Has the creative juice been squeezed out of modern-day workers?

A new survey shows that nine in 10 respondents agree that creativity is a key attribute that employees should possess, but at the same time, so many organisations are falling short of fostering a culture that encourages it.

Harvard Business Review Analytic Services recently conducted a global study alongside Canva that revealed an overwhelming amount (96 per cent) of employees strongly believe that creative ideas are an essential foundation for the long-term success of an organisation.

When in reality, the creative juices that employees naturally are supposed to possess have dried up. Organisations are no longer supporting creative thinking or creative pursuits that could eventually improve business outcomes.

“In a business world focused on the bottom line, it’s easy to lose sight of the value of creativity. The findings highlight that creativity isn’t just a complement to business growth, it’s foundational to driving long-term success,” said Cameron Adams, co-founder and chief product officer at Canva.

According to the survey, leaders claimed that they do, in fact, reward creativity (41 per cent); however, respondents that were lower than them on the organisational hierarchy disagreed with this notion.

The majority of the respondents agreed (87 per cent) that they expect their organisation’s overall economic investment into improving creative skills to increase or stay the same next year.

Through this financial investment, 94 per cent strongly believe that the resources that should be brought into the organisations is creative technology. Eighty-seven per cent expect their organisation’s overall financial investment in creativity-building tools and different technologies to enhance their creative ability to increase next year.

In its current status, the go-to technologies deployed to enhance creativity among employees are collaboration platforms (65 per cent), visual communication (64 per cent), and data visualisation tools (56 per cent).

Collaboration has always been a catalyst for creative tendencies, as it allows workers to tap into different ideas that their employees may have, and then build off each other through different perspectives and approaches.

A technology that has been pinpointed as a legitimate creativity enhancer by respondents is generative AI (GenAI). Forty-two per cent agreed that GenAI is that tool that can fuel creativity going forward, mainly because it can automate the repetitive and monotonous tasks that often stamp out any time for an employee’s creative process.

Although leaders at the top end of the organisational hierarchy are already employing GenAI to foster creativity for the purpose of strategic growth, other respondents who aren’t in those leadership positions have been a little slower off the mark in terms of using it.

Overall, innovation and creativity can be the point of difference between an organisation and their competitor if they’re willing to invest in modern advancements that give their employees a legitimate opportunity to be creative.

On the other hand, if those opportunities for creative growth are, in fact, available, employees must take that step forward and embrace that creativity if they wish to grow their careers.

Kace O'Neill

Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.