5 Reasons Teams Need Creativity Now.

Creative Team Building: Researchers say that Creativity is your Human Superpower (well, almost).

There is solid evidence that your team needs to embrace everyday creativity.  Yes, even Karen in Accounting.  Creativity is our essential human element.  Like Aquaman’s water, Spider-Man’s venom, or Calvin’s Hobbes, Creativity gives you great powers.  So, you can be like a superhero, with amazing strength and courage to face the rapidly changing workplace.  Okay, then, you can wear tights, too.

1. Happiness
   Make a meal, or any other creative activity today.  Tomorrow, you will have a higher Positive Affect (i.e. happiness). When you feel good,  you do more creative things.  It’s a magical loop of flourishing. Like an infinity donut (that sounds really good).
   Tamlin S. Conner, Colin G. DeYoung & Paul J. Silvia (2018) Everyday creative activity as a path to flourishing, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13:2, 181-189.
2. Employee Engagement
   Creative Teams who perceive themselves as having performed well on a creativity task will develop more team cohesion over time.
   Rodríguez-Sánchez, A. M., Devloo, T., Rico, R., Salanova, M., & Anseel, F. (2016). What Makes Creative Teams Tick? Cohesion, Engagement, and Performance Across Creativity Tasks: A Three-Wave Study. Group & Organization Management, 42(4), 521–547.
3. Resilience
   Creativity boosts problem solving. Problem solving builds resilience and decreases stress.  Lower stress makes people happier.
   Chee-Seng Tan, Soon-Aun Tan, Intan Hashimah Mohd Hashim, Mah-Ngee Lee, Anna Wen-Huey Ong & Siti nor Binti Yaacob (2019) Problem-Solving Ability and Stress Mediate the Relationship Between Creativity and Happiness, Creativity Research Journal, 31:1,15-25.
4. Productivity
   Happier employees are more productive (duh!).  (Creative Teams are Happier.  See #1)
   Oswald, Andrew, Eugenio Proto, and Daniel Sgroi. “Happiness and Productivity.” Journal of Labor Economics 33.4 (2015): 789-822.
5. Tolerance of Ambiguity
   Creativity is linked to tolerance of ambiguity. Employees with a higher tolerance of ambiguity have better job performance, critical thinking skills, well-being, and complex problem solving skills.  Companies benefit by having lower turnover and absenteeism, higher engagement and more effective leadership. Creative Team? Yes, please!
   O’Connor, Peter, Becker, Karen, & Fewster, Kerryn (2018) Tolerance of ambiguity at work predicts leadership, job performance, and creativity. In Creating Uncertainty Conference 2018 Main content Creating uncertainty: Benefits for Individuals, Teams, and Organizations, 1-5 July 2018, Ascona, Switzerland.

How?  Just do anything!  Make a meal, knit, play the guitar, make a sandcastle, decorate a cake.  Do it together (maybe with more than one guitar).

Do you need some help to jumpstart your team’s creativity without a bunch of fluff?  Customized, expert-facilitated, fun, 4 week boot camps available for teams, especially ones who find themselves randomly remote.  Why should in-person teams get all the fun and benefits?

Email Caroline – hello@carolinebrookfield.com – for details.

PS That is not me in the photo but I wish it was! Cool hair!