How could creativity become a regularly occurring possibility?

During my first day as head of content at a startup, my boss said something that always stuck with me.

Scott, you have the most creative job in the entire company.

Naturally, the artist in me was flattered and excited, as this new role would give me a platform to engage all of my right brained skills in an otherwise left brained environment. Plus it made me feel special, which my ego loved.

But from an organizational standpoint, this comment should have been a red flag. Because anytime you start separating employees into camps of creative and non creatives, you’re setting a dangerous precedent. You’re putting up permissive walls that make innovation harder.

The advertising industry has always been notorious for this bipolar culture.

Creatives are the designers, copywriters and creative directors. Their job is to ideate and execute against the client brief, and nothing else.

Non creatives are the sales executives, account managers and operations people. Their job is to land the accounts, romance the clients and keep the project on time and on budget, and nothing else.

If you’ve ever worked at an agency before, these two factions act like an old married couple you see bickering on the street corner. Creative and account have a relationship that’s fraught with friction and discord.

And it all goes back to permission. Because the owners of the agency are essentially saying, okay, you people over here get to be creative, and you other people over here don’t.

Whoa now, what do you mean “you people?”

Sorry, but that’s not how human beings work. Creativity is the fundamental attribute of our species. It’s our leading evolutionarily advantageous trait. The process of bringing ideas to form, making something out of nothing, solving problems big and small, that’s everyone’s job.

It’s not a department or a position, it’s a universal skill. And in fact, it’s become the price of admission for participating in the modern workforce.

Multiple studies from the department of education have shown that tomorrow’s jobs will not only demand creative problem skills from all employees, but those who have those skills will be more prepared to thrive in the age of automation.

This means organizations will soon have to abandon their outdated, siloed approach to innovation and embrace a new way.

Not a better way, but a different way. One in which creativity is pursued systematically, not just sporadically. Where coming up with new ideas is less of a mysterious art and more of a methodical science.

It’s a deep discipline that’s subjected to the same rights as any other aspect of business.

Does that describe your company? Do you work in a culture where creativity isn’t an extraordinary event, but a regularly occurring possibility?

Few people do. Because our current understanding of creativity is:

“Sorry guys, it’s not recognizable as a balance sheet asset, and therefore, never managed like one. It’s just something that happens when it needs to. Oh, and only by the folks who are creative.”

Ultimately, there should not be one person at your company who has the most creative job. Everyone should be empowered to be as creative as they want. And they should be given the tools they need to do so. Look, they already have systems for project management, billing management, communication management and the like.

The time has come to support your people with personal creativity management systems as well.

Would you rather make creativity an extraordinary event, or a regularly occurring possibility?