Organisations Are Failing To Nurture Creativity: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services Study

Canva today unveiled insights from a study of more than 500 business professionals on the challenges of fostering creativity within the workplace.

Harvard Business Review Analytic Services conducted a global study in association with Canva and revealed that 96 per cent of survey respondents agree creative ideas are essential to an organisation’s long-term success and performance. In addition, 94 per cent agree that organisations that invest in creative tools and technology will be more successful in the future. 

However, while many acknowledge the importance of creativity and seek a creative edge, few are successfully converting innovative ideas into business impact.

Three categories of organisations emerged from the survey responses: leaders, followers, and laggards. These groupings were based on the organisations’ success at identifying creative solutions to business problems according to the respondents, regardless of whether the idea was implemented. Leaders (22%) are those organisations that are “very successful” at identifying and implementing creative solutions to business problems, while followers (56%) are “somewhat successful” and laggards (22%) are “not very successful.”

Top findings include:

• Workplaces are failing to nurture the creativity of their employees. Nine out of ten (91%) respondents agree that creative thinking is a key attribute for employees to possess yet more than half of laggards (58%) say their organisational culture doesn’t reward creative pursuits. Only 19% of leaders say the same.
• Leaders (41%) are more likely than followers (17%) and laggards (8%) to encourage greater creativity by rewarding employees for taking creative risks and thinking outside the box.
• Creativity must come from the top. Ninety-four per cent agree that having a creative leader increases the creativity of their team. However, despite this widespread acknowledgment, nearly three-quarters of laggards (72%) say the leadership at their organisation is not engaged enough in creative thinking to support creativity among employees. Among leaders, only 23 per cent of respondents felt the same.
• Creativity needs the right tools to flourish. Ninety-four per cent of respondents agree that organisations that invest in creative technology will be more successful in the future. Eighty-seven percent expect their organisation’s overall financial investment in creativity-building tools and technologies to increase or stay the same in the next year.
• Currently, the most used technologies to unlock creativity among leaders are collaboration platforms (65%), visual communication (64%), and data visualisation tools (56%). Collaboration can enhance the creative process by tapping into new ideas, perspectives, and approaches. Leaders are significantly more likely than laggards to facilitate cross-functional collaboration (53% vs. 14%) and encourage different ways of thinking (52% vs.15%).

• Generative AI is helping organisations get ahead. Forty-two per cent of leaders think gen AI can enhance creativity at their organisation to a great extent. For example, according to leaders, gen AI may fuel creativity by: automating repetitive tasks, freeing employees up to focus on more creative endeavors (62%), accelerating idea generation (60%), and creating content with minimal human intervention (49%). While forty-seven percent of leaders are using gen AI tools to foster creativity for the purpose of strategic growth, only 30% of followers and 14% of laggards are doing so.

  “In a business world focused on the bottom line, it’s easy to lose sight of the value of creativity. The findings highlight that creativity isn’t just a complement to business growth, it’s foundational to driving long-term success,” said Cameron Adams, co-founder and chief product officer, Canva. “Ultimately, innovation and creativity is what will differentiate the leaders from the laggards; it’s what drives growth in a challenging landscape.”