When creativity fades
Imagine: the team of an environmental organization is just learning that their project to protect the areas by the river has been rejected by the municipality. This involves the loss of funds for educational workshops planned as part of the project, and thus for salaries for a large part of the team.
The leader calls an urgent meeting to come up with something. The staff is upset and discouraged. Someone is looking for the guilty, someone has a sense of guilt, someone blames the system. There is a person who sees and describes the entire chain of future disastrous events that result from rejecting the project. Some employees start looking for a new job in their minds.
No one comes up with a solution to the problem. The meeting ends faster than usual and people leave the room feeling helpless and convinced of failure. They forgot that almost every project is a compromise between the organization’s goals (as well as its values and capacities) and the grantor’s objectives. That when they wrote the proposal, they had to give up elements relevant to them or add something they did not consider necessary to adapt to the requirements. The concept that was created months earlier, with a huge effort from many, now seems to be the only possible one. Lost funding blocks the future.
This is the moment when a team slips into tunnel vision. Anger, anxiety, and frustration narrow the horizon. It is not uncommon. In the third sector, similar stories happen every day.
Where does tunnel vision come from?
People on this team have not suddenly forgotten how to be creative. It was fatigue and stress that blocked them. Chronic tension acts as a brake – the brain goes into survival mode. The limbic system, responsible for anxiety and anger, is turned on, and the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for planning, reflection, and... fresh ideas, is turned off.
The longer this condition persists, the more difficult it becomes to escape it. Less and less energy goes into finding solutions, and more and more into surviving the day. Creativity dies and resignation takes its place.
What is the impact on the organization?
Tunnel vision turns meetings into a source of additional tension instead of motivation. People avoid conversations and sweep problems under the rug.
The organization becomes increasingly ineffective and projects drag on or do not get completed at all. The target audience sees fewer and fewer effects and stops believing that anything will change. At best, this ends with "firefighting." At worst, with the departure of those who still have the strength to leave.
Why is creativity important?
Creativity is often treated as an additional skill that is useful for specific tasks. Meanwhile, this is the basis, especially in social organizations. With it, you can see more possibilities, combine different points of view, and come up with something new where others see a dead end.
Without it, teams begin to repeat old patterns and burn out more and more. And yet the world around us is changing, expectations are growing, and problems are becoming increasingly complex. Organizations that do not develop creativity lose the sense of their activities and the trust of the people they work for.
How to regain creativity and horizon?
The good news is that you can find your way out of tunnel vision. At the beginning, there is no reason to assume that a solution or even sensible ideas will appear immediately. It is worth giving yourself and the team time to let go of emotions, be angry, and even panic. Only then can you plan your next steps.
What helps:
- spotting and naming the problem;
- asking open-ended questions at meetings that broaden the perspective;
- stepping into the shoes of others - target audience, partners, and teammates;
- fact-checking;
- leaving the office, taking a break from the screen, going for a walk, having coffee in the park;
- planning regeneration activities in the same way as projects.
For the team of environmentalists, regaining creativity was aided by sharing the situation with a person from outside the team (not emotionally tied to the project), allowing them to gain a fresh perspective and a new context, along with a facilitated meeting in a wider circle. The effects include, among others, dividing the project into elements that can be used like building blocks to create an offer, and a list of dozens of places, institutions, and organizations potentially interested in cooperation.
How do we work?
The Culture Shock Foundation's mission is to help teams regain energy and ideas. We show how to identify patterns that block creativity and share simple ways to develop it — even in difficult conditions.
There's no magic in it. Creativity is not only a feature for artists. It is a skill that any team can practice and strengthen. And thanks to this, return to what matters most to them.
Why is it worth it?
Creativity is not just about better projects. It is also about:
- greater resilience to crises;
- more cooperation and trust in the team;
- fewer tensions and misunderstandings;
- a sense of meaning and durability of activities.
It is worth taking care of it right now, before fatigue and patterns narrow the horizon for good.
