How To Prevent Creativity On The Job: Strategies For Supervisors

by ComputerBob

January, 1986

The big push is on for creativity in the workplace. Currently, one California creativity trainer charges up to $8500 per day to teach employees of eager multinational corporations how to be more creative. The general atmosphere is that even if you are creative, you probably aren't creative enough, and that if you're not a creative person, you'd better become one before your company realizes it. We are told that in a rapidly changing world of technology, creative minds are needed to adapt to that change, as well as to evaluate its consequences.

What we aren't told, however, is that creative people are a pain in the neck to their supervisors. One reason is that they're always asking questions. "What if we tried doing it a different way? Has anyone looked at the problem from this point of view? How would it work if we shortened this piece about a quarter of an inch?" How many of us enjoy answering employees' questions all day? The fact that creative people often think of ways to improve productivity can easily be overshadowed by the inconvenience they cause their supervisors.

It would be a lot easier for supervisors if creative people would just do as they are told, instead of questioning everything. The traditional ways of doing things became traditional because they worked, so why change them? If they got the company where it is today, they can keep the company going tomorrow, right? The problem is contagious, too. Just a few creative types on the floor, and the next thing you know the whole shift is starting to suggest ways to change things.

Creative people force supervisors to work harder, too, not just by answering their questions and considering their options, but by having to keep up with them. Creative people like to know all about the latest equipment, processes and theories in their field, forcing their supervisors to read up on all of it in order to understand what they're talking about. That isn't right. Supervisors became supervisors because of their expertise, and should be allowed to learn about the equipment, processes and theories which interest them, if any do.

So, what is the solution? It's really not very hard for supervisors to prevent creativity on the job. In fact, it comes down to a few simple principles:

Don't let them work in groups. Creative people get even more creative when they work around their own kind. They bounce ideas off each other as they work, exploring different viewpoints by asking each other "What if..." questions. By keeping them apart, you'll reduce their creative output.

Encourage them to take the company viewpoint. This can take many forms, such as meeting their suggestions with a terse "That's not how this company has always done it." Creative people hate to hear things like that. They like to feel that their ideas make a difference. By letting them know that you aren't interested in their ideas, you'll make sure they think twice before approaching you with new ideas again.

Discourage questioning. Similar to encouraging the company viewpoint, this simply involves cutting the discussion short whenever a creative type asks any question beginning with the phrase "What if..." For example, if an employee asks "What if we built it out of plastic instead of aluminum?" you simply respond with "What if we didn't?" and walk away. The main point is to let the creative types know that their ideas are not welcome.

Discourage divergent thought. Many creativity researchers describe two kinds of thought, convergent and divergent. Convergent thought is the type of thought which focuses on finding the one correct solution to a problem, and is useful in hard sciences such as mathematics. Divergent thought, on the other hand, explores many possible solutions to any problem, is less logical, is more open to new ideas than convergent thought, and is the basis for creativity. Thus, individual creativity can be enhanced through stimulating divergent thinking. It follows that, to prevent creativity on the job, you should discourage divergent thinking. Let your employees know that you expect any input from them to involve finding "the right answer" to a problem, and discourage them from exploring other possible solutions as soon as they find a solution that works.

Be judgmental of their ideas. Nothing stops a creative mind faster than a good old-fashioned dose of convergent thought. When your employees tell you about their brainstormings, let them know your reasons why their ideas aren't practical, will cost too much, will take too long, or are just plain stupid. You see, creative types are used to using convergent thought only to decide which of their divergent ideas has merit. A little convergent critique from their supervisor during their divergent thought stage will go a long way toward reducing the number of creative ideas they come up with, by narrowing their viewpoints.

As you can see, it's really very easy to prevent creativity on the job. You start out by fearing and resenting creative people. Then you proceed to building an atmosphere which discourages creativity. Before you know it, all the truly creative people will be discouraged enough to get jobs at other companies, and all the marginally creative ones will be retrained to be uncreative. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous creative type could use the principles of this article to figure out how to improve creativity on the job. Well... at least we know it won't be anyone at your company.