6 things The Beatles taught me about creativity in the workplace
If you’re looking to be a bit more creative in your work, look no further than the fab four, writes Groov Head of Content Dom Dipple.
With increasing automation and rapid improvements in AI, there’s a growing understanding that ideas are the currency of the future. It makes sense that industries built on ideas – the ‘creative economy’ – are growing faster than those built on human labour alone.
In a 2021 white paper, Deloitte studied the creative economy in nine markets – Advertising and Marketing, Architecture, Crafts, Design, Film, TV & Radio, IT & Software Design, Publishing, Music & Performing Arts, and Museums, Galleries & Libraries. Deloitte found these industries were set to outpace the wider economy with a 40% growth projected by 2030.
You could even argue that Deloitte took a narrow view of the creative economy, as the need for fresh thinking and new solutions is common across most, if not all, industries. As John Newbigin writes for the British Council, “where oil was the primary fuel of the 20th century economy, creativity is the fuel of the 21st century”.
So if creativity is going to be crucial for our future success, we should probably understand it, right?
Too often creativity in the workplace is seen as something only a few people are responsible for. The designers, copywriters, or strategists in our midst are assigned an almost mystical status, removed from the day-to-day of most of our work. The reality is these creative roles are crafts, not mystical abilities – they are a skillset, creativity is a process, and the more we all get involved in the creative process, the better the ideas and solutions we’ll come up with.
For a great case study of the creative process in action, I like to look at Get Back, Peter Jackson’s extremely long Beatles documentary. Over the course of the series, we see a set of songs go from inception through recording to the Beatles’ final performance on the Abbey Road rooftop.
While we’re obviously watching masters at work – and we can’t all be Paul McCartney pulling the song Get Back out of thin air – we see in the documentary that, even when working with the greatest idea-generating group possibly ever, the work isn’t having the idea – it’s crafting it.
We see The Beatles play the songs over and over, bouncing ideas, adding something here, subtracting something there. The work of creating something is the process. It’s people with different talents and ideas working together to make the whole group stronger.
So, if you’re looking to be a bit more creative in your work, here are some ideas inspired by the fab four.
1. Collaborate early
Try to bring as many people into the process as possible. Create forums for workshopping ideas, getting perspectives and feedback, and stress testing solutions.
2. Don’t hoard ideas
Ideas are easy. Execution is hard. Don’t treat your ideas as currency, give them away. I promise you, the more ideas you give away, the more new ones you’ll have.
3. Don’t be precious
Don’t hold on to how you think something should go. We all have our biases and blindspots. If someone shows you another angle, take it gratefully and incorporate it into the solution.
4. Make things better
Just because you can see an issue or a better way to do something doesn’t invalidate someone else’s ideas. Use your insight to build and enhance the project, not to tear down others.
5. Respect each other
Doing new things is hard. It can be stressful and we’re likely to disagree with others somewhere along the way. Give and take feedback constructively and be mindful that when things get tense, we’re all on the same side.
6. Have fun
The times we’re working together creatively can be the most enjoyable and rewarding parts of our jobs. Be joyful and try to spread that joy.
It’s an exciting and scary time in the world. There’s uncertainty around every corner and every industry is being disrupted at an unprecedented pace, but creativity and new ideas are the way forward. When we create more together, we’ll unlock better ideas and solutions to take our workplaces into the future.
We’ll also feel happier, too, as studies show there’s a huge correlation between creativity and workplace wellbeing. And we might not ever create something as brilliant as The Beatles, but we’ll have a lot of fun trying.
About Dom
Our talented Head of Content Dom Dipple is an experienced creative professional bringing 10+ years of history working in global advertising agencies for some of the biggest names in tech including Spotify, Netflix, and Fitbit. He’s also an avid Beatles fan.