One of the most critical aspects of creativity is autonomy. Those who are following a rigid step-by-step process without the possibility for change may have creative ideas but will not be able to make those happen.
The preverbal “cog in the machine” isn’t creative.
This makes granting more autonomy to members of your team a critical step in fostering creativity. And identifying the areas of your own autonomy (or reclaiming your autonomy) is a critical step in fostering creativity in yourself.
We are unlikely to find total autonomy and freedom in our work, or even our play, so what am I talking about when I talk about the critical nature of autonomy?
Defining autonomy is important because far too many think that it is an all or nothing type of situation. You either have the ability to do whatever you want without restrictions or you are in a cage. That’s obviously not true in the real world since we always have some limitations.
The autonomy I’m talking about is the ability to make choices.
If you are working on your own project this is significantly easier than if you are working at a job or for a client since you will need to do the work in a way that the client or boss will approve.
If your decisions require approval, try, ask, and sometimes take a chance.
That said if you are being micromanaged in your work and can’t afford to be fired, you may need to find another outlet for your creative energies. And if you are a boss with employees you would like to see be more creative you can’t micromanage them. They will need autonomy and the ability to make choices. The same goes for children and students. It can be hard to let go and let be, but the rewards are most often worth the effort.
Watch the choices you make, see how you are making those choices. While it is good for many choices to be on auto-pilot to free up mental energy to make the important choices in our creative work. Exercise your autonomy and ability to make choices in your work. We should at least acknowledge just where we have this freedom.
Freedom of time is one of my favorite freedoms, when will you do the tasks that need done? How much time do you have to complete the task? Can you “time shift” to do the task at a time that fits your own energies?
Freedom of place is another personal favorite. Especially noticeable after I went nomadic and started traveling full time. On a smaller scale being able to physically move to a location that is more conducive to your work can dramatically increase creativity.
Freedom of methods is where we really start to see how some autonomy can bear creative fruit. When you have the freedom to decide how something is done, how it’s approached, which order the steps are done, this is really where the magic happens.
Freedom of materials or medium is another area to ask questions about. How much can you alter the recipe? Can you use use watercolors instead fo acrylics? Do you need to do a video or could a podcast work?
Absolute freedom isn’t realistic and can paralyze a creative person since the more creative the person the more options they tend to see. Balancing freedom to adapt and the autonomy to make decisions with realistic constraints can allow for creativity without that paralysis. So just as much as you consider the importance of autonomy, take some time to be thankful for the bounds of that autonomy. Having limits to that autonomy can speed up the creative process significantly. But that’s a discussion for another day.