Giving Space for Creativity

A difficult part of the creative process when you’ve done it for many years is giving others the same creative freedom you experienced earlier in your career.

When you start out, you’re pushing your ideas forward and learning how to communicate in a clear, succinct way. You get to a point where you’re able to verbalise your ideas clearly and to the point very quickly.

As the team or department grows, new people join your conversations which creates a dichotomy.

On one hand, you need to communicate and articulate in the style you’ve developed to help mentor and guide them with the tools you’ve learnt. But you also have to provide a white space to allow them to consider various options and get to a conclusion of a creative challenge without your input.

You can of course steer and provide them with prompts, but it hard to not jump in straight away and provide the answer for them. Your brain is clearly locked into the process but speaking to soon could have a negative consequence because a) you brought people into the team to share their experiences and their thoughts for a more diverse approach, but also b) if you jump in every time with the solution, they don’t develop their own skillset for when you want them to step into a more senior role.

Next time you’re in a creative conversation, try to leave space for the voices you may not hear from.

Maybe provide prompts or questions and get their input on things.

Try to push for more generalised statements or outlines of the issue, try to get their thoughts on the solution.

It may take longer to get to the solution, and many times it may be the solution you thought of in that split second. But to grow your team and allow people ownership in their respective areas and for them to feel as though they’ve meaningfully contributed, you have to create that space for growth.