovation and creative thinking approaches into businesses.
We love working with creators. And we love working with businesses to encourage creators to land more new ideas. Get in touch if you need help with becoming a more creative company.
Photo credits
Confetti : Photo by Pablo Heimplatz on Unsplash
Hand / Stop : Photo by Nadine Shaabana on Unsplash
Person holding light bulb : Photo by Fachy Marín on Unsplash
Kid squeezing paint tube : Photo by Dragos Gontariu on Unsplash
Thumbs down : Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Woman presenting on stage : Photo by Product School on Unsplash
Woman peeking out from bush : Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Bulb on Post it : Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash
