Creative Leadership Challenges and Their Possible Solutions in 2022 (Part 1)

2022 has been a transformative year for creative teams and the ones that lead them. The recent changes have brought on high rewards, together with a new set of challenges. In the words of John F. Kennedy “Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future“. This week, we will address three challenges that Creative Leaders, like yourself, face and suggest potential solutions to better equip you for the challenges you and your creative team may face.

Recommended reading: 2022 Q2 Creative Management Report

A Series on Creative Leadership Challenges in 2022
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

1. Keeping Up with Accelerated Growth

The Challenge: Content is king – and it reigns supreme. The demand for and supply of entertainment is more widespread than ever before, and creative teams are feeling the heat – 38% of in-house brand and creative teams reported output growth to be reaching a fever pitch. Aside from adding new members to meet demand, one of the biggest challenges of creative leaders is keeping their team happy when increasingly more is asked of them every day. Constant growth may be what the corporate doctor ordered, but creative employees are frequently at odds with that.

The Solution: Perform regular pulse checks. Praise your team members for their hard work. Ask them how they are doing, and if, and where, they may need assistance. Urge them to gauge their week at work through weekly check-ins. Be open to their feedback and keep communication transparent and constant. If you notice someone working long hours, provide them with the support they need as soon as you can.

2. Inspiring Creative Team Members

The Challenge: This is such an obvious one – and yet, it is one of the most-cited creative leadership challenges. We can see it clear as day, the logical fallacy that is – creativity requires inspiration and, therefore, every creative individual must be a well of self-producing inspiration for themselves and those around them… right? In reality, creative people can experience a lack of inspiration just as much – and as often – as everyone else. Finding pleasant, meaningful ways to inspire your team can go a long way.

The Solution: Creative people like creative approaches – knowing your team members’ hobbies and interests is key here. Take the time to discover and involve them in activities that you know they will be potentially interested in. And what is the link between such activities and inspiration, you may ask? The process itself, of course! It has been scientifically proven that when we engage in meaningful activities, the brain regions responsible for creativity, inspiration, and everything artsy light up – that is when the ideas start flowing.

3. Managing Stakeholder Expectations

The Challenge: AKA the bane of leaders’ existence across fields, industries, time zones, countries, and continents. This is the toughest one of the three, as it is the one that is tied to externals the closest. You and your team may be experiencing one of your best weeks or quarters in terms of generating new ideas, exploring novel concepts, and giving shape to what may become your next signature thing and most forward-thinking industry first that will certainly cement your position on the pioneer table.

And yet, despite all this, If the numbers do not add up, you have done all of this for nothing. At least according to data-driven stakeholders. Balancing such a relationship can be so tricky as there are so many ways things can go wrong, since there are so many bases to cover. What sits at the heart of this age-old struggle is the different definitions of and measurements for success.

The Solution: Creative people measure success by the quality of their output, data-driven people do so by looking at numbers. Let’s be real, you cannot hope for a utopian, meet-each-other-halfway kind of scenario here. But what you can do is maintain a frequent feedback loop between sides. In this way, expectations will be better adjusted over time, and clashes will be kept to a minimum. You can read more on the specifics for this one at Forbes by clicking here.

Final Thoughts on Creative Leadership Challenges

Creative leadership challenges are as old as the first moment in history when business and creativity merged – so pretty old, probably. The point of this series is to help inspire potential solutions to and aid you in dealing with your creative leadership challenges with a flexible mindset. It is okay to try different things and find what works best for you and your team. Remember, these challenges have been around for a long time and will continue to follow creative teams around for the near future. Think big and act with bravery.

Are you faced with creative leadership challenges you would like to see addressed in the future? Let us know!

Are you interested in tools that will help you address current creative leadership challenges and provide you with the support needed for future ones? Lytho helps you streamline your entire workflow and harmonize all brand collateral under a single, uniform platform. Feel free to reach out to us by scheduling a demo and learning how our creative solutions can boost the effectiveness of your creative projects. We look forward to speaking with you!