How do you nurture (creative) talent? This is a question that Sebastian Meyer-Engl (Executive Creative Director at Slash.Digital) has been asking. And with his 10 years experience in leading creative teams, utilising methods like design thinking, behavioural design and psychological insights, he has some thoughts. Creative talent is not some mystical phenomenon. Nor a game character you level up. We are talking about human beings here. Obviously, that’s not the underlying question but in my opinion it’s crucial to get this straight first. Especially, as we are not only part of an industry built on creative talent, but we are also in the midst of the “war for talent”.

Design thinking teaches you to find creative potential in everyone. In a push & pull dynamic it utilizes the creativity of all participants. What makes design thinking so powerful is that it avoids common human “flaws”. The junior art director is an introvert and too shy? Make him contribute his idea written on a paper for everyone to read in silence. The creative director has seen & won it all and is too dominant? Make her judge the collection of ideas at the end of the process with a clear evaluation grid. Those tools help against our human tendency to make (creative) life harder than it needs to be and to corrupt our talents.

So, let’s scale this idea up. Instead of looking for ways to “nurture” talent we should ask ourselves: What is preventing us from using our creative talent(s) to the fullest? Certainly, there are structural reasons in every organization but let us focus on the human side. Creative talent doesn’t mean being excellent at concept, copywriting, design, etc. Those are crafts. Teachable and improvable with time, effort and external guidance. Creative talent is a way of thinking. Approaching challenges with an open mind, curiosity, playfulness and willingness to solve it with everything at hand – including one's own personality. And that’s exactly the problem.

We prevent ourselves from using our creative talent. Instead of being curious we are quite often rather cautious. Instead of investing ourselves fully we hold back and hide behind an armor disguised as our job personality. As (creative) leaders this is the point where we can make a difference. It’s easy to doubt the creative potential of a team member or the team as a whole. It’s much harder to look at every individual and understand what’s keeping the person from tapping into its full creative potential.

One approach that helped me a lot – personally and professionally – is the theory of “the Neuroscience of Positive Intelligence” by Scott Frey . The basic idea is that we all have a set of inner saboteurs. Neuroscientifically they were created as part of a protective mechanism. Triggered by the amygdala we react to certain impulses/situations with behavior that is good for our survival – but pretty bad for collaborating fruitfully in a brainstorming session six days before the presentation for your biggest client’s most important project of the year.

The saboteurs can be found in all of us but in completely individual peculiarity. Controller, avoider, stickler, victim, pleaser, hyper-achiever, hyper-rational, hyper-vigilant and the restless. Those are the “characters” you are dealing with. However, they are not your enemies! In many cases a dominant saboteur’s abilities are also an employee's strengths. Take the stickler. Being detail focused is a brilliant attitude in a designer – as long as you have the briefing and time for perfectionism. If that’s not the case it will hinder you from creating the desired results and will leave you discontent.

Understanding the set-up of saboteurs in your creative talents – as well as in yourself! – and supporting everyone in working with them is your task as a leader. There are many self-tests and coachings to learn more about the saboteurs…but this is not an ad for any of them. This is a call to believe in the existing creative talent in your team and become smarter in unleashing it. So nurture your creative talents with food, love and enough sleep in an environment that doesn’t nurture our inner saboteurs – and probably first and foremost: start with yourself.