Moments when you want to hide under your desk # 1

We have all had them, the moments when you just want to hide under you desk and pretend you don’t exist. Not that you don’t work in your office, so that no-one can get hold of you – YOU DON’T EXIST. This is a first instalment of the many situations which make me feel like doing so.

Rounds of applause in the Monday morning meeting.

Your boss staring at you as they don’t have any work to do and are looking for inspiration

People claiming that they couldn’t live without eight and a half hour’s sleep.

Colleagues complaining about aching muscles from going to the gym by saying things like ‘oh my God, my legs are literally broken’

General exaggerations – ‘Can you die from drinking too much Mulled wine?’

Watching people stuff in sandwiches, cakes and any other foodstuffs at 5:29pm to avoid ‘getting too pissed or feeling terrible tomorrow’

Blaming technology failures – ‘My Blackberry keeps ringing totally random people’
The CEO monthly newsletter.

Promoting Creativity

Advertising is promoted as a creative industry. After all, that’s why we joined it.
Yet the operational reality of any job takes over. The creative tasks become impotent rather than important.

Spreadsheet, email, computer system, meeting.

Even designers and copywriters don’t genuinely ‘create’ ideas. They rehash old ones, or find a middle ground between two great things.

Admittedly, the subjects involved are more interesting than the latest developments in paint drying technology.

Companies’ attempts at promoting creativity in the workplace are usually pretty ham fisted. Doling out smoothies, ‘team building’ exercises (which aren’t bar tabs), wanky office furniture, putting TV screens with Sky News in reception. Whilst these make the office a little more bearable, they don’t give you flashes of inspiration required to make a major breakthrough in your work.

One creative touch common to most offices is the ‘break-out area’. An area designed for informal meetings and quiet time, but used for raucous lunch clubs and office naps. The problem with this area is that managers think it is below them to ‘break out’. It is simply an execs fraternisation area.

I’m not feeling too creative today. So I’ll leave you with this thought:

Why aren’t all offices decked out with armchairs, TVs and homely décor with a ‘work-out’ area. The serious work zone would see far more action than the pleather sofas used for snacking and snoozing are. That’s where the real creativity would take place.