The Creativity and Work Paradox
As we are currently in an ever-changing, fast paced world, creativity, innovation and flexibility is crucial to survive. Although creativity and innovation may sound similar, there is a subtle difference in the two. Creativity centers on the process and dynamics associated with ideas while innovation is the practical application of creativity.
A paradox mindset would indicate the extent of which an individual would take to embrace tensions. According to a journal on Microfoundations of Organizational Paradox, this mindset is defined as “the extent to which one is accepting of and energized by tensions”[1], indicating that there needs to be a cognitive ability to engage in these paradoxes. This mindset can not only allow people to leverage on tensions but produce a creative output at the same time.
The Creativity Paradox recognizes that creative behavior does have benefits and having this as a norm will help stimulate unique ideas to problem solve in ways that can benefit multiple individuals in society.
While the thought of embracing may sound counter intuitive, this concept is inspired by a long history of research which shows how contemplating these contradictions may help break down an individual’s assumption, offering them a new way to confront a problem.
This study began in 1996, investigating how acclaimed geniuses had spent their time actively coming up with multiple antitheses simultaneously. An example in this research was Einstein, who contemplated how one’s perspective could change whether they perceive an object to be at rest or moving.
In 2017, a study by the Academy of Management Journal had asked researchers to identify key factors that drive creativity, break rules and go beyond risks. This research team had a process of designing a questionnaire measuring this paradoxical way of thinking and concluded by hypothesizing that the answer would depend one one’s ability and attitude.
Researchers got employees to rate how willing they were to embrace contradictions and then rate how if they experience resource constraints at work. At the same time, researchers got their bosses to rate their employees, considering their overall performance, creativity and innovation.
At the end of the study, it was seen that employees who struggled with constraints had ranked lower on the paradox mindset. While employees who had taken up this paradox mentality, who embraced overcoming constrains not as a challenge but even a bit of fun, were better performers — especially when it came down to creativity and problem solving. The study concluded by hypothesizing that employees with a ‘paradoxical attitude’ had higher levels of creativity and a greater ability to deal with demands and obstacles, as compared to others.
When you are creative, you recognize that feeling when you get the inspiration because you have learned to give it space.
Employees who have this paradox mindset have seen to be more innovative compared to others. These employees prefer to confront contradictions rather than to avoid it. This means that employees would have a “both/and” thinking rather than “either/or” thinking when it comes to contradictions, further embracing conflicting ideas. Through this, they can come up with more innovative solutions which broadens their scope of awareness and increases their knowledge on the contradiction.
However, despite benefits of innovative and creative behavior, such as thriving through work, many individuals are not encouraged to engage in these behaviors, especially in the workplace.
So how can we increase our creativity in the workplace? Among multiple reasons why we struggle with creativity, science and technology, expert David Disalvo notes that stress, stressors, and things that worry us are what stifles our creativity.
To increase creativity in the workspace, employees can learn to engage in innovative and creative behavior by first recognizing and applying new solutions when faced with obstacles. When employees thrive in a positive environment, these emotions help to facilitate creative thinking and will enhance cognitive abilities to problem solve. This is as positive emotions can help one to widen their thought-action repertoires.
Not only should employees foster a paradox mindset, but leaders should also. Fostering this mindset in leaders will help them facilitate and support employees when gaining more resources to perform tasks. Further, leaders who lack this paradox mindset may suppress their employee’s positive attitudes. This may lead to a reduction of resources and also an increase in stress. Studies have shown that the impact of monetary incentives and recognition on creativity is not uniform for different jobs and workers. Arrogant leaders have a negative impact on creativity, but those with a more positive attitude to their work and responsibilities have a greater positive impact on creativity.
Leaders should have humble approach when leading, for their team to be more open to learn from others and more receptive to creative ideas. One of the most power impact of a leader with humility is that they can understand, empathize, and accept that failure is natural during a creative process. As both creativity and innovation are messy processes, individuals hold different views on what and how they want to pursue them.
Organizations that want to improve and enhance employees’ creativity can consider integrating mindfulness into roles that require creative problems — and solving them in a way that more mindful candidates are more involved in the creative process and can perform more creatively. While the structural reduction can be assumed to increase productivity and creativity, the reduction pursues further organizational goals.
There is a relationship between mindfulness and creativity, although it is not always straightforward. Mindfulness allows one to focus their attention on present-moment stimuli, while having a creative process allows one to engage in creative endeavors to achieve success.
It is clear that for success, organizations should incorporate creativity, humility and mindfulness in their team, while being able to balance this paradox. To make this sustainable in the workplace, there needs to be emphasis on creativity — both in leadership and the environment.
This paradox mindset should be embraced — organizations and individuals should embrace opposing demands, perspectives, and contradictions to be able to look at problems in an entirely different and creative way.
Authors — Darren Nerland & Amanda Goh
