1. Offer Ample Time To Be Creative
According to Jamie Myrold, VP of experience design at Adobe (CMO.com is owned by Adobe), giving your team the time and space to do their work is imperative.
“Often as we’re trying to hit deadlines and are focusing on finding solutions to problems, that time to really be creative gets compressed,” Myrold told CMO.com in an exclusive interview. “Creativity and problem solving takes time. It’s not something that just falls out of the sky.”
Leaders must also pay close attention to what is being asked of their teams and whether it’s feasible for them to actually deliver on it—without getting burned out.
“Don’t expect your team to deliver more than it has the capacity to do,” Myrold said. A balance is needed between delivering really creative, innovative work and also giving the team the “air cover” to breathe and “reassess,” she added.
Myrold also advised giving teams the chance to work on projects beyond just the day-to-day deliverables. For example, Myrold’s team does a lot of pro-bono work, which gives them the opportunity to work outside of the company’s walls.
“We have people working with nonprofits and causes that they have a deep belief in,” she said. “It allows them to use their creative brain power in a different way.”