Unlocking Creative Potential in Hybrid Work

The shift to hybrid work has sparked numerous debates and personal preferences about what it truly means and how it manifests within organisations. However, instead of focusing on the where, and how often we move between different work locations, we need to ask ourselves a more critical question: how do we do our best work?

After all, the ultimate purpose of our jobs and companies is to create value through our labour, which should be valuable to us as individuals as well.

So, what are the conditions, timings, and habits that enable us to do our best work?

Creativity is a multifaceted and famously ambiguous concept, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to defining it. However, despite Creativity's mysterious reputation, there is a legitimate and significant branch of academic and industry research dedicated to understanding it; mostly from the perspective of creative performance or organisational innovation.

More recent research from the team behind Hacking Creativity, the world's largest ever study of creativity identified and filled a gap in this research, how creative manifests in the habits of creative people from all walks of life.

What we do know is that highly creative individuals have unique ways of approaching their work. By studying the patterns and habits of these creative individuals, we can gain insights into how different styles of creativity can inform our own work practices.

The natural diversity of creative styles was echoed in the findings of JLL’s recent pilot workplace neuroscience study in which we found similarly diverse patterns in the way that people engaged with different working locations and on different types of work.

By understanding both our ‘creative’ and ‘cognitive’ styles (or, how our brains respond to different working environments and patterns), we believe it possible to be more intentional and deliberate in our approach to hybrid work.

Understanding the natural neurodiversity of our organisations can empower us to cultivate high-performance hybrid habits that enable us to enter “the zone” or a state of flow, effectively solving problems and maintaining a healthy level of engagement and effectiveness with our work.

To further explore the impact that our working habits have on our performance and ability to be creative, objectively, JLL is developing a holistic human potential programme for hybrid work habits in partnership with EMOTIV, a neurotechnology pioneer and Andy Walshe, a world leader in human factor and high-performance programmes. Through targeted coaching and measurement techniques, this programme gains insights into focus, engagement, stress, and enjoyment levels.

As we embrace the era of hybrid work, it's crucial to approach it with a growth mindset and a willingness to adapt. By understanding the science behind creativity and the neuroscience of work, we can unlock our creative potential and unleash high-performance hybrid habits.

Whether it's finding the optimal work environment, identifying our individual styles of creativity, or utilising technology to enhance our cognitive abilities, the journey towards unlocking creative potential in hybrid work is an ongoing process of self-discovery and innovation.

Join us on this journey of understanding the science of work and unlocking your creative potential in the hybrid era. Discover how high-performance hybrid habits can transform your team's talent, experience, and innovation. Speak to an expert.