Sometimes, it takes getting creative.
Sometimes, you have to take your creative self somewhere ELSE! Sometimes it takes QUITTING to change the world.
Here's a little story.
I worked in an accounting office. Weird for me, because it was an uncreative JOB but, I really liked the company I worked for and my coworkers were great. It wasn't a bad way to make a living. But, the rigid 8am - 5pm with an enforced hour-for-lunch schedule was a killer.
I politely asked to adjust my schedule. Noting that it could be good for the company as we dealt with East Coast companies and by the time we started our day it was already 11 am there. If I could start earlier, we would have an earlier half hour in the office with the East Coast. My requests to shift my schedule by 1/2 hour were denied.
I politely asked to adjust my schedule. Noting that it could be good for the company as we dealt with East Coast companies and by the time we started our day it was already 11 am there. If I could start earlier, we would have an earlier half hour in the office with the East Coast. My requests to shift my schedule by 1/2 hour were denied.
The personal reason I wanted to flex my schedule was that with the bus schedules I was spending up to 2 hours EACH day in traffic, waiting to clock in, or waiting for a bus. By just shifting to a 7:30-4:30 schedule not only would we have MORE coverage in the office to answer phones BUT, I'd personally get back time with my family each week.
I did my best to creatively fill -not kill- my time, I walked, I read, I listened to music -but what I really wanted was more TIME with my family.
So, after my requests were denied a couple of times, I gave up on THAT place and started looking for another job, closer to home; and I found it! The new job that was 20 - 30 minutes from my house (and paid better). In the time it usually took me to drive to the park and ride station, I was getting to work! It was unbelievable, I gained another 1 - 2 hours with my family EACH day! That was up to 10 hours each WEEK!
My boss at the previous company offered me MORE money to stay. Again, I asked her if I could flex my schedule. She said, "no". So, I politely declined and went to work at the new place. Better pay. MUCH shorter commute.
Guess what? After I left, one of the bigwigs at the company I'd left started asking around as to why I'd quit. When someone (honestly) told him it was because I wanted to flex my schedule by 1/2 hour each day, he started questioning people in my former office. Turns out, they ALL wanted to flex their schedules. Turns out the flex schedules meant there would be people covering the office MORE hours each day. My former boss was instructed to review each employee's schedule requests on a case-by-case basis and approve the requests that were reasonable. Turns out the people in the department were happier with their new schedules. Turns out morale went up and employee turnover went DOWN.
Turns out I changed that small corner of the world, after all with my creative idea.
Just because people don't (initially) like your creative idea doesn't mean they are wrong. Or bad people. It doesn't even mean your idea is bad. It just might mean that your idea and the people you work with/for aren't ready for those creative ideas of yours!
It's okay to take your creative self and move on, look for a better fit for YOU.
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