Creativity solutions to stress are more than just ideas – the very exercise of being creative can help resolve tensions. The ideas help too!
This article is part of our series on stress resilience and mental health.
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The relationship between creativity and stress
In Engineering, ‘stress’ is usually caused by something wanting to be in two places at once. ‘Strain’, incidentally, is what results from this – it gets stretched, it suffers ‘fatigue’, it breaks – all very anthropomorphic.In Engineering Design, conceptual stresses are caused by the tension between something having to be two incompatible things at once: big yet light; long yet compact; hot yet comfortable. Handling this tension is often a matter of finding the right compromise. But if we can resolve the tension by breaking through the compromise – then that is creativity: an umbrella; a telescope; insulation.
creativity is all about resolving stress
Creativity is one resource that most often resolves such stress. Finding a new way to break the tension, to move beyond the compromise, to get more out of less. And not just in Engineering! Creativity is also the best way of resolving stress in social and organisational settings too. A creative solution can do more with less, save time, fix problems, and energise people.
It is therefore a bit of a cruel irony that being under stress is often the biggest barrier to being creative.For example, stress can narrow our focus. It can cause us to concentrate on the obvious. And it can can close down our higher-order thinking.
Stress can also make the environment more hostile to ideas. It can make people judgmental and critical. It can lead to closed minds, and dismissal of things that are different – both people and ideas.
And sadly, in many workplace situations, that is what seems to be the most prevalent outcome.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Finding time for creativity
Creativity doesn’t need a lot of time. It can be one small part of a day. It doesn’t need to be a major distraction from running along our well worn tracks, or bouncing from one issue to another.
But if we can break out of ‘being driven’ for just a short while. Perhaps by planning in some time to be creative within our meetings. To stop for a moment and think about alternative ideas. For example by having a regular point in each day, or even week, to exercise our creative faculties. How might our working lives be different?There are of course issues to overcome. Many people believe they are not good at being creative. Others think that they don’t have the time to be creative. And still more have had experiences where attempts at creativity went nowhere.
everybody can be creative, with a bit of help
Unfortunately, these beliefs often stop people from exploring and testing out the powerful solutions that exist for overcoming these issues.
As a result, many working environments are now alien to creativity as a process. Maybe pet ideas get voiced. And there maybe one or two people who are known for left-field suggestions – some of which are good. But there is little use of creativity tools (except perhaps ‘brainstorming’). Or of other techniques to stimulate collective creative interplay between people.
But one choice can overcome all of these. The choice to mark out some time, to use some tools, to follow the rules, and to reacquaint ourselves with our creative flair. There are now many tools and techniques which help create the right environment, and which enable people to overcome their internal resistance.
Stress reducing benefits of creativity
It won’t happen all at once. Like all of our abilities, creativity takes practice. But if we make the choice, the practice will come, and our creative muscles will develop.And if we do that, we can expect the following benefits:
- Regular breaks away from the stress of our ‘normal’ roles
- Ideas that overcome issues and make our work easier and more effective
- Raised energy levels from the creative process itself
- Better skills at coping with the increasing disruption and challenges we face
- Improved teamwork arising from the exercise
- All of which have a positive impact on our mental health
The thing is, one good idea can be worth thousands of hours of sweat in terms of its impact on the business. And if we do not plan in creativity, then the continued pressure to do more with less will continue. It will remain as an unresolved tension, a blockage to progress, and a source of increasing anxiety and stress.
But you can start simple.
Just begin with one meeting a week where you will include a creativity session. A session where you pick something that you want to improve. And where you use a tool to enable your people to take different and creative perspectives. Initially, it might be about winning them over to try. Then it might be about helping them manage their internal mindset. And then about accepting that it doesn’t work every time. But after a few weeks things will start to improve. And when they do, and you are getting the benefits, it will be time to consider extending the approach to other meetings.
The role of Design Thinking
And it may also be time to take a deeper look into Design Thinking.
One of the exciting developments of recent years has been the growth in the popularity of Design Thinking. This has begun to make creative design tools more mainstream. True, the focus has been predominantly on products and services. But once the skill set has become established in an organisation, it can be used anywhere.
Another helpful development is the concept of Design Sprints. This is the idea of bringing a group of people together for one week to solve a problem using Design Thinking.
Design thinking, in its wide variety of forms represents the best opportunity within your organisation to:
- Make breakthrough improvements in your operational performance
- Build supportive, energising and inspiring relationships between people
- Develop skill sets that better equip people for the future of work
- Establish practices that enable people to resolve their problems and their differences
And through all this to reduce toxic levels of stress, and the health issues that arise from that.
Useful links:
For more on the idea of creative tension, and its potential implications for creative thinking, take a look at TRIZ.
Track your progress to ensure the efficacy of this strategy.