Managing Creatives

Get More from Creatives by Loosening the Reins

I find managing creative types to be a combination of loosening the reins while also driving towards the deadline. How you manage risk is, in my opinion, the most important management attribute. As a manager you must be willing to let your employees play with an idea. And if an employee spent three days on that idea and it doesn't pan out you must be able to let it go without having anyone feel bad for investing that amount of time. You must chalk that time up to an investment. Something you learned. And then you move on.

This sense of play was captured will in the book Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Hire, Keep and Nurture Creative Talent. Here's an excerpt.

Many other companies have learned the benefits of moving their creatives out of the office to places where inspiration is more likely to strike. For example, Hallmark's Specialty Creative Division was flourishing until the 1980s, when the company's profitability, and creativity, plummeted. In 1994, a new creative director was hired with the directive to put a new creative chain in place. He gave his employees 30 percent of the division's time and resources to recharge—they could take sabbaticals, research trips to Europe, pursue hobbies on company time, or just wander off to a newly created retreat on a nearby farm.
It worked. Net revenues rose steadily after the changes, from $3 billion in 1994 to $3.7 billion in 1997. Today, the privately held company is an approximately $4.1 billion business.
Don't force your creatives to spend all day at a desk. The more interesting and creative environments you place them in, the more likely they are to come up with interesting and creative ideas.