Creativity
isn’t only for artists and poets. Because creativity is essential
to innovation, it can bolster business performance. Researchers at
consulting firm McKinsey
examined the link between creativity and business value. They found
two-thirds of companies that scored higher in a measure of creativity
also enjoyed above average organic revenue growth, while 70% earned
above average total returns to shareholders.
Given
the role creativity can play in a business’s performance, it makes
sense that companies that optimize how they recognize employees’
creativity should also enjoy greater success. Yet, somewhat
counterintuitively, focusing awards and recognition only on the
success of employees’ creative efforts can backfire. “It’s not
that rewards are inherently bad, but they can have unintended
consequences,” said Markus Baer, Ph.D., and Professor of
Organizational Behavior at Washington University in St. Louis.
How
recognition
can
hinder
creativity
Baer
and Dirk
Deichmann in the Department of Technology and Operations Management
with the Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands
examined why some first-time successful producers of creative content
struggle to repeat their initial success. Their research was
published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
The duo looked at 224 first-time cookbook authors in the United Kingdom. Cookbooks are true creative efforts that often require months of work, Baer noted.
They
found that only about half of the authors produced a second cookbook. Moreover, the
more novel the initial cookbook, the less likely the creator went on
to produce a second cookbook, Baer said. The reason?
“…[M]odel-award-winning
producers of novel cookbooks (or ideas for them) are less likely to
follow-up their initial production with a second one, largely because
of the potential erosion to a person's creative identity that doing
so may cause,” Baer and Deichmann concluded.
In many organizations, employees who think of themselves as primarily creative often fear that continuing their work will jeopardize this identity, Baer said. After all, it’s difficult to predict how new products or services—essentially, creative endeavors—will fare in the marketplace. Commercial success often is influenced by factors that have little to do with the creativity of a product or service itself.
While most ideas don’t go anywhere, they can be springboards to new or better ideas.
Tucker J. Marion, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Technological Entrepreneurship at Northeastern University
Creativity:
reality
versus
the
abstract
When many organizations recognize creative efforts, they tend to
focus on the outcome. One reason is that few people understand the
creative process, which is rarely straightforward and often involves
multiple setbacks. “It’s the abstract
attraction of creativity versus the messy reality,” Baer said.
In
addition, employees who question established procedures, which can
prompt creative ideas, tend to be more difficult to manage, Baer
said. Most managers who state an order simply want it followed. “It
leads to the repetition of existing work,” he added.
[Read more: How to Encourage Employees to Share Ideas]
Some
assume creativity happens magically, Baer said. In reality, however,
creative breakthroughs, even if they seem to occur suddenly,
typically are the result of extensive, intense work.
Successfully
recognizing
creativity
To
create an environment that encourages sustained creativity, companies
need to consider the effort that goes into the creative process and
not just the outcome. “Think of it as production process that takes
time,” Baer said. For instance, did the creative team challenge
existing assumptions? Are they expanding their knowledge base? The
more systematically employees engage in these types of activities,
the more positive outcomes they’ll produce in the long run, he
added.
It’s
also important to allow or even encourage failure, said
Tucker J. Marion, Ph.D., Associate Professor of
Technological Entrepreneurship at Northeastern University.
This doesn’t mean acting with no regard for budgets and the investment of time and other resources that might go into a creative effort, he added. Instead, companies need to leverage failure. That generally means failing fast and moving on. “While most ideas don’t go anywhere, they can be springboards to new or better ideas,” Marion added. In addition, the insight employees learn from the ideas and failures can itself be valuable, he added.
[Read more: How to Boost Your Employees' Creativity]
In contrast, recognizing only the outcome of creative activity can discourage learning and creativity. “If you only focus on the outcome, people become unnecessarily risk averse,” Baer said.
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