Stimulate Creativity by Fueling Passion.

According to the author, people will be most creative when they are passionate about what they are doing. Such high levels of intrinsic motivation are influenced both by a person's basic interest in a particular kind of work and by the work environment surrounding the person. Managers can support creative productivity by matching people to projects on the basis of interest as well as skill, by using rewards that recognize competence and support further involvement in the work, and by establishing a work environment across the organization that removes the barriers and enhances the supports to active, collaborative, intrinsic involvement in the work. A considerable body of research over the past 25 years (conducted with both children and adults) has demonstrated that external pressures in the work environment, also called extrinsic motivators, can decrease intrinsic motivation and, as a result, can decrease creativity.