Identifying Conformity vs. Creativity at Work

The comments on my last post made me think — what really is a “career enhancer”? I read stories from women told to shrink their laughter, smooth their edges, or “fit the mould.” And I know it’s true for men too — just packaged differently. All in the name of career enhancers - Talk less, Don’t challenge too much, Fit the template. But what is this template really? A checklist of skills — or a reflection of what the feedback giver happens to value? They say feedback is as much about the giver as the receiver. And that’s how conformity begins — not in intent, but in design. We reward predictability but call it potential. We label difference as risk, and sameness as readiness. Interestingly, an analysis of 100 job descriptions from non-tech organisations (2020–2025) revealed a clear shift. Mentions of AI and data fluency rose fivefold. But now they’re being overtaken by curiosity and creativity. The message is clear. Expertise may open the door, but curiosity keeps you relevant. Curiosity fuels learning every day — turning reflection into performance. Yet most job descriptions still read like relics of a slower world — static lists of tools and tasks, written as if learning happens in isolation. We say we want curiosity — but our systems still reward certainty. Curiosity is a meta-skill — it multiplies all other skills. It helps us pause before reacting, explore before deciding, and learn before labelling. Imagine job descriptions that say things like: “Proactively seeks alternative solutions to established workflows and uses data to recommend improvements.” “Demonstrates commitment to continuous learning through certifications, self-study, and feedback.” That’s what curiosity looks like in action. So what does this mean? For HR: Bake curiosity into your frameworks. Include it in behavioural expectations, skill taxonomies, and learning systems. Make it easy for people to learn all the time — not once a year during appraisal. For Managers: Feedback can ignite curiosity — if framed right. When the brain sees a “knowledge gap,” it releases dopamine — the same chemical that fuels motivation. So give 90% of the solution, and leave 10% for discovery. Vague feedback (“Just do better”) kills that spark. Frame feedback as a starting point and identify the next mountain to focus on along with transferable skills. For Employees: Curiosity is a daily practice. Talk to colleagues outside your domain. Keep a “question log.” When something fails, run a learning autopsy — find patterns, not culprits. AI may deliver instant answers, but curiosity keeps us asking better questions. Because career enhancement belongs to those who stay curious enough to grow beyond their job descriptions. That’s the only template worth fitting in.

Obedient Employees Don’t Kill Companies. Too Many of Them Do. Most organisations don’t fail because people refuse to follow rules. They fail because too many people follow them without thinking. Obedience keeps the engine running. Creativity decides where the organisation is going. In many workplaces, “good performance” is quietly redefined as not causing trouble. Employees who execute SOPs flawlessly are rewarded. Those who ask uncomfortable questions, “Why do we do it this way?” are labelled difficult, slow, or disruptive. The result? Operationally neat companies that slowly lose relevance. Obedient employees minimise risk. They comply, align, and deliver consistency. This is valuable until it becomes the dominant culture. When obedience is overvalued, organisations stop evolving. They become efficient at repeating yesterday’s success. Creative employees, on the other hand, rarely fit neatly into the system. They see gaps before dashboards do. They question assumptions others have normalised. Early on, they often look inefficient, “too critical,” or unnecessarily complex. Ironically, these are the same people organisations later celebrate after the market has changed and the damage is already done. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Most leaders say they want innovation, but subconsciously reward conformity. Why? Because obedience feels safe. Creativity feels threatening. It exposes weak logic, outdated processes, and leadership insecurity. True leadership is not about enforcing compliance. It is about creating psychological space where thinking is allowed before permission is granted. Companies don’t stagnate because employees lack discipline. They stagnate because discipline is never balanced with courage. If your best people have stopped asking questions, don’t call it alignment. Call it a warning sign. Because leadership is not born from the ability to follow perfectly but from the courage to think differently when following no longer makes sense.

I’ve recently become hooked on BBC’s The Traitors. And whilst it's full of drama, it also offers some valuable lessons for the workplace. The show highlights how herd mentality can shape decision-making. Contestants often vote based on the majority opinion rather than their own instincts—driven by fear of isolation, cognitive ease, and trust in the group. This mirrors what happens in organisations, where employees sometimes conform to avoid standing out or challenging the status quo. While herd mentality can promote efficiency in some situations, it often leads to groupthink, where the desire for harmony overrides critical thinking. On The Traitors, this results in irrational decisions, like when contestants eliminate loyal players based on popular but unfounded opinions. The same happens in workplaces when dominant voices sway decisions, suppressing diverse ideas and creativity. In large organisations, change and uncertainty are often the only constants. Our brains are wired to seek patterns and fill in the blanks in an effort to make sense of the chaos. This craving for certainty can lead to a desire for autonomy and control; having the freedom to make choice is one of the three key drivers of motivation.   So, what can employers learn from this? 1. Encourage independent thinking: Create a culture where employees feel safe to voice differing opinions and challenge the majority view without fear of exclusion. 2. Value diverse perspectives: Don’t let one confident voice dictate decisions. Diverse ideas lead to better outcomes. 3. Build trust: In high-pressure situations, fear can drive conformity. Foster trust within teams so that people feel confident making decisions based on logic, not just group dynamics. 4. Build autonomy: remodel roles allowing people to make choices & drive engagement and productivity. In both The Traitors and the workplace, understanding group psychology can help us avoid the dangers of herd mentality and create more thoughtful, inclusive decision-making. Let’s lead in a way that values autonomy, diversity, and critical thinking.  

Procurement Vital Signs: Conformity vs. Innovation Signs of a conformist procurement organization: 🩺 Rigid Adherence to Process: Strict following of procedures without questioning their efficiency or effectiveness. 💉 Fear of Innovation: Reluctance to adopt new ideas or technologies for fear of disrupting the status quo. 🔬 Lack of Creative Solutions: A homogeneous approach to problem-solving that stifles creativity and innovation. 💊 Resistance to Change: An organizational mindset that views change as a threat rather than an opportunity. 🌡️ Minimal Stakeholder Collaboration: Stakeholders are seen as outsiders rather than partners in innovation. Transforming towards a culture of innovation and change: 🩺 Encouraging Curiosity: Promoting an environment where questioning processes is not only accepted but encouraged to identify areas for improvement. 💉 Embracing Change: Viewing change as an essential driver of growth and actively seeking opportunities to innovate and evolve. 🔬 Nurturing Creativity: Encouraging diverse thinking and creative problem-solving to find new and better ways of doing things. 💊 Flexible Processes: Developing procedures that are adaptable and can evolve in response to new insights and technologies. 🌡️ Collaborative Exploration: Engaging with stakeholders as co-innovators, leveraging their insights to challenge the status quo and drive meaningful change. By fostering a culture that questions the status quo, procurement organizations can shift from merely executing transactions to driving strategic value, innovation, and continuous improvement. P.S. How has challenging the status quo led to improvements in your procurement practices? Let's share and inspire change!

The best employees often think different. That is not a bug. It is a feature. Steve Jobs famously said that the employees who change the game are usually “a pain in the butt to manage.” Science now agrees. High performers, the people who drive real breakthroughs, are often restless, contrary, and resistant to authority. They do not follow the rules. They question the rules. They rewrite them. And in doing so, they make the rest of the team uncomfortable. Most managers hate that. They prize harmony over disruption, compliance over creativity, and predictability over brilliance. The result is a workforce that is polite, efficient, and utterly unremarkable. Mediocrity becomes the default because friction is seen as a flaw rather than a signal. Here is the uncomfortable truth. If your top talent is making your life difficult, it may mean you have a rare asset on your hands. The same qualities that make someone hard to manage are precisely the qualities that produce innovation, challenge orthodoxy, and drive outsized results. Companies that learn to tolerate even celebrate this friction often leave their competitors in the dust. Those that do not choke on bureaucracy. Leaders need to stop punishing brilliance disguised as defiance. Stop overvaluing conformity and process. Stop confusing difficult with disposable. High performers are not meant to be comfortable. They are meant to be game-changing. If you want to build a team that actually moves the needle, hire the troublemakers. Listen to the critics. Reward the ornery. Friction is not failure. It is the spark. #Leadership #Innovation #TalentManagement More in comments

The fastest way to lose great people is to make them contort themselves to “the process.” A serene sunset over a rocky beach in Toronto. Waves keep hitting the same edges, again and again. That’s what rigid systems do to talent. The most innovative teams I work with flipped the direction of fit: They keep outcomes standard, and make the system flexible. Uniformity feels like maturity. Often it is just hidden tax: extra friction, masking, workarounds, and quiet attrition. As R. Stacey LaForme (former Chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation) put it: “We should not have to change to fit into society. The world should adapt to embrace our uniqueness.” One checklist for leaders building adaptive systems: - Identify where conformity is creating rework or disengagement - Name the constraint (policy, tool, approval chain, meeting cadence) - Replace one rigid step with an option that preserves the same outcome - Measure results (cycle time, quality, retention), not compliance A or B: which would you redesign first this quarter, approval workflows or meeting cadence? #Leadership #Innovation

'To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong' - Joseph Pearce. As a person consulting on Human Behavior, I am often been approached by HR leaders to 'teach creativity' to their teams. They want innovation, fresh ideas, and out-of-the-box thinking. And when I speak further and ask questions, a catch emerges : they also want their teams to follow established processes strictly, without deviating from the norm. Here's the paradox. Creativity doesn't thrive in environments that discourage questioning the status quo. The very essence of creativity is born from a dissatisfaction with the 'normal.' It's driven by those who look at the current state of affairs and think, 'There MUST be a better way.' Creativity requires the courage to challenge, to dissent, and to not accept things as they are. And research supports this idea. For instance, a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that creativity is often sparked by "a state of psychological discomfort or dissatisfaction with the current state" (Baas et al., 2013). Furthermore, research by Nemeth (1986) in the Psychological Review highlights that dissent—especially when it is constructive—can stimulate divergent thinking and creativity. When team members are encouraged to voice opposing views, it creates a richer environment for innovation. Yet, organizations often stifle this kind of productive dissent by overemphasizing conformity and adherence to established processes. A study from the Harvard Business Review (Amabile, 1998) found that environments perceived as overly controlling or rigid are detrimental to creativity. When employees fear negative consequences for challenging the norm, they are less likely to think creatively or present innovative ideas. Organizations must understand that the first step toward creativity is encouraging a culture of inquiry and healthy dissent. Without it, creativity is just a buzzword—aspired to, but never truly achieved. If you want your teams to be truly creative, ask yourself: Are you encouraging them to question the status quo? Are you making room for new ideas, even if they challenge existing processes? Real creativity comes from the freedom to think differently and the permission to disrupt. Because creativity is not just a skill - it's a process. And that process begins with a single step: dissatisfaction with the normal. If you are looking for your teams to be creative, not for a tick box training conducted, but for real sustainable change..... let's talk. #psychology #nlp #creativity #organisationaldevelopment #businessgrowth

When leaders demand conformity, they silence the very voices that drive innovation and growth. Many leaders fall into the trap of expecting their team members to think, act, and even solve problems the same way they do. It might feel natural—it’s easier to relate to what looks familiar. But here's the truth: leadership rooted in conformity stifles innovation, erodes trust, and creates disengagement. Let’s break it down: 1. The Diversity Dilemma ↳ When you overlook unique perspectives, you lose opportunities for creative problem-solving. ↳ Homogeneous thinking leads to predictable (and often outdated) results. 2. The Culture Misstep ↳ A team that feels judged or criticized for being different doesn’t feel safe to speak up. ↳ Psychological safety is the foundation of high-performing teams—without it, growth stagnates. 3. The Blind Spot of Bias ↳ Judging others for not "being like you" isn't leadership; it’s a reflection of unchecked ego. ↳ True leaders recognize their own biases and actively seek out alternative viewpoints. 4. The Cost of Control ↳ Forcing conformity sacrifices trust and authenticity. ↳ People perform best when they feel seen and valued for who they are, not who they’re expected to be. 5. The Ripple Effect ↳ A leader’s demand for sameness echoes throughout the team. ↳ The result? Talent exits quietly, innovation grinds to a halt, and engagement wanes. Here’s the wake-up call: True leadership isn’t about building clones of yourself—it’s about creating space for others to thrive as their authentic selves. The greatest impact comes when we embrace the power of diversity, lean into discomfort, and let differences fuel collaboration and growth. Are you fostering conformity, or are you building a team that thrives on difference? Share your thoughts below.

If everything is too precise and too specific, there is little opportunity for people to work above or outside their remit; to question, challenge or investigate; to use their powers of curiosity and creativity.   Too often targets are set as a measure of expected performance, not as a tool to encourage extraordinary development. To break this pattern, it is vital to throw in abstract questions to generate debate and discussion that is divorced from specific outcomes. Too many meetings begin with data-driven problems. This is always going to result in SMART-focused discussions, which is perfectly valid if the aim is to focus on existing systems of productivity, but not if the aim is to develop cultures of change and innovation.   Sometimes it is important to work against perceived wisdom or the safe option. Too many people confuse ‘vision’ with ‘strategy’, and as a result we end up with initiative overload. Too much of what we do and endeavour to implement ends up being layered on top of existing systems which leads to workforces feeling under increasing pressure, time-poor and often highly cynical.   To break that pattern requires a new mindset, a new way of thinking.   We all have a maverick side and sometimes we must develop strategies that work against conformity to positively encourage a little rebellion.   #leadership #transformation #mindset