Principles

When people talk about processes, many picture a rigid organisation.

Every activity is prescribed. Every decision requires approval. Forms must be completed, meetings held and rules followed even when they create no value in the situation at hand.

That kind of system really can kill creativity.

But that is not process.

It is bureaucracy.

A good process does not tell people what to think. It removes recurring confusion so they can apply their thinking where it creates the most value.

Clarity does not limit creativity.

Creativity is limited when too much of a person's attention is spent searching for information, waiting for decisions, deciphering unclear expectations and redoing work that has already been completed.

Creativity needs constraints

Complete freedom sounds ideal for creativity.

In reality, a completely open-ended task is often one of the hardest kinds of task.

“Do something good.”

“Come up with a new campaign.”

“Develop the product further.”

“Find a better solution for our customers.”

“Be innovative.”

Tasks like these give people a great deal of freedom, but very little direction.

They do not know:

• what problem needs to be solved;
• who the solution is being created for;
• what outcome needs to change;
• what constraints exist;
• what has already been tried;
• how a good solution will be evaluated;
• when the outcome must be ready;
• who makes the final decision.

As a result, the first part of creative work is often spent making sense of the task itself.

Sometimes a person defines the right task for themselves.

Sometimes they do not.

If the result does not match the expectation the manager had in mind, the work starts again.

That is not creativity.

It is a guessing game.

A good process gives creativity a framework. It states what problem is being solved, what outcome is needed and what boundaries apply.

Within that framework, people can use their knowledge, experience and creativity.

Process removes unnecessary decisions

Everyone has limited attention.

When much of the day is spent making small, repetitive decisions, less energy remains for solving important problems.

Where can I find the information I need?

Which document template should I use?

Whose approval do I need?

Where should the file be saved?

Who needs to notify the customer?

In what order should the activities be carried out?

When should the work be handed over to the next person?

If these questions are answered from scratch every time, the company is not agile.

It is wasting people's capacity to think.

A good process provides a default answer to recurring questions.

People do not have to rethink how to handle a routine situation every time. They can focus on what is genuinely different about this particular customer, project or problem.

The purpose of a process is not to eliminate decision-making.

The purpose is to eliminate decisions that create no additional value when made again.

Without process, the outcome depends on people's memory and energy

In a small company, work can continue for a long time without clearly documented processes.

People know one another. Information is shared verbally. Experienced employees know what to do, and the manager can step in quickly when necessary.

From the outside, such a company appears agile and creative.

In reality, its results often rest on the memory, experience and extra effort of a few people.

When one of those people goes on holiday, falls ill or leaves, the system begins to fall apart.

No one knows exactly:

• what was agreed with the customer;
• why a previous decision was made;
• what must be checked before handing over the work;
• which mistakes must be avoided;
• who has the authority to make an exception;
• what minimum standard completed work must meet.

Creativity is then used not to create new value, but to rebuild the missing system.

People improvise to find lost information, make up for forgotten tasks and rescue delayed projects.

This may feel dynamic.

But most of that creativity is spent on problems the company keeps recreating for itself.

Rework kills more creativity than process does

In creative work, rework is sometimes considered natural.

Some experimentation is indeed necessary. The first idea does not have to be the best, and new insights may change the solution.

But a very large share of rework does not result from creative discovery.

It results from unclear input and delayed decisions.

The work is completed, only for it then to emerge that:

• the objective was understood differently;
• the decision-maker wanted something else;
• the customer had not provided the necessary information;
• a technical constraint was overlooked at the outset;
• another team made a conflicting change at the same time;
• the priority had changed in the meantime;
• the quality criteria had not been agreed.

In such a system, people cannot learn from the quality of their first solution because the rules of the game change while the work is under way.

This reduces creativity.

After a few such experiences, people stop proposing bold solutions. They begin to wait for precise instructions and frequent approvals because independent thinking increases the risk of rework.

A good process brings the important questions to the beginning of the work and feedback to a sufficiently early stage.

This allows people to test ideas before too much time has been invested in the wrong direction.

A good process protects creative people from the organisation

Creative work requires focus.

If a person's working day is constantly interrupted by random questions, shifting priorities and unexpected tasks, there is no room for the deep thinking the work requires.

A process helps determine:

• how new work reaches the team;
• who assesses its importance;
• when priorities are changed;
• what information must be available before work begins;
• who may give feedback while the work is in progress;
• when the outcome is considered complete;
• what kind of urgent situation justifies an interruption.

Without this logic, every new request lands directly on the creative person's desk.

Sales promised something.

The manager had a new idea.

The customer asked for a small change.

Another department needs urgent help.

Each of these seems reasonable in isolation.

Together, they make focused work impossible.

A good process does not only protect the company from mistakes.

It protects people's attention from the company's own randomness.

Process makes good work repeatable

Creative companies often fall prey to the misconception that every good outcome is unique and cannot be turned into a process.

The final outcome may well be unique.

The fundamental steps involved in creating it do not have to be.

For example, the idea behind a marketing campaign may differ every time, but the process can make the following clear:

• which customer problem is the starting point;
• what behaviour needs to change;
• what information must be available before creative work begins;
• who provides input;
• when ideas are evaluated;
• which criteria are used to make the selection;
• how the campaign is tested;
• which results are measured;
• how lessons learned feed into the next campaign.

The same applies to product development, design, consulting, software development and content creation.

The process does not need to determine what idea emerges.

It must ensure that a good idea receives the necessary input, reaches a decision, is turned into execution and gives the company new knowledge.

Without a process, an organisation may have plenty of good ideas.

Very few of them produce results.

Creativity is not about making exceptions

In some companies, flexibility means that every customer receives a different solution and every project is run differently.

This may appear customer-centric.

But if every piece of work starts from scratch, the company cannot learn from past experience or improve quality consistently.

An exception may be necessary when the customer's problem is genuinely different and a bespoke solution creates enough value.

An exception is not justified merely because sales promised it, the customer asked for it or following the process felt inconvenient.

A good process does not prohibit exceptions.

It makes visible:

• when an exception is necessary;
• who may decide on it;
• how much the exception costs;
• how it affects other customers and teams;
• whether the exception becomes the new standard;
• which part is deliberately kept as a one-off.

Without a framework for making exceptions, every customer project becomes a new process.

That does not free creativity.

It consumes creativity by repeatedly reinventing the same work.

The right people need less control, but more clarity

A capable and experienced person does not need detailed instructions from a manager on how to carry out their work.

They do, however, need clear answers to the following questions:

• What outcome is expected of me?
• Why is this outcome important?
• What constraints must I take into account?
• Which decisions may I make independently?
• When must I involve others?
• How will the quality of my work be assessed?

Without these answers, people do not become autonomous.

They become dependent on the manager's interpretation.

They must constantly ask whether they are moving in the right direction or risk the completed work failing to meet expectations.

A clear process reduces the need for control.

The manager does not need to monitor every activity because the work's inputs, responsibilities, decision points and expected outcome are visible.

People can choose the best way to achieve the outcome themselves.

That is genuine autonomy.

Not a situation where an employee is told to “be independent” but is not told what outcome they are responsible for.

A bad process really does kill creativity

Not every process needs to be defended simply because it was once written down.

A bad process really can harm creativity and performance.

You can recognise a bad process by the fact that:

• it requires activities that do not change the outcome;
• every small decision requires multiple approvals;
• the process is followed even in situations it does not suit;
• responsibility is diffused among reviewers;
• employees are not allowed to use their professional judgement;
• important information arrives too late;
• the system measures activities rather than value created;
• the cost of avoiding an error becomes greater than the error's potential impact;
• no one remembers why a particular step exists;
• the process is not changed even when the work itself has changed.

Such a process does not create clarity.

It replaces thinking with following rules.

Bureaucracy emerges when a process begins to protect itself rather than the company's results.

Every step in a process must therefore have a reason.

If removing a step does not increase risk, reduce quality or worsen the outcome, that step may not be needed.

What should be standardised and what should not?

Not everything needs to be turned into a process.

It is worth standardising above all what is:

• repetitive;
• sufficiently predictable;
• important in terms of quality or risk;
• dependent on collaboration between several people;
• costly when mistakes occur;
• necessary for handing over information or responsibility;
• possible to carry out in a similar way every time.

Creative decision-making should be retained where:

• the problem is new;
• the customer's situation is genuinely different;
• the best solution depends on professional judgement;
• experimentation creates important new knowledge;
• an overly rigid rule would reduce value;
• the quality of the outcome depends on originality.

A good company does not choose between process and creativity.

It makes a conscious decision about which part of the work must be repeatable and which part requires people's best thinking.

How do you build a process that frees creativity?

A process that supports creativity begins with the outcome, not a list of activities.

1. Define the expected outcome

People need to know what change their work must produce.

Not simply “create a campaign”, but whose behaviour the company wants to change, in what direction and why.

2. Establish the necessary input

Creative people should not have to chase around the organisation for source information that others should have provided.

3. Make responsibility visible

Each outcome must have one clear person responsible for it. Many people may be involved, but the ultimate owner must be known.

4. Give decision-making authority alongside responsibility

People cannot be responsible for an outcome if someone else makes all the decisions needed to achieve it.

5. Standardise the repetitive part

Templates, checklists, automation and clear handovers should eliminate work that creates no value when reinvented.

6. Bring feedback forward

The first review point must come before the entire solution is complete. This allows the direction to be changed without extensive rework.

7. Allow justified exceptions

The process must also describe when and how it may be departed from.

8. Remove steps that no longer serve the outcome

A process is not a finished document. It is the company's way of working and must evolve with the work itself.

The value of a process is revealed by what people no longer have to do because of it

The outcome of a good process is not a longer manual.

The outcome of a good process is that people no longer have to:

• search for the same information several times;
• ask the same questions repeatedly;
• wait for approvals they do not understand;
• correct the same mistakes;
• resolve the same exceptions;
• guess who is responsible;
• start every project from scratch;
• keep critical information in their heads;
• spend creative energy on organisational confusion.

Only then can that energy be used to create new ideas, better solutions and greater value for the customer.

A creative company is not a company without processes

A company without processes may seem fast as long as all the key people can fit around one table and the founder has time to solve every problem personally.

As the company grows, however, so does the number of people, customers, projects and decisions.

Without processes, creativity does not grow.

Interruptions, rework, waiting and dependence on individual people do.

A good process does not turn a person into part of a machine.

It removes mechanical work from their day.

It does not decide for people what a good idea should be.

It creates the conditions in which a good idea is not lost in confusion, held up by a decision or broken apart during execution.

Creativity is not freed by an absence of boundaries.

Creativity is freed by clarity about where the boundaries are and where people genuinely have the right to think.

Mikk OrglaanChalleng.ist