From Firefighting to Innovating: 4 Strategies to Carve Out Space for Creativity

 

Do you ever feel like your workday is a hamster wheel on steroids, spinning faster than your brain can keep up? Well, you’re not alone (if it’s any consolation?!). Inventium’s 2024 Future of Work research paints a vivid picture: employees feel like they’re on a never-ending treadmill, constantly chasing immediate results, putting out fires and reacting to short-term opportunities. And this relentless pressure isn’t just leading to burnout; it’s stifling the creativity required to get us off the treadmill and propel a business forward.

It’s the modern-day worker’s conundrum. So here are four strategies to help you and your team break the cycle and make room for bigger-picture and creative thinking.

1. Carve Out Time for Creative Thinking

Remember when you were a kid and had all the time in the world to daydream? Well, it’s time to channel that energy into your work life. Take inspiration from creative agency The Royals, who implemented “Unnatural Fridays”, freeing up every Friday and dedicating it to a single creative pitch. The result? A 2000% increase in campaign category wins and finalist positions in industry awards within just 12 months.

So, take back control of your calendar and block out time for creative and strategic thinking. Treat these slots as sacred and non-negotiable. No emails, no meetings, just thinking time. It might feel unnatural at first (aha – I see where they got the name from), but stick with it. Your future self (and your business) will thank you for it.

2. Kill the Stuff That’s Not Adding Value

We can all relate to being so busy chasing our tails that we don’t stop questioning whether what we’re doing adds value. As one Executive in Inventium’s research put it, “It’s easier just to follow the rules than challenge the status quo.” Yet doing what we’ve always done is a surefire way to sameness.

So, it’s time for a strategic cleanup of your to-do list. Start by ensuring crystal-clear communication of the most critical business priorities. With this shared understanding of the most important goals, take a critical look at your current workload. Scrutinise each task and project – does it directly contribute to these key priorities? Be ruthless in cutting anything that doesn’t make the grade. And empower your team to do the same. You can create mental slack for more creative thinking by pruning away the non-essentials.

3. Foster Boredom (Yes, Really!)

We often see boredom as the enemy, but research shows that idle time is actually a secret weapon for creativity. It’s in those moments when your mind is free to wander that your best ideas often crop up. Yet there’s little idle time when you spend your day racing from one urgent meeting to the next.

The 4-day workweek trend is tapping into this. As 4 Day Week Global explains, “A 4-day week can foster a culture of innovation and creativity by providing employees with more time for leisure, reflection, and exploration.”

While a 4-day week might not be possible for everyone, the principle still applies: create pockets of downtime in your schedule. Look for ways to free up time from meetings. Could that hour-long catch-up be a 15-minute stand-up instead? Could some meetings be replaced with asynchronous updates? Can you create space for a lunchtime walk? By creating small moments of ‘free time’, you’re giving your brain the space it needs to come up with brilliant ideas.

4. Embrace Generative AI as Your Creative Side-Kick

While CEOs are keen on adopting AI for a competitive edge, many overlook its potential to supercharge their own teams. Interestingly, research shows that only 15% of CEOs plan to roll out GenAI tools across their workforce. Yet employees aren’t waiting for permission, often sneaking in their own GenAI tools (a.k.a BYOAI) and keeping it on the down-low.

Let’s flip the script and make GenAI a team player. Research found that employees can save up to five hours a week using GenAI. Imagine how this time could be redirected. So, provide your team with guidance, training, and approved GenAI tools and move GenAI from a ‘behind-the-scenes sidekick’ to ‘centre-stage’.

By implementing these strategies, you’re priming yourself and your team for innovative and creative problem-solving. You’re also pulling yourself out of reactive hamster wheeling to focus on more impactful and satisfying work. And who doesn’t want that?

 

Zoe Aitken is the Head of Consulting at Inventium. Feel free to email her at zoe@inventium.com.au