Time: The Number 1 Barrier to Organisational Creativity

As part of a masters degree, a research project, initiated by Wayne Morris to identify the factors that enable organisational creativity, found the number 1 hinderance to organisational creativity is TIME! The survey found that:

More respondents raised the issue of time as the most important factor with regard to enhancing organisational creativity than any other with comments such as, “Just having uninterrupted time would do it for me. Its so rare that I make space and time in my day just to think and be creative. I know that when I do it works really well for me and I enjoy my work. It remains a challenge for me.” Time pressure was also identified as a real barrier to creativity. This is supported by a study completed by Teresa Amabile in 1996 the results of which are recorded in Amabiles words in the December 2004 issue of Fast Company in which she says:

In our diary study, people often thought they were most creative when they were working under severe deadline pressure. But the 12,000 aggregate days that we studied showed just the opposite: People were the least creative when they were fighting the clock. In fact, we found a kind of timepressure hangover — when people were working under great pressure, their creativity went down not only on that day but the next two days as well. Time pressure stifles creativity because people can’t deeply engage with the problem. Creativity requires an incubation period; people need time to soak in a problem and let the ideas bubble up.

In fact, it’s not so much the deadline that’s the problem; it’s the distractions that rob people of the time to make that creative breakthrough. People can certainly be creative when they’re under the gun, but only when they’re able to focus on the work. They must be protected from distractions, and they must know that the work is important and that everyone is committed to it. In too many organizations, people don’t understand the reason for the urgency, other than the fact that somebody somewhere needs it done today.”

In addition to time, the study found the following factors, identified in priority order, as being a hinderance to organisational creativity:

• Time
• Competence of staff
• Space/resources to pursue ideas
• Open communication and full information sharing
• Supportive organisational structure
• Personal authority to initiate change / Individual empowerment
• Creative leadership
• Motivation of staff
• Clear organisational goals
• Appropriate reward
• Appropriate investment ($, time, resources etc)
• Appropriate tools and technology
• Allowance for mistakes
• Diversity
• Organisational desire to learn from previous mistakes
• Creativity recognised / taken seriously
• Balance between risk and opportunity
• Skilled delegation
• Some fat in the system
• Removing uncreative people
• Organisational life force

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Technorati Tags: Creativity, Innovation, GTD, Lifehack, Research

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Tagged as: Creativity, Innovation, Research