After listening to Louis Richardson’s IBM InterConnect session on “Facing Our Creativity Crisis,” I have never been so aware of how truly lucky I am.
With greater pressure than ever before to be more productive than creative, and with the ever-growing fear of failure, we professionals are officially in a creativity crisis. This crisis has resulted in a growing number of disinterested, unfulfilled individuals sitting in conference rooms and cubicles throughout the world.
While creativity is being drained from the business world, it is more critical than ever for employees to reverse this trend and be CREATIVE to build a successful company in 2015. Not just creative, but also collaborative, communicative and flexible.
Now let me explain what this has to do with me being one heck of a lucky individual. Not only am I asked by my employer to break creative barriers every day, but I am also encouraged to be collaborative, communicative and flexible on a daily basis.
Creativity: From #20Questions to TED@IBM, I am challenged to bring my most creative ideas to the table constantly. The leaders on my team create an environment where we are encouraged to tap into our creative potential and where any idea is a good idea as long as you voice it.
Collaboration: I believe IBM defines the word “collaborative.” Since starting at the company a little over a year ago I have been able to work across more industries than I even knew existed! From the recently launched IBV Millennial Study, the Work/Life 2020 initiative, Millennial Corps, to NRF – I am able to collaborate regularly with new individuals on different exciting projects.
Communication: Without communication at a company as large and complex as IBM I wouldn’t be able to do my job. Luckily I have a manager who understands this perfectly and who makes it her priority to be as transparent and approachable as possible to me and the other members of our team. Not only do we have a team call once a week to go over what’s going on within our team and within the entire company, but she also holds a call with each of us individually once a week to go over anything and everything we have questions about – and she opens each and every call with “How are you doing, Sam?” She constantly provides us with valuable feedback – and even asks us to let her know if there’s anything she can be doing to make our jobs better. Now THAT’S what I call communicative!
Flexible: Without flexibility, it would be much more difficult to achieve creativity, collaboration and communication. People are always surprised when I tell them I work from home. “But how do you get anything done? Aren’t you distracted all day? Don’t you feel lonely?” The answer is that I get my work done by having the proper tools (e.g., Connections, SameTime) to communicate and collaborate creatively with my team and other individuals at IBM. For me, work is where the Wi-Fi is: I’m able to be in my preferred environment for getting the best work done while still feeling that I’m a valued member of a team and not having my creativity stifled or underappreciated.
As upsetting as it is to hear that the world is facing a creativity crisis, companies like IBM reassure me that there’s a solution out there for companies that are ready to hire the right people, create the right environment, and provide the right tools.
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