Is Your Workplace Structure Killing Creativity?

In the age of the remote workforce, less is often more.

I was scrolling LinkedIn as one does on a Thursday afternoon and I saw a post that read, “Creative people need time to just do nothing.” It made me think; how often do we find ourselves just doing nothing at work? We fill our days with often meaningless meetings and reports as if things might crumble around us the second we stop to think. The reality is, companies and employees are at odds over one thing: time.

Time is everyone’s most valuable resource. From the company perspective, the less time a worker spends “doing work,” the lower the return on that investment. Today, business leaders are realizing that this ideology might apply to manufacturing equipment, but it’s completely backwards when applied to human nature. Creating a less restrictive work environment might actually make your team more productive. Not every creative person thrives with no direction or structure, there are different creative personalities and your goal as a leader should be to create space for all of them.

This could mean allowing team members to work from home if they want to, allowing them to create their own schedules, or just eliminating fatuous tasks so that they can focus on the more important parts of their role. For example, as I write this post at 7:30 AM I am realizing that I feel the most laser-focused and creative between the hours of 7 and 9 in the morning. If I were required to report to the office right at 9, this is time that would be wasted getting ready and commuting. Allowing for a more flexible work schedule might initially seem to risk reducing the quantity of work that is done, but chances are it will increase the quality. This is not to say that every employee will thrive in an environment where they are given limitless flexibility. Some personality types do appreciate structure and the ultimate goal should be establishing a balance between structure and freedom that empowers team members to do their best work however they prefer to do it.

Paid time-off is a hot topic right now and I think a flexible time-off policy is the best way to empower teams at work. It isn’t enough to just have the policy though, your company needs to have processes in place that allow employees to take time-off without feeling guilty or like they need to check their inbox repeatedly. Team members need to be able to cover for one another and team leaders should take it upon themselves to ensure everyone is able to step away from work when they need to. Taking time-off allows you to see things from a new perspective that maybe you didn’t consider while you were trying to keep up with your daily tasks in the office. It boosts creativity and will ultimately help teams stay productive while they are at work.

How is your company reprioritizing to fit the needs of a changing workforce?