Slowing down is essential to any kind of creativity — even if it makes you unfocused, inefficient, undisciplined, or unsystematic too

I don’t often write about creativity — largely because there are already more than enough articles on this topic and they mostly say more or less the same things. Still, since one of the most obvious benefits of slowing down is a quick increase in creativity, it’s probably worth reminding everyone how and why this comes about.

Efficiency kills creativity

The quickest and most efficient way to do anything, from thinking to running a business, is to stick firmly to what has been done before. I don’t say it’s the most effective — and certainly not the best — but it’s undoubtedly the most efficient. You don’t waste time working out what to do; you already know how to do everything this approach takes; and you can jump right into action.

Of course, do this often enough and you’ll no longer be able to take any other course. Like a river that’s cut itself into a deep gorge, only two directions remain possible, forward or back — and even forward can only be wherever the water has been before.

You’ve bought efficiency, but only so long as the past course stays viable. When circumstances change, as they always do in time, you won’t easily be able to get out of the rut you’ve dug for yourself. So many organizations die this way, you’d think the rest would have noticed by now.

Speed denies you any chance to think

Add speed to the efficiency and you’ve created a double problem. Thinking — especially creative thinking — takes time. If you’re in a rush, as nearly everyone is today, there’s not enough time to think. That’s why organizations — and people — rush blindly into problems they ought to have seen coming. They’re so obsessed with quick action they don’t give themselves time to have second thoughts.

Creative thinking is even slower. First, it doesn’t come when you call it; then your first ideas nearly always have to be thrown away — often the second and third ones too.

Systems, by definition, throttle innovation

A system is a set of actions that you establish, then repeat as often as you want. What do they achieve? Consistency, mostly. By repeating a system, you ensure pretty much the same result every time, whether it’s a production system, a marketing system, or a quality-control system.

Nothing wrong with that, so long as consistency is what you want. But innovation can’t be consistent. If it is, it isn’t innovation, it’s repetition.

Our fashion for “management by numbers” may produce consistency, but it leads to mediocrity as well. Why do small companies often find it easier to be creative than big ones? Because they have few, if any, systems.

A firm, disciplined focus stops people going off on tangents — which is where most creative ideas will be found.

The more disciplined and focused the corporation, the less it will tolerate people wandering off in unexpected directions, merely to satisfy their curiosity. Without curiosity, there can be no creativity. Keep everyone firmly on a known track and you’ll deny them the “fuel” innovation needs.

Where do major innovations come from? Usually from someone wandering off to “play’ with an idea, doing something out of curiosity — only to discover its potential later, or simply “noodling around” with no idea of making anything useful.

Cutting costs often cuts out innovation too

What are the first elements in any organization to be removed by cost-cutting? Training, research, long-term projects, activities with no clear link to the “bottom line” in the immediate future — all the places where creativity will be found.

Besides, creativity can be expensive. All those wrong turnings and false starts swallow money and seem to have nothing to show for it. Of course, they’re essential to produce any eventual breakthrough, but it doesn’t look like that at the time.

If you want to get a reputation for “running a tight ship,” remove anything that isn’t rigorously practical against current understanding. Never mind that you’ll be destroying any chance of finding new ideas.

Cutting your own (creative) throat

Fast, efficient, focused, and systematic. Have you heard that somewhere before? Macho management is all of those things — plus short-term, demanding, narrow-minded, and simplistic.

Can it produce creativity? I don’t see how. Will it stifle any that exists? Most certainly.

And before you become smug about the foolishness of organizations and their leaders, take a look at your own life. Do you do things in a rush? Feel guilty if you’re not busy doing something “practical” every moment? Value action over thinking — especially “blue-skies” thinking? Constantly try to make your life more systematic, more focused, more organized for “getting things done?”

If so, you too may be slowly but steadily killing your creativity, while digging your life into a rut it will be tough for you to escape, even if you want to. Think about it. It may not be too late to slow down and give your creative potential the chance it needs to transform your future.

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