In Handy Tips, we find ways that can improve your life and make it easier and explain why these tips work. Today, we will tell you why your little quirks are the key to unleashing your creative potential.
How does it work?
Work is always connected with some formalities like dress code, strict discipline, the judgment of people who think differently, hierarchy, and micromanagement. All these scary words make employees follow the established order. There are professions in which you can’t do without formalities, but in creative industries, such things can harm creativity.
That is why more and more companies are encouraging their employees to be open-minded and not be afraid of being themselves. Austin, the main city of Texas, was the pioneer of this fantastic trend. In the early 2000s, Austin experienced a demographic and business boom, and other US cities, including Portland and Edmond, adopted Austin’s new business culture.
The Zappos online store and Method, the manufacturer of cleaning supplies, ask potential employees about their quirks right at the first job interview. The founders of these companies believe that everyone should feel at home at work, if only this does not get in the way of the common cause.
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Some may feel comfortable working in a pirate hat, while others like walking around the office in slippers with Homer Simpson. Employees can freely express themselves because they know that no one will judge them or make fun of them. Thus, more bold points of view emerge in the company, and relationships within the team become more trusting.
One person can comfortably perform the work of ten people – just give him/her a freedom of expression.
In his interviews, Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari (an American company that develops video games), often tells how he intentionally hired strangely behaving people. One of them was Steve Jobs, who, according to numerous witnesses, was not the most pleasant person in terms of communication. Bushnell even had to switch him to working night shifts to avoid breaking the psyche of other employees. Despite this, Bushnell believes that one talented person can work as ten people would, you just need to let him/her sparkle.
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It is important to understand that strangenesses and quirks are simply character traits, and everyone has them, even though they might carefully hide them (and, by the way, such people do not always benefit from this).
Sometimes it happens that all sorts of quirks look pretty fun, and others perceive them as cute and nice. However, only those oddities that often make people feel uncomfortable can truly increase one’s creativity.
