Years ago, comedian John Cleese gave a talk on managing and creativity. It’s something I shared with the whole creative team at Gogo when I first uncovered it as it had a big impact on my work at the time. Cleese’s recent stances on many things are very problematic and retrograde, so in lieu of a direct link, I’d like to surface a key point and talk about how it has influenced me.
When it comes to creativity he proposes a clear delineation between “open mode” and “closed mode”. In open mode, no idea is bad or weird. We’re coming together as a team, shaping what we’ll make. Nothing is off limits and no concept too radical to bring into the fold. It’s a highly stimulating and creative space to play in… and yes, it’s play.
“Closed mode”, on the other hand, snaps in once the team has agreed on the way to go. We may introduce new things along the way, but the time to entertain and explore brand new ideas is over. Closed mode is when we do the work. We take the necessary time to drive towards what we’re creating and we keep focused on the win. This all roughly equates with a discovery phase followed on by an execution phase: “What should we do? Great. Now, let’s plan how to do it and go ahead and do it.”
When we’re done with the work we can and should return to an open mode… because that’s the mindset for receiving feedback, making improvements, and viewing our work and others’ in a new light.
It’s a terribly simple framework but I really love it.
I’ve led projects where we’ve had amazing open modes – often coming in the form of discovery workshops and explorations based on data – and it’s a collaborative and exciting time. This mimics the writers’ room philosophy that Michael Schur, creator of _The Good Place_, espouses: best idea wins. I love that, too, because it fosters the idea of openness, of play, of creativity.
Once a project enters closed mode, it’s time to knock it out. As with anything we’re going to make tweaks and adjustments and improvements along the way but we’re continuing on towards those great ideas we started with, and we’re going to do our best work to see them through. Give people the space and time to do the work, and see it through.
In contrast, when I’ve been involved in projects over my career that jump back and forth between open and closed mode I’ve seen team morale and output plummet. One moment we’re agreed on something; the next, we’re obtaining new requirements and questioning our ideas without a plan on how to evaluate them. This can happen for any number of reasons but it is ultimately detrimental to what we’re working on.
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One last note: time is an essential element of all of this. One of the joys of working in a creative-aligned field is that moment when everything just clicks. You have the data, you see the big picture, you get it… and your brain goes, “Oh! OOOOOH.” That’s the beautiful thing we’re looking for. Having time to think, to consider, to work – because it is work – in the open mode gets us there.