10 Dec 2015 Workplace Stress Hinders Your Creativity
“I am thinking of leaving the company,” said Daniel. “I am not happy with what we’ve have become in the last couple of years. The atmosphere in the office has become toxic. I used to love coming to work on Monday mornings. But now, I can’t remember when I’ve last enjoyed a day in the office.”
Joy and Daniel, two long-time managers with the company were having coffee at the local Starbucks.
“I think that John [the new VP] has a lot to do with it,” said Joy. “He has been putting so much pressure on everyone. Nothing is ever good enough anymore. We have become a cut-throat pressure cooker company.”
“I am not sure that John is the only problem,” said Daniel. “I hear the new EVP is putting a lot of pressure on John to cut costs by 40% this year.”
“To tell you the truth, Daniel, I have also been thinking of moving on. Have you heard what happened to Fred? He is in hospital. He had a heart attack last week.”
Have you ever experienced similar stress in your company?
Have you ever wondered about the impact of such stress on the organization’s productivity and creativity?
Evidently, the stress in the workplace has been attracting the spotlight of the research community recently. The Harvard Business Review recently published an article entitled Positive Work Cultures are More Productive, stating that:
Too many companies bet on having a cut-throat, high-pressure, take-no-prisoners culture to drive their financial success.
But a large and growing body of research on positive organizational psychology demonstrates that not only is a cut-throat environment harmful to productivity over time, but that a positive environment will lead to dramatic benefits for employers, employees, and the bottom line.
So what exactly do we mean by a “positive environment”? As leaders, how do we cultivate a positive environment in our organization?
The Science
In order to understand the negative relationship between stress in the workplace and the company’s creativity, innovation, and productivity, let’s review the following key scientific findings.
Stress Versus Challenge
First, we must draw a distinction between stress and challenge as performance motivators.
In his presentation Hacking, Consciousness Professor Fred Travis explains that there is a red line between positive challenge and harmful stress. A “good challenge” has a positive driving effect on our brain’s motivation and reward circuits. A stressful environment shuts down the motivation circuits, thereby reducing our analytical and creative mental resources.
If the “pressure to produce” is communicated to us as a positive challenge, we perceive it as a motivator. If the pressure to deliver is communicated as a threat, our brain responds by slowing the productive and creative circuits.
Stress and Creativity In the Brain
The effect of excessive chronic stress on our brain has been well documented. Chronic stress results in elevated levels of the “stress hormone” Cortisol. One of the many negative effects of elevated levels of Cortisol is that our brain directs its resources to deal with our physical or psychological stress, which leaves less mental resources available for creative and productive mental processes.
A 2005 study by Melanie Bickford entitled Stress in the Workplace, describes a scale of workplace stresses from “warning stage” to “severe stress”. Bickford outlines the impact of severe stress in the workplace, including sleep disturbance, mental fatigue, and even depression, all of which dramatically decrease the creative capacity of our brain.
Stress Tolerance And Creativity
Clearly people differ in their ability to handle stress. Some have a very high tolerance for stress, and even thrive on it, while others have a low tolerance and shut down during periods of high stress.
In his book The Emotional Life of Your Brain Neuroscientist, Dr. Richard Davidson states that the right side of our “thinking brain” (the pre-frontal cortex or PFC), is wired to think in spatial and abstract terms. And that is the part of the brain where creative thinking occurs. At the same time, people who’re the right side of the PFC is more active tend to be more pessimistic, sad, and even depressed.
Empirical evidence tells us that highly creative people are often (but not always) more sensitive, pessimistic, and sad.
As leaders, we have to be cognizant of the stress tolerance of our individual team members and take it into consideration in the way we communicate with them.
My Recommendation
Excessive stress in the workplace can lead to a decrease in productivity, creativity, and innovation.
Below are several recommendations for reducing the level of stress in your organization, while cultivating creativity, innovation, and productivity:
- Communicate stressors as challenges rather than fear-based motivators;
- Encourage an open work environment where employees can freely express their innovative ideas. No idea should be too small or too big. Implement an “idea system” where employees can communicate their ideas for consideration.
- Encourage prudent risk-taking, where employees feel safe in trying new creative ideas. To empower your team is to put your trust in them. Show them how much trust you have by allowing them to experiment with new ideas.
- Introduce programs to recognize and reward employees based on their contribution to innovation and creativity. Show your team how important their contribution is to the organization. They will feel inclined to try harder if they know you care.
- Mentor your leadership team to cultivate a positive and cheerful office environment. Lead by example and approach each challenge with an optimistic mentality.
- Introduce employee development programs such as Emotional Intelligence Training and Mindfulness Meditation. You will find these programs to yield a high return on your investment. Check out our blog Six Steps to Building a Mindfulness Program in your Company to see how you can start.
- In extreme situations, you may have to make the difficult choice of letting a “negative influencer” go. Negativity is like cancer. When left untreated it will inevitably spread.
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