People are biased against creative ideas, studies find

[Tank]

People are biased against creative ideas, studies find

The next time your great idea at work elicits silence or eye rolls, you might just pity those co-workers. Fresh research indicates they don't even know what a creative idea looks like and that creativity, hailed as a positive change agent, actually makes people squirm...

This article rings so true with me. I spend so much time thinking outside the box I think I've lost the box. I once developed a sort of formula/equation/rule-of-thumb regarding how much return one could expect from each new product one adds to a range. I presented my ideas and just got a blank stare. Five years later, after I had left the company, the CEO had to resign when it was discovered that the purchasing director had been covering up poor sales of new products and had hidden £10 million of stock that had not been sold. Not exactly the sort of vindication I was looking for but it was a sweet moment when I read about it in the trade press.

Creativity does scare people because it often challenges their existing world view and people do not like that. It also makes people feel insecure because of the 'not invented here' syndrome, they don't like the fact that other people may have a greater insight into something than themselves.

Have you ever suffered from 'the blank stare' when you have suggested something new?

[Sweetdeath]

Yes, always. I've discovered from much experience that people fear change immensely. They wish to remain in their protective incubators of ignorance and familarity.

[OldGit]

^ Right.  Yes, I have come across it.

[xSilverPhinx]

That's really interesting, and ironic. I guess know-it-alls also get a similar type of treatment, especially coming from those who are insecure themselves.

[Crow]

This is something I know very very well, some companies are brilliant at excepting new ideas but the majority are awful. A company I use to work for was appalling at accepting fresh ideas, they would only attempt anything if another company in the same field attempted something and was shown to be successful. Every week I would pitch new ideas to the marketing team and constantly get rejected, strangely about 2 - 4 weeks later a very large competitor would produce something that was uncannily like the idea that I presented, turned out the print and production managers that attended every meeting also worked with the competitor and was feeding them my ideas, worked out alright for me though as they provided me with a lot of work.

[xSilverPhinx]

If I was in charge of a company, I know I wouldn't try to dampen any manifestations of out-of-the-box thinking. Heck, even full blown and insufferable narcissists are welcome, as long as they're competent.

Safe isn't always the best thing.

[Tank]

This is something I know very very well, some companies are brilliant at excepting new ideas but the majority are awful. A company I use to work for was appalling at accepting fresh ideas, they would only attempt anything if another company in the same field attempted something and was shown to be successful. Every week I would pitch new ideas to the marketing team and constantly get rejected, strangely about 2 - 4 weeks later a very large competitor would produce something that was uncannily like the idea that I presented, turned out the print and production managers that attended every meeting also worked with the competitor and was feeding them my ideas, worked out alright for me though as they provided me with a lot of work.

We printed our catalogue at the same printer as our competitor. We continually attempted to bribe people at the printer to get advanced proofs of our competitors catalogue. They never provided anything or took any bribes, the moment they had we would have stopped using them. Years later I was talking to the print manager of the competitor he said they had been doing exactly the same thing for exactly the same reason! It was nice to find an ethical supplier.

[Davin]

I often receive a blank stare with my ideas because of my word choices and sentence structures. No matter how much I try to use words and phrasings I hear often, expressing my ideas tend to not get across very easily to other people. When presenting any kind of creative idea I may have, I have two methods that I use that are not mutually exclusive:

Trick them by showing them the idea is both familiar and creative. Works differently with different people because you have to find what is familiar to them and work from that.

Show them the benefits of said idea results in more efficient work. I find that if the creative idea can in any way be used to allow people to be lazy, it's easier for other people to appreciate and accept it.

[Tom62]

Even if the change is good, you'll have a hard time to convince people that it is. Changes means leaving known territory; and that is scary. That is why a lot of people, especially those who "know the old ways" best, prefer the status quo. Working in the IT, I've seen this happening over and over again. It s very hard to break through that barrier.

[Davin]

Aye, I'm a software developer, I understand people's fears and unwillingness to improve systems. Most things can be convinced by showing them how lazy they could be using it and/or how similar it is to the previous. There are some things that are silly (the dropdowns cannot be increased to not cut off the values, because they're too used to the size it is), but I've found that several changes and new things are accepted as long as familiarity and laziness are the selling points (just be diplomatic about one they calls it lazy: efficient, fewer problems, stream lined process... etc.).

[Sweetdeath]

You're a software developer?  That's so awesome~

[Tank]

You're a software developer?  That's so awesome~

Only a person who has never done it could say that 

[Davin]

You're a software developer?  That's so awesome~

Only a person who has never done it could say that 

Well it's definitely not a spectator sport either.

[Sweetdeath]

You're a software developer?  That's so awesome~

Only a person who has never done it could say that 

LOL! I'm also a techno nerd. X3 So it fascinates me like shiny pennies.