Machiavelli famously highlighted the precarious nature of bucking the norm in The Prince when he described that those who do have active opposition from those well off under the current state of affairs, and but lukewarm support from those who might stand to gain.

New research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign also reminds us that creativity is so deeply personal that it can be a risky endeavour to undertake in the workplace.

“One of the things organizations often tell their employees is be creative, but that’s not a benign instruction,” the researchers say. “When you’re being creative, you’re sharing something about yourself and allowing others to make judgments about you. I think people — both managers and employees — should be mindful of the risks involved. There ought to be some caution flags raised around the idea that employees can be freely creative, unless you go through a lot of hoops to make sure there aren’t consequences.”

Risky business

Creativity inherently involves not only thinking up new ways of doing things, but sharing your bold ideas with others.  This act exposes your thinking to all of the brickbats and criticism outlined so clearly by Machiavelli.

“When people are being creative, they’re not just solving problems. They’re actually revealing something deeply personal,” the researchers explain. “The ideas that we share when we’re brainstorming and generating ideas — they’re not just abstract, cold solutions to a problem. They’re derived from our own unique idiosyncratic perspective. You’re reaching down into yourself to share something that reflects your point of view, and that makes sharing those ideas risky, personal and consequential.”

Over a number of experiments, the researchers tested just how much creativity can prompt this perception of self-disclosure.  The results suggest there is an inevitability about creativity in that it nearly always prompts us to think about our likes and dislikes, and less about what other people think.

This underlines just why creativity can be so risky, as criticism of one’s idea is effectively a rejection of our perspective or point of view, which can feel dangerously close to a rejection of us as people.

Encouraging connections

This exposure of our true self does have an added bonus however, as it makes it easier to truly get to know our colleagues at work.  By sharing our ideas, we’re sharing something deep and personal about our personality.

“Based on those ideas, you may feel like you know this person, but you also might not necessarily like them,” the researchers say. “When people are being creative, they are sharing the kind of information that may rub people the wrong way.”

The authors believe that their findings have implications not just for traditionally creative people, but also for any professional that has to engage in creative thinking as part of their work.

“This speaks to making people feel anonymous when they’re brainstorming,” they conclude. “It’s the same reason that people share more when they know that their response will be anonymous, because there’s less risk. So one way to be more creative is by lowering the risk, but also realizing that it’s an opportunity to get to know each other better. It could certainly be an icebreaker.”