While sometimes pushing hard can help you achieve better results, it doesn't always work with creativity.
According to new research, there is an effective formula for unlocking employees' creative potential.
Let's find out more.
An experiment on creativity
The researchers found that people who were rewarded for churning out ideas, regardless of their quality, ended up producing more creative ideas compared to those who received pay incentives based on idea quality or no incentives at all.
All participants in the study took a break from the task and returned to it later.
While previous research has shown that creative performance benefits from an incubation period, this study explored the impact of adding incentives for idea generation. Initially, incentivized groups did not outperform the fixed-wage group in creativity measures.
However, after a 10-day incubation period, those incentivized for idea quantity demonstrated a distinct creativity advantage, surpassing the other groups in both the quantity and quality of ideas.
The researchers emphasized that combining mass idea generation with a rest period yields much more creative productivity than using either strategy in isolation.
In a second experiment, participants who were initially paid based on idea quantity demonstrated greater creative output after a 20-minute rest period compared to those who were paid a fixed amount.
The research highlights the importance of providing incentives for idea generation and recognizing the value of rest and detachment in enhancing creative thinking and productivity.
