There they sit, huddled in the dark in front of movie screen-sized computer monitors, doing something with those weird pen things, surrounded by toys with their heads shrouded beneath enormous headphones. They’re your creative team. And they are nothing like you.
Creatives are a separate breed from every other group in your organization. Creativity isn’t magic and wizardry, but the good ones make it look that way. Here are five things to remember if you’re managing a creative team or simply need to interact with one.
CREATING SOMETHING REQUIRES PERSONAL SACRIFICE
In order to produce artwork of any kind, be it for a gallery showing or a corporate promotion, a designer needs to pour some of themselves into it. There’s no getting around it. To produce something creative, one needs to create. And that requires a great deal of personal energy. Creatives are making a form of art. As such, they are making thousands of creative decisions that each impact another. Commercial design requires not only creativity but market awareness. There’s a lot of themselves creatives put into each project. Why is this an important point? Because it colors every interaction surrounding the project. You want your creative team to be passionate. In order to be passionate, they need to care. It’s very difficult to care in an environment that doesn’t foster cooperation and mutual respect. Creativity is a personal experience. Constructive criticism is an important part of that experience, but destructive criticism such as “this is crap” completely negates cooperation. If you do only one thing to make your creative team more effective, it’s to play nice. You’re all on the same team. Constructive criticism builds up, it doesn’t tear down.
2. CREATIVES REQUIRE SPACE AND TIME
Some people call it the zone, others call it letting their mojo out. No matter what it’s called, it is the single most important part of a creative’s job. Leave them alone. Not all the time, but be aware that their process is internal. For a salesperson, their process is external. When you’re baking a cake, you need to let it cook. Something I’ve effectively done in the past is to set “creative hours”, where all other departments understand that while the cake is baking, don’t open the oven. The flip side of that is having “office hours”, where members of other departments can meet with and collaborate with members of the creative team. Creativity requires dedicated blocks of time. That’s simply how it works.
3. CREATIVES REQUIRE FEEDBACK
We all want to hear if we’re doing a good job. We also all need to hear if something we’re doing needs to be changed. Creatives are no different. Their job in any organization is to be part of a collaborative process. Whether it’s designing advertising for a magazine, building websites or executing the marketing strategy, clear and distinct feedback allows your creative team to quickly and effectively morph the project into its final iteration. Most creatives understand that their ideas and contributions are part of the puzzle. Some creatives get their noses bent out of joint when hearing criticism. The reason is sometimes arrogance, but most often it’s because they’ve had to pour so much of themselves into what they’re doing. Here are some tips on how to efficiently provide feedback to creatives:
Be clear about what you’re asking for. “I just don’t like it” isn’t a proactive criticism. A seasoned creative will ask detailed follow up questions if they hear that response, but it’s important to have at least a reasonable idea of why something doesn’t work.
Engage the creative in the feedback process. There are few things a creative likes less than being dictated to. You hired this team for a reason. That reason was their creative abilities. You have a valuable resource available to you. Collaborative input will not only make the project stronger, but will enable both parties to have a stake in it.
If your business is based on external client feedback, bringing the creative into the conversation with the client can help eliminate delays and miscommunication. The need for creatives to have “creative hours” may be at odds with the urgency of an in-person client meeting. That’s where the Creative Director comes in. They’re the traffic cop, among other things. A Creative Director needs to have their head in both worlds, the creative and the day-to-day business. And they need to be able to offer alternatives and propose solutions. Creatives know what questions they need answered. A short client meeting can help eliminate errors or misunderstandings. Your creative team shouldn’t be your sales team. If an urgent client meeting is required outside of “office hours”, use your creative resource wisely. Understand that disrupting the creative flow can often take significant time to regain.
If a creative project receives praise, let the creative know. In business, we are accustomed to only delivering negative feedback. We operate on a reactive basis, and forget to celebrate our wins. A little praise can go a long way.
4. CREATIVES WILL MAKE MISTAKES
Just like you, just like me, your creative team won’t get it right every time. Spell check doesn’t catch everything, especially if the wrong word is an actual word. Mistakes can be fixed. We’re all human. I’ve worked in many environments wherein strong, aggressive personalities have taken great joy in pointing out small errors. Remember that your goals are the same. You’ll get farther with kindness than hostility.
5. CREATIVES REQUIRE STRONG LEADERSHIP
Being a leader and being a boss are two very different things. A boss dictates. A leader gives people a reason to follow. Leaders are leaders because they’ve learned that each person under their leadership is unique. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Effective leadership requires the ability to listen, to communicate, to empathize and to see the big picture. Creative leadership is a lot about mentorship. Some people prefer a strong hand, others require a softer touch. Learning that comes from actually engaging with your team. And leadership is also about learning to delegate. Throughout any creative team, there are people with skills at all different levels. A leader uses all of her or his resources so that everyone rises together. Sharing skills and tricks of the trade between the creative team not only builds up everyone’s skill set, but also builds a team. It’s hard to be in a competitive relationship with someone you’re helping and who’s helping you. Creativity fosters in a collaborative environment. And a collaborative environment doesn’t just happen. It requires a leader to move the pieces into place, and then to let the organic processes take place.
Creativity requires a different muscle group than, say, your sales team or your customer service reps. Both of those groups can incorporate creativity into what they do, and should. But a dedicated creative team has an entirely different way of approaching the world. Their core job is to create. They use different tools, need a different physical environment and bring different parts of themselves to bear than any other department. Creatives are a lot fun. They just need to be left alone sometimes in order to get the job done.
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