Constraints! They’re everywhere right now.
Budgets are demolished. Teams are scattered and anxious. Our plans are wiped out. We have nothing but time, but it’s hard to carve out calm, productive, creative time for deep work.
Our old routines are gone. The levers we used to pull for creativity (walk down a bustling sidewalk, get the perfect latte from the place down the street, brainstorm as a team around a table) are missing.
But! I keep seeing creative work emerge even amid all the constraints. Our addled brains are pushed into overdrive right now, and sometimes (sometimes!), we get inspired results.
Here are the shining examples of creativity under constraints that are inspiring me:
The Way We Work — Antenna
My friends at the marketing consulting firm Antenna pulled together timely advice, Q&As, and resources for marketers trying to make sense of how COVID-19 will “reshape our careers, workplaces, and world.” This new resource includes help for independent workers, marketing leaders, and anyone trying to make a strategic plan during a standstill.
And bonus! Antenna recently increased its long-time commitment to supporting their local food bank, Second Harvest Heartland. And they’re asking marketers to pitch in. Step 1: Pick a friend you want to buy coffee for. Step 2: Donate $10 (2 cups of coffee) to Second Harvest Heartland. Step 3: Know that your virtual coffee date provided 30 meals for Minnesota families.
Weathering the Emotional Storms of a Crisis — A Tactical Guide for Individual Contributors and Managers — First Round
Need a pick-me-up in the form of an emotional guide? It shouldn’t surprise me that the legendary content team at First Round has us covered.
In this comprehensive interview, “No Hard Feelings” co-author Liz Fosslien maps out how to treat yourself and others right now. The snippets of advice that stuck with me: Emotionally proofread every email and message. As a manager, lay your cards on the table. Create official time off so that people don’t burn out. Her illustrations (see below) stuck with me, too. I agree with the First Round interviewer: “Her tips were like a warm bowl of chicken soup, incredibly comforting and exactly what we needed.”
These constrained (and creative) Potbelly marketers staged a Zoom lunch break with Potbelly sandwiches for everyone. And now I’m hungry.
“Oh-Shit Service” — Max Traylor
What can you offer your clients right now? Your market might have disappeared overnight, or your customers might need completely different kinds of help. The very creative Max Traylor is helping B2B companies, especially agencies, develop their crisis-time “oh-shit” service and prime themselves to be maximally helpful. He’s offering it on a “pay what you can” scale, too.
To be honest, I’m not feeling especially creative these days — or I only get brief flashes of creative energy every few days. But here’s my challenge to myself and to you: How can we get creative?
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What could we rethink, shift, or completely upend right now?
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How could we work within our new constraints so that they feel defining, not confining?
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How could we change our services, our pricing, our marketing, or our work habits to make things better and more relevant for today’s reality?
It’s worth taking 5 minutes (today, and again every few days) to pause, brainstorm, jot down some notes, and stretch your thinking. We can’t do much right now, but we can gently encourage our own creativity.
