Does Your Management Style Foster Creativity or Stifle Innovation?

Remember paint by numbers, that most prescriptive of coloring books?

I’m not sure whether being led by numbers to color an image can be classified as art at all. The lines, the numbers, it all seems quite regimented and contrary to what I consider creativity. I suppose there is something to be said for granting the non-artists among us a taste of artistic triumph, but I’m sure that for those who craved a creative buzz, it left us absolutely sober.

What does this have to do with management? Everything. 

Yesterday’s Management Is Today’s Death Trap

When I read certain management textbooks, they seem prescriptive in a similar way to paint by numbers coloring books. The numbers look a little something like this: “If a certain person acts this way, you need to do the other,” “If they adopt a certain body language, it means this,” “If they have failed at something, they need to do it this way.” 

We live in an age when management theories abound, and when the workforce is changing rapidly. People are motivated like never before to improve their personal prospects in search of self-actualization. As people migrate between companies early in their careers, they can encounter all sorts of managers. Unequivocally, the paint-by-numbers managers are anathema to today’s workforce culture. Most people do not prefer structured, rigid, and authoritative work environments or managers; they prefer them to be collaborative, flexible, and flat. 

Trust Them to Mix Their Own Paint

When confronted with managers who tell you how you “should” do things, who opt to exert force rather than open their ears, who impose rules without consideration of individual differences, concerns, and complaints, today’s workers tend to walk away. That is why mangers would be prudent to eschew the paint-by-numbers approach, whenever reasonable. Managers who accept that there is no hard-and-fast method for most things are in a good position to relate profitably to today’s workforce. Surely some things are the way they are because there is little room for change given certain externalities; but when it comes to management styles, the affair is entirely subjective.

And there is an even better reason to internalize this than that your workers may feel unheard or walk away. By adopting a paint-by-numbers approach, you are stifling creativity, and in a work environment, creativity is akin to innovation. How can you expect to disrupt an industry, increase efficiencies, absorb new technologies, or stem rates of attrition if you don’t give your people enough leeway to make their own decisions? The moment you tell them “you should do this,” you suppress critical thinking and limit the applications of whatever skills, education, and experience they may have.

If that’s not enough, the perils go beyond workplace frustration and creative stagnation. The paint-by-numbers approach is a liability. When you tell an employee, “you should do this,” you relieve them of responsibility. If something goes wrong, they can fall back on your directive. How will you reasonably tell that person they should have done something different? From their perspective, they were simply doing what they were told. If painting by numbers is the name of the game, that is what they will do. You, on the other hand, will be sure to suffer for it.

My advice: If you hire someone, you must trust them to mix their own paint. 

Can I Stretch the Metaphor Any Further? 

I hope you appreciate this rather overworked metaphor. The gist is that the prescriptive manager will never get the best out of his team because they will all be working within suffocating constraints.

It is far better to leave them to their own devices (while keeping a watchful eye) so they can experience the glory and satisfaction of creating their own masterpieces.

Thank you for reading. I have written hundreds of articles here on LinkedIn and am also a columnist for Forbes & HuffPost. If any of my articles help you and you'd like to consider nominating me for the LinkedIN Top Voices List then kindly fill out this short form. With immense gratitude.