Most of us have encountered a leader who uses meetings as personal brainstorming time. Everyone leaves feeling confused or uncertain about what to do next. That same leader might also have a reputation for rapidly expressing several vague ideas at once. These ideas might even be so vague as to seem contradictory, yet nonetheless, the leader expects the team to implement them.
Chances are good that this leader is manifesting the dark side of creativity. At Hogan, we call this Imaginative behaviour, which occurs when imagination derails performance and teams suffer from the resulting confusion and lack of direction.
Characteristics of Imaginative Leaders
Innovation and creativity are strengths that we measure using our personality assessments: the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), and the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI). On the HDS, the Imaginative scale evaluates the extent to which these strengths can become liabilities for a person’s career by undermining their effectiveness. While creative, unconventional thinking serves leaders well in day-to-day work, it becomes counterproductive when overused or misapplied. We call this derailment. Derailment most often occurs during times of stress, boredom, or complacency when someone isn’t paying attention to their behaviour. Imaginative is one of 11 derailers, or characteristics of the dark side of personality, that Hogan assesses using the HDS.
So what does Imaginative behaviour look like in action? Leaders with high Imaginative scores typically demonstrate unconventional thinking, curiosity, and innovation in day-to-day work. But when stressful or boring circumstances trigger Imaginative derailment, these same leaders appear disorganised, distractible, or even confusing because their creative energy overshadows practical execution. Too much creative thinking can make leaders seem eccentric, lacking in judgment, and overconfident.
The Dark Side of Creativity
Innovation, setting vision, and creative problem-solving are highly desirable strengths when creativity serves business strategy. But highly creative leaders, such as Steve Jobs who exemplified this pattern, can create serious problems for their organisations if they derail frequently. Their imagination derails performance when they pitch impractical ideas that teams cannot implement, believe they have special insight into complex problems, and make decisions based on instinct rather than data. Erratic behaviour triggers team confusion, and employees feel overwhelmed by the flood of ideas and frustrated by the lack of clarity.
Imaginative derailment can damage leadership credibility and team trust. When leaders leap from one idea to the next, their erratic behaviour undermines the team’s confidence and makes them seem unfocused. When they offer impractical ideas that teams cannot implement, this creative chaos erodes trust. Unconventional speech or behaviour can make them seem odd or peculiar. When spontaneous ideas repeatedly fail to inspire, the downstream effects include damaged trust, increased disengagement, and higher turnover.
Leaders with high Imaginative scores should reflect on why they share ideas and how they choose which ideas to share. Creative leaders can prevent derailment by recognising when their imagination needs strategic focus. They should ask themselves, “Does this creative thinking advance business objectives, or does it derail team performance?”
Managing Imagination Before It Derails Performance
Several development activities can help build strategic self-awareness in highly Imaginative people. Leaders should identify whether it’s stress, boredom, a lack of accountability, or something else that triggers their Imaginative derailment. Maintaining a list or a progress tracker about specific ideas can help them limit distraction to follow through on commitments. Their team members would likely benefit from guidelines on how to challenge or clarify their thinking. They could also find a vetting partner to give them feedback—someone willing to plainly say, “Here’s why that’s not going to work.”
Direct reports need clear direction from Imaginative leaders. Team members should ask which ideas require implementation and document specific timelines and action items. To curb excessive idea generation, teams can differentiate between brainstorming sessions and strategy sessions. When teams clarify how proposed actions affect other teams or relate to business strategy, this structure channels creative energy productively and provides a reasonable way to push back on impractical ideas.
Leaders with innovative dispositions need to monitor their Imaginative behaviour closely. Strategic creativity balances imagination with execution, so innovation serves organisational goals without derailing team performance. When creative leaders manage their behaviour, they can channel imagination into results that advance business strategy, instead of creating confusion.
Expert Contributor
Jaclyn Menendez, PhD, is an industrial-organisational psychologist who manages the consulting team at Hogan Assessments.
*This post originally appeared on Hogan Assessments
