Does Creativity Really Start at Home?

Like many lucky people, I’m hiring and finding it a bit tough. Exceptional talent has always been rare but the process to join an agency was always fairly predictable. It went something like this… post a job, vet the candidates, meet three, choose one, start in a month(ish). But as I’ll explain, hybrid has hacked the system. Creatives want a different deal.

Before 2020 (the old days)

Back then the work-life balance was a perpetual moan and we all looked on enviously at the free food, free dry cleaning, free beer life of the tech chosen ones. Even if you didn’t work at those places, it wasn’t unusual to have a sofa in your office… or maybe a dog. A physical space: equal parts living room, gallery, garage, café and night club. Creative agencies were the pinnacle of progressive working, purpose built for short attention spans and people who like to write on walls. 

So why then do so few want to come back to them? Was the agency model already broken or can creative things be made anywhere now? The reason is quite complicated, but I think it’s worth sharing what I’ve discovered. 

Home sweet home office

Let’s be honest, working from home has many benefits. Yes, you’re surprisingly more productive in your kitchen than anyone predicted so you can finally be trusted to work there. Yes, you are saving a boat load of money not buying that travel card, Pret and post-work pint round. Yes, your French Bulldog will miss you and probably shave the skirting boards if you leave the house for more than an hour. And yes, Zoom/Teams/Hangouts are better than a three-hour round trip for a one-hour client meeting even if, after two and a half years, you’re still on mute. DARRYL YOU’RE ON MUTE!

In search of real data I found myself on ONS.gov.uk and discovered a fantastic chart about the advantages of working from home that I think beautifully captures the situation. 

Unsurprisingly, ‘Improved work-life balance’ topped the list at 78%. However, just 16% found hybrid ‘Easier to think of new ideas’. It seems that we finally won the work-life battle but might have paid with a lobotomy!

Although many legitimate causes for this ‘new idea brain fog’ (Covid being one of them!), I suspect another answer might be hiding in the same chart. Only 12% said it’s ‘Easier to work with others’, confirming my own frustrations trying to ideate over virtual meetings (my best colab hack is still holding my sketch pad to the webcam). It also supports a longstanding belief that creativity is a collaborative enterprise and ideas are a team sport. ‘Others’, it turns out, are a critical creative ingredient! 

My favourite stat though has to be 53% saying WFH offers ‘Fewer distractions’. On face value this sounds like a massive productivity positive, but unfortunately ignores that day dreaming, people watching and allowing your mind to be distracted are core tenets of creative thinking and scientifically proven to aid it. More evidence that it’s impossible to replicate the happy accidents, spontaneity and randomness of life whilst in the vacuum of your home. Silence, it seems, stifles serendipity.

What’s clear to me from this research is not leaving our home, although convenient, isn’t healthy for our imagination. So, to put these stats to the test I asked some industry friends for their real-world experiences, and it seems that shifts in four areas also stressed the system.

Process – The old way wobbled

The distance of remote working exposed fragile interdependencies in how creative things are made. Working later (and waiting longer) we patched together a version of before with overcommunication and overservice. Paralysed by the fear of losing our jobs, delivery was prioritised over discovery. Clients were struggling too – content constantly changed, deadlines didn’t. And behind the curtain the miracle engine was no longer running on fumes, it was often in flames. There must be a better way, and many have decided they’re not hanging around to figure it out. 

Progression – Junior people suffered

The truth is creative agencies are terrible at training and this, coupled with the difficulty in learning remotely, meant the next gen lost two years of their apprenticeship. However, agencies are genuinely amazing at osmosis. Proximity is a key component of creative development and being together is both more efficient and way more fun (remember fun?). But the way creative decisions are made – through instinct and accident – requires an experienced guide to navigate. Up a bit, right a bit. You learn from your masters and time spent next to someone senior defines careers. No guru, no enlightenment. 

Which leads me to…

Priorities – Senior people settled 

One thing I never saw in lockdown was a senior manager balancing a laptop on an open dresser drawer whilst sitting on their bed! ONS.gov.uk tells us that ‘High earners are more likely to hybrid work’ and Zoom unmasked why as we finally broke the fourth wall and realised that the old guard had a fully stocked work bunker. Although a product of the agency system, some senior people seem happy not to return to it. Been there, done that, had the after party. They have different priorities now and the culture they helped build isn’t one of them. Self-sufficiency detached them from responsibility. Mentoring the future is not their problem. 

Purpose – Creatives want more action

For now, at least, the pandemic changed creativity. Everything has gotten a bit serious, a bit tense and a bit urgent. FOMO has become FOGO (Fear of going out). Overindulgence is out and ‘Now more than ever’ is in. Selling is all about solving, and issues are the new ideas. Creatives thrive on real-world challenges so feel compelled to help. They are bored of bread and butter. It lacks nutrition. They want to work on more meaningful, more impactful and more human centred problems… anything less is a template. But in this age of productivity, creativity is often being reduced into a task list when it should be a wish list. 

To summarise… everything above verifies how mutually inclusive the creative system really is. I mentioned it being a ‘team sport’ and this is where it feels like it has fallen down – people are simply refusing to play the old game. And, in some instances, they prefer to play by themselves. Which bucket do you fall into? 

So, what’s the answer?

I have some thoughts…

I think working from home stagnates creativity. The ONS captured it and everyone I talk to experienced it. So, the solution then should be easy… go back to the office! Not only is that not going to happen, it’s also not that simple. There needs to be a better reason to return – that innovates what work is beyond desk space and Taco Tuesdays.

This resistance to coming back together has forced a pause point and created a unique moment to reappraise, reshape and relaunch how we make creative things. To do this properly we must recognise the failings of work – both at home and the office – and commit to a new arrangement built on the two things that we all agree are essential to creativity: the silence to focus and the noise to agitate ideas. Proper left brain/right brain days and a truer, more deliberate version of hybrid where we amplify the best of both. What we’re doing now has potential but still feels too random to be the next big shift in progressive working. 

I think that until a better idea replaces it (or Meta replicates it) the office will continue to be a vital element to creativity. Not only for its practical attributes and ergonomics, but because it’s the one true safe space for progressive thinking… which is entirely the point of the agency! The studio exists as a different kind of tool, unlike a sheet of paper, a notepad or a laptop. It’s a mind space, a forum for discussion and debate – to test and challenge ideas, to unify and belong and to share and grow. Greg Hoffman says it best in his book Emotion By Design – “Make the environment as innovative as the solutions you seek to create”. We should surround ourselves with things that inspire us… this includes people.

I think that although the opportunity ahead is super exciting, the real work needs to be done on culture. Zoom is an unauthentic form of communication – it’s too low rez for real conversations. There is also a disconnect between those starting their career and those completely over it. Their magnetic norths are forcing each other away. We’ve been apart so long now and have broken our own value chain. Like a family that only meets at Christmas, we need to remind ourselves why we get along and regain the spiritual glue. One thing is clear to me – I want work mates not pen pals. 

Finally, I think that the real change is yet to be witnessed. We are still living in the echo of what the agency was, mostly because it’s all we know, and it worked so well for so long. We seem to be waiting for a sign, a moment, maybe even permission to start ‘Agency 3.0’, but we actually need to realise that this is not a return to work, this is a reset of work, so what we do next is crucial in defining the creative business… probably for the next 10 years. I strongly believe the timing is perfect for a new routine that embraces a more progressive, integrated and relevant approach and our industry needs to lead this transition.

If you want to be part of it, I’m hiring.