The Essence of Creativity

Every bona fide creative, from writers to designers to marketers, will encounter writer’s block at some point. It’s not so much about the inability to produce work, but rather that the results are not what you expected. How do creative agencies handle such situations when the deadline looms? We need to balance managing ourselves with clients’ expectations. If we were to give you a sneak peek into our agency life, the essence of creativity lies not just in the design and communication of content but hinges on one key element: survival. Let’s change our perspective on creativity. What are the goals of writing, designing, or marketing?

Heart and Soul of the Creative Department

On a macro level, it begets the question of “how does one solve corporate and community challenges? How does one reach customers, be effective, and be relevant? How does one bring in revenues?” On a micro level, it sounds more like “how do I get what I want? How do I solicit something from others in the manner I desire?” This translates to, how can I close the deal and get your sales? Let me boldly propose that the essence of creativity is to find solutions.

At elionetwork, we hold fast to this value and hope it becomes a natural instinct that, as a team, we are solution-providers. It forces us to stop focusing on the words, the picture, the distribution channel, and pushes us to think without barriers and boundaries, as long as we solve clients’ problems.

Key Structures and Ideologies for Creativity

1. Diversity

elionetwork has offices across the region, and our team comprises multiple nationalities. Differences in perspectives, values, lifestyles, and even idiosyncrasies make for good content for creativity. Diversity broadens our horizons, and differences in opinions allow for conversations that dig deeper, question, and do not accept the status quo. This creates new synapses and connections in the brain, stimulating further thought processes. Through varying voices and lenses, we get to travel, see the world, and bring back ideas and solutions for ourselves and our organisations. It’s a win-win for everyone.

2. The Unhurried Mind

Don’t rush the process. We live in a “microwave generation.” Cliché but true—we want things done yesterday. The creative process and the unhurried mind are synonymous. One renowned neuroscientist researching creativity explains that dopamine is the key ingredient: the more dopamine that is released, the more creative we are. So what do we do at elionetwork? We take our creative meetings outside of the four walls. Sometimes we’re at a café. Sometimes we’re online. Sometimes we need to interrupt the meeting and engage in a team activity. Then we come back to the drawing board.

3. Walk

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche declared, “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” Charles Darwin, Steve Jobs, and Virginia Woolf all confessed that walking helped them conceive their greatest ideas. In 2014, Marily Oppezzo of Stanford University designed an experiment where participants completed a standard creativity task—first while sitting and then while walking on a treadmill. Of the 48 subjects, 81% improved on the creativity test while walking. The mechanism for this is that walking boosts dopamine and adrenaline, hormones that cause a positive mood and increase divergent thinking. There’s a link between walking and associative memory, which allows the brain to synthesize different concepts into novel ideas.

For companies that offer flexibility in working from home, just organize your time and take a quick walk during lunch or walk to grab that afternoon coffee. This ensures that creativity flourishes regardless of the work environment.

4. Courage is Contagious

Brené Brown confesses, “Vulnerability is not winning or losing. It’s having the courage to show up when you can’t control the outcome”. Therefore, elionetwork seeks to create a work environment where teams flourish. People can fail and stand up again. Each person and idea is accepted. Opportunities to do new things are given. Team support builds upon ideas and delivers exponential results. Just because an idea failed a few years ago, before COVID-19 or during the pandemic, does not mean it can’t work now. Our world is volatile; trends change in months, not years. People’s philosophies and demands all change. Let’s redefine the concept of work, constantly touch base with our clients and their ever-evolving needs, and keep up with new developments.

Changing mindsets is transformative, and as a result, brainstorming takes on a different meaning. It starts with me, and consequently, the sum of us becomes the company. Everyone is in the “solution business,” especially in a company like elionetwork. It does not matter what shape or form it takes; ultimately, we find creative ideas for issues at hand, communicate them in a meaningful manner, and advance both our and our clients’ corporate agendas. Thus, writer’s block could eventually become an obsolete phrase. Trust us; we can and have created magic.

 

About the author

Melissa Seet is Senior Copywriter at  elionetwork and has been in the marketing industry for over twenty years, in Singapore and in Cambodia. She has written coffee-table books for NGOs, industry handbooks and corporate material across the hospitality, education and built environment sectors.